Episode 50: Last Call

[Noland Hardy]

As the chaos inside of the Alternative came to a pause, the people on the outside had to contend with this massive superweapon. They had to minimize the damage it could cause until it was successfully destroyed. 

The Alternative had more devastating power than Diablo itself. This meant that the chances of all of them being able to destroy the Alternative from the outside was very slim now that they had to confront it personally. 

The battle was at a standstill for now with Excedra now joining the force on the outside. The burden of movement fell on Dasia now. All the alliance waited for was to see what she was going to do...

[Dasia Turano]

The Alternative remained stationary for a bit while Dasia took a look at all of her opponents. Her main concern were the Legendary Soldiers. Frosch, Clayf, and Excedra were the biggest threats at the moment. The secondary threats were Zero Hydranoid and Apollonir. This was based on who could create the biggest disturbances, and the three primary targets had arsenals suited for a battle like this one whereas Zero Hydranoid is less effective than Excedra based on raw power output. Dasia noticed that Apollonir was more worried about the BT System showing up than fighting, which gave her the advantage.

"Hmph...I should probably begin with this plan of ours just in case this actually gets blown up..." Dasia thought. "Still...I need to eliminate as many as I can before bringing Diablo back out."

The Alternative began making buzzing noises, hinting at something being activated. Apollonir managed to concoct a plan to destroy the other ships in this planetary invasion.

It's time to see if he can do it again.

"I spent a great deal of time studying all of you, and I have to say. You continue to surprise me every time we fight. You're constantly evolving. That's the trait we Hurranians would like to thank you for providing us with," Dasia explained to the alliance. "Still...as grateful as I am to you for granting me this much power, you've become far too annoying to let linger around any longer. As you already know, if I can't assimilate you, I'll just destroy you. Watch this."

Wormholes began to open across Earth. Out of it came entirely new batches of smaller Alternatives, much like the first ones. Now the skies were populated with these battleships once again.

"Any good tech master knows to have backups stored on a separate storage device," Dasia reminded the alliance. "Who knows? I might have a backup of this Alternative as well. You never really know what's going to happen next. I haven't deployed my prized possession yet either. By the time you've dealt with this battleship, you'll be powerless to stand against me."

(Don't Give Up)

[Andrew Bullock]

It was quite ironic how they were facing this Alternative in the Sahara Desert. The way this was looking, this planet was about to become a desolated desert.

"This is really bad..." Andrew lamented, being fully aware of their current situation. "Still...this changes nothing."

Vince and Maria were right next to him. Andrew looked at these two for a bit and came up with a plan based on what they were equipped with. If they play their cards right, they can prevent the Alternative from being used to destroy the Earth and it may help the people inside.

"We have two Legendary Soldiers who can stall this thing. We need to keep Dasia busy for as long as possible. In the meantime...I have an idea. Listen up..." Andrew started telling Vince and Maria about this plan of his. Would it be enough? They were going to find out soon...

[Vince Hardy]

Apollonir had his arms crossed in the sky, just casually looking at the Alternative. He was not concerned by the planetary invasion at the moment, since that was the least of their problems. He did not want to fight the Alternative AT ALL. His main enemy was Diablo 3 and the power it brought with it. That's who he wanted to see.

As he continued to stare, a Bakugan began to grow to gargantuan size right in front of him, overshadowing the entirety of the alliance.

"Their better be some snacks for me after this one..." Frosch complained with some uncertainty in his voice. He didn't sound too confident of being able to combat the Alternative like this, but it was in the alliance's best interest that he did. "Liquid Compulsion!"

Having to resort to this ability for the second time, Frosch borrowed Earth's water to continuously pump it into his body, resulting in what is seen before them all: a giant frog.

Clayf was hovering right above Frosch's head. His defenses were going to be needed heavily here. Frosch couldn't just do it all by himself.

"I got your back, partner," Clayf assured him. "Keep her on her toes, just like you do best. I'll take care of the rest."

"Roger that," Frosch accepted. He whipped his tongue out and smacked the Alternative sideways. The hit sent the battleship reeling, but it didn't appear that any substantial damage had been done, just like on Vestal.

[Dasia Turano]

Frosch's power made the Alternative move a couple of meters, but that was all the Legendary Soldier would be able to boast about. In the end, Dasia knew that Frosch and Clayf didn't intend on beating her for one simple reason: they can't.

"Ability activate! Power Ball!" Dasia didn't bother acknowledging the frog. She was just focused on all of them dying and that was it.

