At Times End: The New Beginning
"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven[b] and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." Revelation 20:1-3, 7-10
Three months it had been since he was done with his training. Nearly eight years of education in public school, another eight in management directed combat training. The terms were four years in the New America Army Corps, and the other four in the International Shadow Rangers. The training never registered its necessity in his mind however. The times of war had been gone but nearly a millennium, no conflict had erupted ever since. If the Dark Father were to return, it would not be unnoticed as far as the ancient prophecy foretold, he thought to himself. Then again, the Dark Son did use the Dark Spirit's sign, the dreaded 666, as a trade control by nano-imprinted marks: in those days, no one could trade without it legally, and even worse, no one could fake the mark. The Dark 7, the years that signified the Dark Son's reign, has long since past, but prophecy foretold the return of the evil that consumed the earth at that time.
"Alright, enough historical reminiscing Joshua," he said to himself, "I have a job to do, and first to investigate this out of place outpost." Most of the military installments had been well accounted for, and in New Jerusalem, the outskirts of the Gaza Strip were particularly guarded. This outpost, however, existed in a region that had been surveyed but six months ago, according to data, by Shadow Rangers on Patrol, and constant satellite surveillance left the region incapable of being infiltrated. Joshua approached cautiously, wary to give his position away before knowing what was going on. Tinkering with the controls of his helmet, he adjusted the visor to night specs and inspected the perimeter. Whilst about to throw in the towel at the fruitless search, after thirty minutes had transpired, he discovered the cause. While he did not have an expertise with machinery, he could recognize a base scrambler when he saw one. The strange thing was, they were only used by former Dark Son regime soldiers whom were intended to hunt down the Disciples of the Son of Light. The device worked by emitting a holographic shield over a region that mimicked the intended picture, then emitting a scrambler field that negated the surveillance beam used to bypass holographic projections. There was no real way to negate it, but the strange thing was, for the time being, it was inactive. As if.......
A wisp of air barely passed Joshua's helmet as he registered what happened, and turn to face the attackers. Their garb was nanokevlar with steel plating for bullet and blade protection, the highest grade armor for low lever soldiers at the time of the Dark 7. The TL-65 gauss rifles were standard issue for the 100 years they were used by the Neo Russo army, as armies made a comeback 100 years before, anticipating the point for which the Dark Father would wage his final battle with the Eternal Father, though some thought sooner, having an idealist interpretation of the prophecy so foretold. It turned out, the prophecy was to be taken literally, as the soldier before him bared testimony to. However, one of them spoke.
"Hands up Shadow Ranger and child of the False Son," he barked, "and maybe your death will be quick."
The Dark Marks on their shoulder patches declared their intentions and statements to be true. Joshua was hoping to abstain from confrontation till more reconnaissance could be conducted, but that option had flown out the window. The only reason he did not perceive them before is that their holoprojection belts, a common staple for stealth and patrol troopers, had obscured them from his sight, his night specs all but useless to register their presence.
"If you intend to kill me," Joshua challenged, "You better be a better shot than that."
The two soldiers nearly sneered as they discharged their gauss rifles, believing they had vanguished their foe with the high powerered single shots from both their rifles. Their sneers were promptly converted to gasps of horror, as they noticed their gauss rounds deflecting all over the place, as they approached the forearm he held out in front of him with a blue disc emerging.
"He has a magnetic repuslor shield on his wrist, switch to scorch maces. We are going to kill that blasphemer, along with the rest of his twisted false worshipers," one of them bellowed.
He and his compatriot gleefully pulled their maces out. The L57 scorch mace looked the part of the crude bludgeon, but much like its ancient and medieval ancestors, its alleged crudity belied a devastating elegance in design and function. The real damage of this weapon, in contrast to blunt force trauma, was a raw plasma plume that, while akin to plasma swords, was not as refined in the plasma projection. It was more like every blow cast a burning plume of fire that singed flesh, never really cutting it. They thought they had the advantage in every regard, but their courage melted when Joshua pulled his weapon.
"Seen a L100 plasma longsword in your time," he inquired rhetorically.
