Rex ducked to dodge his opponent's swinging mace, rolling to the side to additionally avoid the barrage of missiles that crashed into the ground where he had been just moments before. The young boy carried his momentum into a spring upwards, one that put him back on his feet, and the tip of his sword flicked forwards, slicing through the arm of his enemy. This was dangerous and challenging. This was kind of fun.

"Keep focused, Rex!" Ardwen shouted, landing between the duelling Goliaths. The orbs hovering around Mother Gaia swivelled and spun in the air, two of them firing off lasers at the Artisan Goliath while one tried to do some repairs cleaning up knicks along the Whisper. "We need to maintain the front line for Nami and Riya." Ardwen nodded back at the two girls, partnered up with each other, using their extended range to stay safe.

Much the same tactic was being applied by the enemy forces as well. As soon as both sides collided with each other, they had scattered into similar formations, throwing all ranged units into the backline while the close-combat fighters engaged one another, searching for an opportunity to break through. Rex was no exception. He and Ardwen were the only two who were capable of fighting up close, even if it wasn't Ardwen's strength, and so they were given the daunting task of protecting those behind them. Raul, though talented hand-to-hand, was already gone, diving into the enemy in an effort to slip through to find better targets.

An immense spear of ice shot up from the ground, shooting straight through the chest of an approaching battlesuit, skewering it in place, reminding everyone of Irina's presence. While she lacked any weapons on the Jabberwocky, her incredible manipulation of her chi powers provided more than enough firepower. "War is relentless; those who participate in it must be equally ruthless, or they will fall. Hesitation is the enemy of ruthlessness." Irina's eyes burned a fierce blue inside her cockpit as she spoke, and her words made the rest of the students shudder. The woman had lost any semblance of her heart when General McCormack had died, and now seemed only to seek combat and death. "Do not pause to contemplate your enemy; do not stop to remind each other of what must be done. Only go forward and do." An icy claw formed underneath one of the approaching Goliaths, the fingers shooting up and wrapping around the chases. It began to slowly close, piercing through the metal armour and crushing the mechanical components inside. The chest attempted to open, hydraulics screaming in an effort to move the entrance to the cockpit. There was a very loud grating noise, the machinations fuelling the motion of the chest failing, as the ice drew closer, slowly strangling the life out of the pilot inside.

Rex gulped as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. There had always been combat games with his uncle, lots of fake wrestling and fighting, some boxing matches, and some duelling with holograms in the Whisper. But there was never any risk, never any loss. There was no human toll to every execution he performed. Nobody died when he tussled with his uncle. Seeing the Goliath's cockpit trying to open was a stark reminder of the people inside the machines, and the lives they were trying to preserve.

You'll fight or you'll die.

The boy stumbled forward, narrowly avoiding a lunge from an opposing swordsman. Rex threw out his fist, knocking away the enemy as their attack drifted by. His fingers trembled around his controls though, shakily moving himself through the motions he had practiced so much.

If you aren't winning...

...kill them all bef....

.....then you're losing...

...ore you die....

Rex's grip tightened, and his sword flashed through the air, slicing straight through the Goliath next to him. Fluids shot out in response, spraying across the glassy form of the Whisper, smearing across its armour. The circuits within it glowed and shifted, constantly moving in reaction to the power flowing through them. The youth spun, his blade flying around with him, passing cleanly through the chest of the next Goliath, one attempting to catch him by surprise, severing the entire body into two. Another mixture of liquids burst from the machine, but there was a tiny amount of blood mixed in, dwarfed by the amount of fluid within one of the warmachines. It splashed across Rex's Goliath, mingling with what was already there.

The young boy stabbed his sword into the ground, taking a moment to stretch his arms up into the sky, then do a few twists. "Come on guys," he said, beaming in his cockpit, "we have to win right?" And he was urged on once more from within.

Suddenly, Rex was everywhere. The incredible speed he had displayed in his fight against Porter was out in full force, shocking those who were unaware of it. Irina only smirked, having been informed previously by Mr/ Shotuku about Rex's capabilities. His mighty broadsword, wielded with unbelievable speed and grace, was able to shear through any foe, and if it couldn't cut through them cleanly, the force of being hit by it sent foes flying.