The Alternative started generating this massive ball of energy that was already responsible for destroying a planet, so the ones down below should know that this was no joke. Once this attack drops, there will be no hope for any one of them to stop its descent. It will burrow its way through anyone who dares to stand in its way. All of the nonbelievers who refuse to acknowledge Dasia's threat will know true terror once their world burns in front of them.

[Vince Hardy]

Since the Legendary Soldiers were prepared for this attack - unlike last time - they could stop it, provided they were quick to the trigger with this one.

"Scarlet Twister!" A loud screech came from Oberus when she appeared on the scene instantly. She blew a puff of air that culminated into a bottomless twister that sucked up the Power Ball the moment it was being activated. Since the ultimate power behind this technique was never realized, it did not have the power necessary to go through a Legendary Soldier's power, meaning that they could stop it with Oberus'unequaled speed.

The twister curved downward so it could strike the Alternative from the top. Doing so noticeably staggered the ship and nearly sent it to the ground below. Oberus got out of range quickly so she wouldn't get shot by any retaliatory attacks.

"Ha! Oberus was WAY faster than you on that one," Frosch clowned.

"Uh...I wouldn't joke around with this one, buddy," Clayf warned Frosch before he got too carried away.

[Dasia Turano]

The Alternative re-positioned itself high into the sky. Oberus was an annoying one. She could not be taken care of through ordinary means. While this would ordinarily mean that targeting her was not worth the effort, this battleship had the means of taking care of scum like her.

"Ability activate! Zeus System!" Armadas of Fortress Bakugan were deployed from the Alternative. The same could be said for the smaller ones around the planet as well. Once they were in formation, they started revolving around the Alternatives with perfect synchronization. This gave the appearance of giant-sized rings revolving around the battleships. They continued until a large buildup of energy was brought together, and then they released it to cause planet-rumbling big-bang-like explosions across the entire planet.

All of the enemies were understandably thrown around and rag-dolled from this impressive showing of force, especially the airborne foes since this also functioned as an anti-air weapon. The Fortress then began bombarding the alliance with flurries of energy shots that looked as if they were impossible to dodge.

"Oberus is the fastest thing alive. I understand that. Is she fast enough to go back in time to stop what I've already put in motion? I'd love to see that," Dasia wondered. It sounded like she was alluding to something very terrible. Whether or not she was saying it to play mind games with the opponent remained to be certain, but something was happening.

[Vince Hardy]

Apollonir was on the ground, stunned at what was just unleashed. As he was being bombarded with bullets, he used his wings to cover himself. That's when he started to think about what Dasia was saying, since he had no business being in this fight.

"Oberus..." Apollonir called through their telepathic link.

"Y-yeah?" Oberus' ears were still ringing from that power output. She had to shake herself out of this stunlock.

"Something's not right... I want you to circumnavigate this planet."

"But why? Can't you sense whatever's going on here?"

"That's why I'm sending to you to check if I'm mistaken or not." Apollonir rose up against the steady barrage and forcefully spread his wings. The strength he exhibited was enough to create a temporary barrier of raw power that expelled the projectiles. "Morph Dragon!"

Apollonir's energy leaked out of his body until a new ball form appeared in his hands. This one was special. He threw it into battle and had it stand. When it did, it was revealed that it was an Apollonir, but in the evolutionary form of a Chance Dragonoid. A six-sided die came out of its body and rolled a couple of times. Oberus cheated for Apollonir and used her control over the wind to make the die stop on 2, which will spawn another clone. She did this a total of three times, since that was the cutoff point.

"Good luck..." Apollonir said with some uncertainty in his voice.

"..." She rested her beak on top of Apollonir's head before going to the Apollonirs. "Multi Form!" Oberus created three different versions of herself as well. They took the Apollonirs and zoomed out of the area immediately.

[Dasia Turano]

"Damn...not quite what I expected..." Dasia quietly cursed. "Still...she's gone...for good..."

The purpose in Apollonir doing that was so that his sensing abilities can be accurate wherever Oberus flies to. This was the time where he couldn't just rely on his sensing abilities alone if they were going to catch something. They needed to see what was going on with their own eyes.

As Oberus was doing this, the Alternative army withheld their fire, since they did not want to focus on her just yet, as she was playing along just fine. Per Apollonir's order, the Oberus clones attempted to circumnavigate Earth. It didn't take her long before an Apollonir clone sensed something very peculiar that was coming from the ground rather than the air.