The soldiers were tempered, that much was for certain, but were not cut out for close range combat. They knew their maces, whilst effective, against a plasma sword and magnetic shield combined put them at a disadvantage. They could harry him with their attacks, but their opponent could be more seasoned in close combat than they realized. Knowing charging aggression was their only option, they charged forward to strike him before he activated the switch.
Joshua merely waited before he activated the switch. His blade was a tungsten and titanium alloy at the core of the blade, with noble gas emitters at the edges. The gases, his choice personally was argon, would emit from the edge to an electrode, ionizing the gas. The outer surface would become a hot edge of pure energy cutting through whatever material met its edge. It was much more efficent, practical, and methodical than the so called "light swords" common place in science fiction.
The first solider closed the distance, confident that he accomplished the desired measure. How quick his disappointment was when he saw the edge ignite, and a flashing blaze of violet descending at a diagonal angle.
"Aaaaaaarghhh," the first one screamed as he was hewed, and a quarter of his upper torso removed from his body. Though the cauterization left no gore at the scene, the almost bisection of his first compatriot left the second one scrambling for help. To Joshua's mind, and to the second solider's, they had been delivered, and given reprieve, by the forces that be.
To the soldiers horror, and to Joshua's misfortune, a third emerged from the scene, breaking his cloak. Joshua, paused for a moment to comprehend the situation, then realized that his third opponent was studying him by observing his interaction with the first two, probing for a weakness by which to finish him off. No point in running, they had been observing him the whole time. No point in hiding, there was no location to hide behind. Joshua came to terms with the fact that he was in a fight for his life, and only victory would insure his survival.
"Hahahaha," the newest one laughed, "I thought Shadow Rangers were the deadliest the armies of the False Son had to offer.
He then glared with menacing disgust at the second soldier, grabbing him by the collar.
"As for you," he growled menacingly, "those of the True Son whom stamp out the the false worshipers should have no reason to run from them, as a child runs from a spider. For such pliability and spinelessness, die you worthless wretch."
Joshua bore witness to the horror, as the warrior bore the full strength of the quite developed musculature of his arm and hands crushing down the poor grunts throat. His vocal distorter did nothing to distort his horrified grunting and gasping as. Joshua witnessed, the target was not to choke him to death. Rather, the grip was bearing down on his trachea, crushing it like an empty aluminum can. Desperately flinging his arms to break the grip, the grunt was forced to stop after the next sound.
CRUNCH!!
The grunts windpipe had been crushed, and he was now slowly dying from asphyxiation. The scene made Joshua draw his Kyu 12 recurve bow out (for which he was mocked for its alleged primitivism, but its broadhead to bodkin tips razor sharpened made a mockery of most kevlar armors) to spare the soldier from slowly dying in agony. While he could could not defeat the chest place, the exposed under arm would pierce his heart, ending the poor man's agony. However, he did not receive that chance.
The dark figure that had just emerged had, from the appearance of things, leaped over to him and started his attack. The distance was too much for a human body to give out, but power leap thruster boots were heavily favored by melee experts for their ability to quickly close the distance into hand to hand range. A fact only exacerbated as Joshua ducked the first strike, not recognizing the clearly protypical armor he wore, but realizing it was a G-210 shockstaff he was fighting with. The weapons were a horrifying perversion of their original intent. The G-210 was nothing more than a malicious modification of the G-200 past the taser levels of electrical current it was designed to produce. The electrical batteries and capacitors were elevated to produce electrical ranges of 100,00 volts, a range that gave the image of being struck by tesla coil generated lightning. The riot weapon was developed by riot troops in the Heilfeuer prison camps for use on the sons and daughters of the Light Son, the riot troopers not caring for the merely incapacitating levels of electrical output from their prison control staffs. They were frowned upon from sparing their enemies the guillotine during the Dark 7, but nobody bothered reporting them because they relished in the sadism themselves. That history was beside the point now, because today, he was fighting against a wielder of such a weapon.
"You wish to give the weak pig a merciful death," the opponent inquired, laughing at the agony of the grunt in the background, "those whom are least fit to survive their environment are called to perish as such. Do not bother letting them die quickly, because the weak deserve to suffer in agony before death. A fact that your worthless compassion and mercy instills in you opposition towards, as per your putrescent False Son and your Eternal Dictator," he concluded, relishing in his true blasphemy against the Holy Trinity in two of its members. "Now die, and go to your worthless "Holy Trinity.""