Bullets grazed the boy's body, one of them piercing straight through his hand, while another embedded in his hand. Those were risks he didn't want to deal with. They could kill him without him ever reacting, and that wasn't fair. That wasn't fair at all. And unfair things should die to help keep him safe, to make things fair. He sprinted forwards, his sword flashing as he sliced an opposing battlesuit into three parts. He was able to make out every enemy, never glancing at his readings or radar. Computers within the Whisper were trying to analyze information and pull location data to give him a clearer picture on what he was up against, and where everyone was located, but he didn't need it. He could feel them, see them all in his mind, see the flow of all the life around him. He knew precisely where they were, and where they were coming from, and he knew where he had to go to remove them. It was how he could sit in his cockpit, eyes closed, giant smile spread across his face.

"Let's go everybody," he reiterated, urging the group on once more as he dashed forwards. He could sense Raul dipping in and out of combat, taking strikes at opponents before fading away once again. Irina's energy was spread throughout the battlefield, and creeped up along Rex. It was everywhere, growing constantly as it pulsed out from her body. Periodically it would form into something and shoot up from the ground, sometimes catching a Goliath, sometimes missing. The enemy was on to her tricks after her earlier strikes, so she wasn't as effective in her executions anymore, but it didn't seem to stop her from what Rex could see.

It was that sight that caused Rex to suddenly freeze, a massive explosion detonating just in front of him, where he would have been if he had kept moving. The hulking body of a Rhino-class crashed down into the same spot shortly after, sending up a second wave of dirt and rock into the air, as if the Earth had been struck by a meteor.

"It's not very often that someone can dodge my surprise attacks you know." There was a deep laugh from inside the warmachine, fuelled by the enormous girth of the man who piloted the device. "It takes a special kind of fighter to be able to do that. And boy, you must be some special kind of fighter to take on General Giuliano." The man's battlesuit straightened up as it stood to its full height, slightly taller than the average machine, and Rex's. For a bulkier class of Goliath, it still maintained the artfulness of the Artisan style, its body coated in curving armour, polished to a shine. The only weapon on the battlesuit was a shoulder-mounted cannon, which had a trail of wires streaming out from behind it that hard-wired it into the head of the Goliath. It was a warmachine known to anyone around as the Belching Bear, partially in jest towards its operator, but Rex didn't care to check his monitors and read such information. All he cared about was this new obstacle.

"You're in the way."

"Boy, I would think that you're in our way. We're the ones trying to go places." The rumble of the man's laugh poured out into the public broadcast, and the cannon on his right shoulder swivelled to take aim at Rex. "I only get one of those surprises with my aerial bombardment, and you went and wasted it." The man's fist slammed down on his panel as his jolly tone suddenly grew fiercely angry. "I don't like when people ruin my surprises!" Before the cannon had even finished firing, Rex was rolling out of the way, and the shot passed by harmlessly, detonating in the air behind them.

"You don't shoot bullets?" Rex's question partially came out as a bit of a statement, as he both queried why there were no bullets, but was well aware of the fact.

"Hmm, you must have some kind of talent to know that already." Giuliano scratched his chin within his cockpit, the sound of his fingers grating against the stubble along his skin echoing out through the comm network. "Usually takes people longer than that to figure it out. But you are correct, I worked at concentrating my chi energy into a single point, and just like that, you can shoot it at someone else, if you do it right. But then you went and ruined it all." The man's tone dropped rapidly as he finished his sentence, his voice constantly shifting between that of a pleasant, joyous relative, and a fearsome murderer.

More bullets whizzed past the pair as Artisan's snipers attempted to shoot around their compatriot and take out Rex from a distance. It reminded the boy of just what the problem was, and how unfair it was that he could be killed from so far away. "You're in the way," Rex repeated, leaning to either side as he searched for a way around the man. "You can't be in the way, that isn't fair. I need to go kill those people back there before they get to shoot me, and you're in the way. That's not fair."