"What the hell...?" All three Oberus' descended down to the ground in each of their distinct locations: Tokyo, Mexico City, and Moscow. She could spot a red mechanical Bakugan hovering over these respective cities. Oberus didn't descend to confront the beast. All she did was watch, knowing what Apollonir or Frosch would say to her if she engaged it. Suddenly, Oberus swiped her claws behind her, as Diablo 3 had gotten behind her somehow. What came as a surprise for Oberus was that her attack phased through it, like it was a hologram.

"Surprised?" Diablo wondered.

"Y-you can talk now!?" Diablo had a high-pitched voice, unusual for a Dragonoid who always sound like battle-hardened heroes. Dharak usually have high-pitched voices. She also noticed that Diablo looked a lot different now. It looked as if became organic. It was looking like an actual Dragonoid. Dasia had probably did this to it so that she could fool around and make Diablo look like Genesis Dragonoid.

"That's right. My queen allowed me to do so by installing the mind of the very first person to become infected by these Hurranians. It's about damn time too. I got sick of watching them fail."

"...Clay...Professor Clay!"

"Ah. So Lars Lion isn't the only smart one among you. Fascinating. Have you any idea how long I've wanted to confront you personally? That bastard MAC Spider was so annoying that they didn't want any of us talking. But now...they see a use for me. See, I'm the one who created this disaster on accident, and well...there's really no end to these things."

"...I don't even know what to say to you..."

"As you shouldn't, for you see, my only purpose in entertaining a conversation with you is to show you how futile your fight is. Look at yourselves. You lot are over there messing around with that Alternative while I'm over here making your situation a whole lot worse. The Bakugan's champion, Apollonir, is waiting on me to spring a trap or something so he can finally intervene. Well, Ms. Oberus, have I got some bad news for you. I've already done it."

"Done what!?"

"If you'll wait there for just a second...and..." The Diablo holograms had their frames shine in a dextra color. A giant pulsar was emitted from their position and spread throughout a large area. Of course, only one of these holograms were real. The actual Diablo was in Tokyo. The effect of this pulsar completely assimilated the entirety of Japan, just as the Bakugan Termination System was meant to do...which means...

"Finished."

Oberus was too horrified to say anything. She knew what he did based on what she just saw. Fortunately, the real Oberus was in Moscow, so she was not within the radius of Diablo's attack. Unfortunately though...the clones were vaporized instantly...

"Well? Come on. Tell me what you think. What did you feel from that?"

"You..." Oberus knew what Diablo just did, but she wasn't going to spend time with this one. She immediately turned back towards the direction she came from and tried to go back. "Apollonir!"

Then the real Diablo showed up right in front of her and repulsed her with its overwhelming power. It didn't even have to move.

"I know. How did I do that, you might ask? Teleportation. Wherever my holograms are. Might be even faster than you can move," Diablo teased. "Guess what? You're next."

Oberus immediately charged Diablo with a light-speed tackle, giving it zero chances to move. Diablo had its guard up in time to block it, but the sheer force behind the attack sent it crashing towards the city, plowing through several buildings in the process. Diablo looked at its arms and saw them burning. Looks like Oberus packed quite a punch.

"Wonder how that would feel if I could feel pain," Diablo responded, seemingly being unaffected by Oberus' attack.

Oberus was on the run now. Diablo had now teleported back into the sky and chased after her. Two Oberus' were headed straight for it from different directions.

"Form Analysis!" Diablo's heightened abilities allowed it to sense Oberus' body language, even though she was moving at light speed. Because of this, Diablo was able to twist itself in mid-air to dodge the tackles from both Oberus', place its hands on her backs, and throw them towards the surface to make them crash. The resulting crashes devastated the Earth, causing numerous quakes and tsunamis to form.

Upon their destruction, the real Oberus could see what caused their demise. By this time, she was way ahead of Diablo and will most likely not be caught any time soon. "Unbelievable!" Oberus panicked. The only other being who was shown to replicate that kind of advanced movement analysis was Apollonir himself.

Oberus stopped above Italy on purpose. She did not want to go back to the alliance knowing that Diablo was loose out here. If it did plan to go straight for the alliance, Oberus would be fast enough to get in its way, but for now, this was the safest route to take.

"Apollonir...I'm sorry...but I have to do this..." Oberus lamented. As it stands, she WILL have to fight Diablo...Diablo 3.