The dark figure lunged with his staff, trying to plunge it in Joshua's neck, underarm, or under the pauldrons. The titanium weave dragon plate with tungsten coating and rubber underlay was protective enough, but all armors had gap points needed for mobility, and his was no exception. Desperately warding off the strikes with the metal core of his sword alone, he ignited at the last minute to strike the chest in the bind. NOTHING!! The person's armor obviously had a tungsten, cobalt, or even both, coating on the armor he wore. His plasma blade was useless against it. Retreating just as soon as he lunged, he decided to take a defensive style, and measure his opponents fighting style.
The first strike, downward hanging parry easily deflected, but an ever predictable rear butt strike soon followed. The third overhead came like lightning, no opportunity to lunge in retaliation, only to block. The fourth strike blew down his overhead parry, and nearly thrusting straight into his helmet. The dark figure then swung at a low arc, trying to strike at the patella to crush it with the mass and speed of the staff, for it was still usable as a bludgeon, but Joshua intercepted the strike at the last moment. The fifth strike was all he needed. Wukong Monkey Staff. Rarely did anyone practice the art, deeming it little more that an exhibitionist form, venerable in Wushu tournaments, but scarcely useful in live combat conditions kung fu masters and practitioners focused on. How mistaken they were. At the realization, Joshua readied himself, and closed to engage.
The dark figure said to himself, "I surely have him on his back foot, and ready to fall." No more wrong could he ever be.
The dark figure felt confident, seeing Joshua igniting his sword, but something strange happened. He grabbed the middle, unignited section of the blade. To the dark figure, at first, this seemed to almost give up the fight. Then Joshua hooked his opponents staff with the crossguard of his sword, deactivating the edge entirely. Then, in a move that astonished the dark figure, the pommel bashed him straight in the face. This was the moment he realized his opponent half-sworded, a technique unheard of and unpracticed by anyone in the form he just witness except for the........ German Longsword fencing masters. He thought their martial exploits were just Europeans exalting their former arts of war to make them more technically sophisticated than they actually were. How sorely corrected he was now. He bated at his opponent again, to Joshua's exposed side. His efforts were rewarded with a deflection parry and a crossguard strike to his helmet. A mordhau, "murder stroke" as it was called in the German. The warrior before him knew of the techniques of Johannes Leichtenauer and Joachim Meyer, which meant he knew how to use them against a staff as well. His advantage in reach was nullified, by his opponent's superior technique. The wise decision would have been to retreat from an unwinnable fight, but hubris had conquered him long ago.
The last charge of the dark figure thrust at Joshua's hip, and would have struck him and crippled him for the coup de gras his opponent planned to land. However, at the last moment, Joshua dodged the thrust, grabbed his opponents staff at a nonelectrical end, and pulled back on the staff. Caught off guard by the weapon grab, the dark figure stumbled forward in a drunkard's grace, and held his eyes, beneath his helmet visor, wide in shock. Joshua had hit the mark, and plunged a thrust from his activated blade straight into his opponents throat. His opponent could not scream, grunt, or even groan; he just slumped quietly to the ground, unable to make a sound.
Joshua stared at his fallen enemy in the deepest expression of pity, with only a few words to say.
"Did the wise man not say that pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness of spirit before a fall. I wish I would have known thee before you converted to the Dark Father's side, if only to spare you the fate you have fallen to in the hereafter. I take no pleasure in thy passing into everlasting torment, but would pray to the Eternal Father that your brothers may yet be spared. Father in Heaven, take pity on this poor soul's family. Though he be beyond the reach of hope, let his brothers find your Son of the Light. The Dark Father has been loosed, and is deceiving the world now. Spare his family, and minimize, if though wish, the totality of the damned that surely await."
At the conclusion of his prayer, he ran into the base, hiding in the rafters to avoid the patrols that were searching for him amidst the noise.
"You have not given your full report, Joshua SchildSchwert," Commander David retorted, "How did you survive entering and defeating a whole base of Dark Troops when you were expected to survey and report your findings?"
"Patience I bid you Commander," Joshua said, "And my tale I shall further conclude."