Stellar Ascent: Part 6

*The battle rages on. Last time, the mercenary Ryos and his new apprentice (?) Poppet met their match against the unconventional tactics and long-range barrages of Gamound and Stell*. *While that unlikely duo chips away at their foes from afar, **Ainer and Diane** are still in dire peril up north! At first, the ragtag rebels found themselves surrounded by another unlikely team-up: **Etwal and Ixa!** The Empyreal Realm's greatest champion had indeed struck a deal with the world's most feared headhunter to bring down the insurgents that had scarred the pride of his nation. Things were going well - Ainer had successfully taken down Ixa's cloaked robots, and Diane had systematically shot down all of Etwal's jets and bombers. But why does victory seem so far away?*

Diane's robots slid and dove through the ever-rising snow. She knew this enemy well, he was the sword-swinging saint of her old homeland. Every season her family would gossip on the feats of **Etwal**, but she had seen them with her own eyes, over and over. In her past life, she was one of his entourage - a marksman who would guard The Hero Etwal's many blind spots from afar. She had shot hundreds of missiles of out the sky, intercepted fleets of anti-air robots, and countered enemy snipers, always moments before or after Etwal's excessive force decimated the enemy's robot battalions.

Her skill, her salary, her status - Diane owed everything she had to Etwal in one way or another. She owed her current life to Etwal too.

A silver ribbon flashed and shot through the trees, before disappearing again. Diane kept on the move, she had to maintain distance.  She had to hide and wait for an opening.  Etwal's most powerful robot - the most powerful robot in the world - now meant to wipe her from existence with every stroke of its blade. This was the *Excel-Gan.*

Blazing fast. A nigh-impenetrable shield. A sword that could extend and hit you a quarter-mile away. A devastating ability that increases its power when surrounded by destroyed robots. No weak points, you just had to shoot it until it went down. That has never happened.

On the day Etwal awakened its power, Diane was the only survivor on either side of that battle. She had witnessed the dawn of the Empyreal Realm's new reign of dominance, and the end of any usefulness she had. Battered, broken and beyond the border, Diane vowed to never stake her life on loyalty to a nation ever again.

She was running out of trees, it was now or never. She new his blind spots. All around the *Excel-Gan*, Diane's remaining four robots revealed themselves and struck at once. An electric shock to stun it in place! A bomb blast to kick up debris! A high-power laser that tore straight through the ash cloud! And finally, Diane shot for the kill - a singe shell to drill between the robot's four eyes.

Before she could command the trigger to be pulled, her *ARM-777's* rife split into pieces, and a ribbon-like blade  bisected it down the middle. It was over. Diane may have spent years as a tactical marksman, but nothing could compare to raw power and instinct. *Excel-Gan* was still locked in place, but she had no more firepower. As soon as it could attack again, things would be very bad for her.

For just a moment, she blamed Ainer. Not for being a no-show, but for dragging her into this battle to begin with. Diane never vowed revenge on Etwal. She never wanted to lead an insurrection. She certainly didn't value dying after surviving nearly this same situation by chance just a few months ago. And yet she made the decision be here.

Diane emerged and gazed up at the massive machine.

"Sir Etwal! Today, I bet my life that we could defeat you! Dying for the sake of ending your life is far better than dying to protect you from your own incompetence!"

Etwal emerged and stood atop the frozen Excel-Gan's shoulder.

"Should I know who you are?" he projected his voice over the storm.

Diane raised her rifle and took the shot. Etwal jerked, his hat flying away in the wind. He corrected his posture and spit the bullet out.

"Well, I tried." Diane muttered and sighed.

"I have no respect for such petty tricks." Etwal disappeared behind the robot again.

It was time for plan B. A light flashed behind the *Excel-Gan*and Diane's three remaining robots united into one. The new robot blitzed around and picked Diane up - it was an EIS-Class robot, fast and fragile, but it had a better chance than its trio of components. As it flew away it shot laser after laser at Etwal's machine, slowing it down but not much else.

It was time to find Ainer.