[Dasia Turano]

Oberus had her guard up to receive Diablo whenever it decided to appear. Of course, she had the Apollonir clone on standby to sense wherever the machine would go in case it chose to ignore Oberus completely and go straight for the alliance. Luckily, Diablo chose not to go to the alliance and opted to confront Oberus personally. Many would argue that Oberus was very unlucky for Diablo to make this decision.

"Smart woman. You see the inevitability in this situation, don't you?" Diablo asked, as if it knew it was going to win against the Legendary Soldier.

"Alright..." Oberus sighed to herself. "Power Windup!" Oberus shone brightly in the sky to put her destructive powers to use. A planet-wide storm had just started. Its power was great enough to essentially knock out all of the power across the planet. Random lightning strikes would also occur at random intervals.

Diablo was able to easily dodge the lightning bolts that came for it without having to look around. It casually moved its shoulders from side-to-side to keep itself safe. The powerful winds didn't seem to make it move that much either. Without announcing it, Diablo had a blade appear out of thin air and move into its hands. The insides of the weapon seemed to have the power of all six attributes flowing through it. It held it above its head so a lightning bolt could strike it. The blade absorbed the energy and then extended the energy across its entire frame. Now, whenever a lightning bolt would hit it, the energy would just be absorbed, and will continue to fuel Diablo for the entire duration of this limitless ability of Oberus'.

"Begone!" Diablo swiped the blade out in front of him. A gigantic energy wave of lightning swept across the sky and would've done serious damage to Oberus, but - as she is known to do a lot - she dodged it quite easily. What Diablo didn't know was that weather like this gives Oberus a preemptive warning on where lightning-based attacks are likely to strike, so it was playing by her rules here.

She appeared a couple of feet below Diablo after descending to dodge. "Split Echo!" Oberus charged towards Diablo so fast that she was leaving afterimages of herself. Diablo made a critical error by attempting to use its upgraded sensing abilities to detect where Oberus was in real-time; however, even that is not enough to combat Oberus.

"Idiot..." Several lightning bolts continued to strike AROUND Diablo, not directly at it. Oberus' afterimages appeared all around Diablo, some even bravely going right next to it. Diablo then swung its blade in a 360 degree angle, causing havoc across all directions. Even then - probably milliseconds after the attack had ended - Oberus latched onto Diablo's back.

"Hm!?"

"Sensor types can't track me when I'm serious," Oberus boldly declared. "Falling Star!" A green aura covered Diablo, overriding the electrical enhancement it had. Diablo was now going to be taken for a ride. Oberus launched Diablo across the sky, and the ability did the rest. It went into space at light speed, and then came right back down to Earth in the Gobi Desert where she was sure no humans would be occupying in large groups. Diablo crashed there, causing a cataclysmic earthquake to occur over there.

Oberus calmly floated in the sky, awaiting to see if Diablo was going to be the challenge it was supposed to be. "If it keeps fighting like this, I can easily stall it until the Alternative is destroyed," she told herself.

[Dasia Turano]

Diablo's fist was on the ground after the dust cleared from its apparent crash. It quickly rose back to a standing position to resume the fight. "And with that, it's over," Diablo declared. "FARBAS Evolution." Three red rings appeared above Diablo's head and descended down the frame. As it did, it glowed with a bright red light.

When this ended, Diablo quickly rose into the sky with the same speed it just traveled while acting as a comet. It used this to quickly fly straight back to Oberus at light speed, shocking the Legendary Soldier greatly.

"Wasn't gone too long, was I?" Diablo joked.

"How did you become that fast?"

"Attack me to find out," Diablo challenged. It quickly appeared in Oberus' face and threw a punch with. It barely missed Oberus, who had leaned to the right. Oberus then clung to Diablo with her claws so she could attempt a repeat of what happened before, but to her surprise, she didn't go anywhere. Her speed was now being countered by an equal force that replicated the same level of speed.

"Figure it out yet?" Diablo started amassing energy to charge an aura of his own. "Garland Claw!" Two gigantic metal hands appeared at Diablo's side. They slammed into Oberus from both sides, crushing her in its grip. The Apollonir clone was released and was steadily dropping towards Italy to avoid being hit by Diablo. The hands then slammed her straight into Italy, giving her the same treatment that it gave Diablo. This stunt likely resulted in a lot of humans being killed from the sheer destructive energies of the combatants and the plethora of buildings that fell because of it.