Giuliano chuckled. "Life isn't fair, boy. You have a long way to go before you realize that."

"You're right." Rex ducked the next shot from his opponent, and a large explosion tore through the ground behind him as he dashed forwards, moving at a blinding pace. His entire machine was a blur as he sprinted up to the Belching Bear, his enormous blade slashing across its chest, leaving deep gouges in the thick plating. He spun around before the General could react, moving to the side and then sliding around to the back of the battlesuit. Without hesitation, he plunged his sword straight through the Goliath, and it pierced through weakened front of the warmachine a moment later. "Life is unfair. But that is why I will make it fair."

And just like that, Rex took off once more like a rocket, making a beeline for the ranged Artisan units, leaving the lifeless husk of the Belching Bear to topple to the ground.

* * * * *

Raul withdrew the dagger from the Artisan's neck, severing the connection with the core processing in the machine's head. And then he was gone again, dashing backwards, away form the combat area. He didn't necessarily have a means of hiding out here in the grasslands, but he could at least constantly create separation between himself and the main fighting. Everything was happening in a fairly straightforward manner, as Irina had predicted, meaning he was free to flank as he saw fit, without much consequence.

For now, the ninja's aim was to remove some of the long-distance forces, as best he could, to free up Rex and Ardwen. Riya and Nami were going to be putting in a lot of work, forced to make up the entire backline in a major firefight. The last time they had fought on this scale, it had been with the backing of the Enian and Artisan armies. Now they were only six, fending off over thirty Goliaths, lead by three generals.

It seemed like a bit of overkill to be sending in such a strike force just to clean out a few towns, but if the government wanted a show of strength, they were getting it. This many battlesuits would certainly be more than enough to terrify any locals who were considering joining a rebellious movement, and would reassert the beliefs of conservatives who held faith in the government. It was a powerful move, and had no risks since the Artisans would have never assumed they would be encounter any serious resistance, particularly in the form of Goliaths. It was why this army appeared to be largely composed of young, rookie pilots who only had a modicum of experience. It meant that even though the numbers were heavily stacked against the defendants, their abilities helped to even things out.

"Would you care to dance, handsome?" Raul spun around to face this new challenger. It was a Mongoose-class battlesuit, lithe and long, thing and agile. Information was already popping up all across Raul's viewscreens as he prepared for this foe.

"The Twin Fang is it?" Raul read the name off his screen out loud, letting the woman on the other end hear him. He was already forming plans of attack in his mind, trying to analyze what would be coming. It seemed that the Twin Fang, as a Goliath, was equipped with two blades, ones that functioned similarly to the hidden one that could slide in and out from under Raul's wrist. The only difference, was that the Twin Fang's weapons were coated in some sort of liquid that was designed to mix with the fluid's inside a Goliath and cause them to seal. For lack of a better term, Raul would have to consider it a poison, and fight her with that in mind. It wasn't unusual, especially after the training he had received during his childhood from Reaver, for Raul to deal with such situations. It was just that normally it was in hand-to-hand combat. He hadn't really imagined someone could poison a robotic machine.

"Oh, the pretty man knows my name?" The woman's voice was sultry and smooth, filled with mixed intentions and emotions. "I feel so flattered. Why don't you come over here and really show me how you feel. Come and express it to me with your body."

Raul glanced over towards the rest of the firefight. He watched Rex dashing in between foes, slicing them apart with ease. Behind the boy lay the body of one of the generals; Giuliano from the readings. The child was a monster, not entirely because of his exceptional speed and ability, but more so in his efficiency. He never paused or hesitated. There were no staredowns between him and new opponents. He spent no time analyzing or planning, only diving headlong into the fight so he could kill someone else. He was a reaper, a god of death that only understood a massacre. He was everything Raul's teacher had wanted in the ideal student, and in Raul himself.

The pilot sighed, turning back to face the Twin Fang. It seemed everything was in order with everyone else, so he could afford to take a moment to incapacitate this general. "Very well, let's dance."