With Oberus out of the way for now, Diablo appeared over Italy and got ready to use the same technique it used against Tokyo. "Guess what, Oberus? I've decided to name the ability you saw me use against the people who have problems with their eyes," Diablo announced. "Bakugan Termination System!" Diablo's body accumulated Dextra energy for a brief period before a pulsar was emitted from its body. Assuming the naming of this ability was to be taken literally, it would seem like Diablo could utilize the Bakugan Termination System's power on a smaller scale.

Oberus struggled to break free from the killer grip, but when she realized she was about to be assimilated, she didn't care at all about the hands and just started running. She went at blinding speeds to escape the pulsar's range. She crashed into numerous buildings in an attempt to get the hands off of her. When one finally fell, she released her feet and started running. The Apollonir clone came to her aid in just the right moment and quickly turned into the actual Legendary Soldier, greatly shocking the mobile Oberus. He blasted Diablo's hand to get her free, then pushed her out with a pressure wave.

Oberus rebounded into the sky and was far away from Italy. Suddenly, numerous light rays beamed Oberus from multiple directions, piercing her body from multiple angles. Diablo then appeared behind her to send her off with a parting gift.

"Figure it out yet?" Diablo asked once again. It ran its blade through Oberus. It let go of this blade so the momentum would carry her into the ocean.

[Dasia Turano]

Diablo's blade appeared to be very strong. Its use of Dextra energy meant that it could cleave through Oberus without any problems. In fact, it's doubtful if there's anything it can't cut through right now.

Oberus was thinking about that, despite having taken a mortal blow and being left to drown in her remaining seconds of life. "Looks like even my power can't stand up to this one... He adapted to my main advantage... What am I to do without that when it's already stronger than me...?" she mused. "Maybe..."

The ocean started turning green upon Oberus making a tough decision. The entire Earth began to rumble in accordance to her rising power. "Second Wind!" The ocean circled around Oberus as she rose from it. Diablo's blade was disintegrated. Her wound closed up. A steady flow of energy coursed through her body that packed way more power than she previously had.

"Huh. You survived. Very impressive," Diablo commented.

"What a polite bastard you are," a voice rang behind Diablo. Without turning around, it knew Apollonir had arrived to the scene.

"Ah, Apollonir. What a nice surprise. I meant to greet you just like I did with Oberus, but you know. Gots to assimilate my subjects."

"Where is it?"

"Where's what?"

"You know what I'm talking about! Where's that damn machine!?"

"...You're talking about me?"

Having had enough of Diablo's trolling, Apollonir loudly roared as he entered combat. He charged straight forward and swung across Diablo's face. As expected, it went under to dodge. During that time, Apollonir disregarded Diablo completely and looked Oberus straight in the eye. His scales turned black as he entered the Hex Code. He winked at her. What this meant to Oberus was coming at Diablo full force.

"..." Oberus had an uneasy reminder of what Apollonir was hinting toward. Back when Oberus rested her beak atop of Apollonir's head before leaving the battle with the Alternative, Apollonir told her something very crucial that was abut to be put to practice.

"The smaller ships may be distorting my sensing abilities. Diablo and the BT System may already be here. We just don't know it yet. This Alternative MUST be taken down before we can have a chance at doing anything else, so...I'm going to take a gamble here, and it may cost me my life..."

Oberus shed a small tear as she screeched and rushed towards Diablo. This time, it was with more ferocity than she showed before. With Second Wind, Oberus temporarily goes beyond her limits. Her health is replenished, and - on top of her max health - gets a health bonus proportionate to the level of force inflicted upon her.

Diablo was able to back away from Apollonir and attempt to counter Oberus' advance. To its surprise, Oberus evaded. Diablo could not track Oberus at all, which indicated that she's able to travel at speeds beyond light speed.

"This Alternative is a distraction. That part is obvious. If there's a risk of it being destroyed, she has no reason not to deploy Diablo or the BT System. Our best chance is to believe that something can be done about Noland and Drago's descent into darkness. Diablo outranks us in power, but I can take it out of the battle."

Oberus clung to Diablo and hung on for dear life. She crawled around it, clawing it in multiple places in the process. While Diablo was rather annoyed at Oberus doing this, it wasn't noticeably impaired. It was building up power to repel her right this instance, but even that was too slow. By then, Oberus locked it in place, and it was all over...for now...

"My Hex Code carries an ability that will instantly induce death, and then gradually erase the target from existence depending on how powerful they are...and me along with them. Oblivion Departure X."

Apollonir used this exact ability on Diablo. His life energy exited his body in the form of a ghostly Dragonoid head. It seized Diablo, instantly placing it in a death state. Over time, Diablo's very existence will wear away. Unfortunately, as a cost for being a mortal who can instantly kill someone like this, Apollonir was placed in this same state.

"I can cancel at any time thanks to the Switch Code, so don't worry about me... Diablo might find a way to reactivate itself, so this is all the time you're going to get. Get my son out of there, and destroy the Alternative before it happens. You're the only one I can count on to do something this crazy. I believe in you."

Oberus blew both Apollonir and Diablo into the ocean. Without looking back, Oberus left the scene of the battle and went back to assist with the destruction of the Alternative, just like Apollonir had requested.

"I always have..."

[Vince Hardy]

(Final Stretch)

Dasia's wrath has reached a whole new plateau. With the news of Diablo 3's release and the possibility of the BT System being out circulating throughout the minds of the Legendary Soldiers, the people inside of the Alternative needed to do their jobs RIGHT NOW or it's all over.

"We are in quite the predicament. We will be responsible for claiming the lives of most of our allies - in addition to some of yours - if we cause the Alternative to explode, but there is currently no other way to secure victory," Lars Lion sadly explained.

"However...I do have a theory on how we can stop the apocalyptic consequences," she hoped. "I've read a lot about Vestroian history. It turns out that the Pyrus species has a special affinity for this. I know of one species in particular who can command the element better than a Dragonoid can."

She had her eyes centered on Helios for that obvious explanation. "I wonder who that could be..."

[Damian Knight]

This was asking A LOT for Damian. He knew what Lars Lion was hinting at. He was the only one who could guarantee that no one dies from the Alternative exploding; however...there was one small issue with that plan.

To do that, Helios would have to enter the Fourth Layer. Damian's facial expression confirmed this. He showed a hint of unwillingness to make this move. There's an obvious reason why he hasn't made use of its power AT ALL. He'd have been better off if he chose not to reveal that he could do such a thing; nevertheless, the Legendary Soldiers - namely Apollonir - knows that the apex of Helios' power is menacing and would be a trump card.

"..." Damian knew they didn't have the time to think this over. He had no choice but to surrender to their wishes. It was the only way... He can't just throw his life away and not cause any damage. That'd be unlike him.

"Okay..." Damian reluctantly accepted. "Helios..."

"No need to say it. I already know," Helios growled. "You all better watch CLOSELY at what I can REALLY do."

"As much as I want to say something trollish one last time to all of you, I'll spare you the comment. Dasia has pissed me off and humiliated me beyond what I can handle, and now I have the opportunity to exact my revenge, even though I know what's going to happen to me afterwards," Damian spoke to the entire group. "Deon and Yita, this is farewell. Yeah, I know. It's about time, right? Keep the Resistors alive. That's my final command."

He then looked at the four Resistors who were there in front of them. He didn't look at them as enemies or people to annoy. Right now, they were allies...even capable warriors.

"It's been a lot of fun for me - well, maybe not for you. As strange as it sounds, thanks for looking at me as an enemy. It kept things fun for me when I otherwise wouldn't have had any fun. Just get it done. I'll keep my end of the bargain if you keep yours."

[Noland Hardy]

Hearing Damian making it sound like whatever he was going to do would kill him, Noland had a flashback to the explosive rival battle he had with him once they started getting serious. He remembered Helios saying something very specific.

"If I had a body to waste to use the Fourth Layer on you, none of you would be here right now."

To see a selfish prick like Damian accept the reality that he's going to put himself in mortal danger for the sake of everyone's survival allowed the Spartan to finally earn Noland's respect. Noland didn't feel the need to offer any words for what Damian was about to do. All he did was walk to him and extend his hand.

"You can't even sound sincere without adding selfishness into it. What a joke," Noland reflected on. "Guess you have to remain a 'Damian' all the way to the end, huh? Oh well... Just gotta respect that."

Noland and Damian shook hands, effectively ending their feud on good terms. Now it was all on the Resistors and the two Spartans that were with them.

"It's all on you now. We don't have anymore time to waste. Get in there and bring this fortress down," Lars Lion urged.

The path to the core was open. Everyone except for Lars Lion, Damian, and Helios poured into the path that leads to it. Lars Lion conjured a door to prevent anything from getting in or out. It was a one-way street for all of them at this point.