The Twin Fang writhed with anticipation at Raul's words, springing to life as it began to bounce around. Raul always spun to match its movements, keeping himself face to face with his opponent. With a skillful assassin, one could never let them flank you or leave your sight. It was easy to watch them dance around you and save energy, but in a flash they could rip you apart, and someone with the weapons of the Twin Fang only needed to land a single blow in order to incapacitate him. "I haven't found pleasure in a dance in just so long. Nobody ever seems to last."

Raul grit his teeth as he spun out of the way of a lunge from his opponent. Her words almost entranced him, drawing out a curiosity about her particular insanity and methods. But as she spoke them, she attacked, creating a disorienting pattern. She knew who she was up against, and knew it well. Her style was especially potent against other assassins, for when she opened herself up to analysis, that was when she struck. It meant that Raul would have to ignore training and trying to find a weakness, and would focus more on instinct.

It was always a possibility that his training could carry him through this duel more than his observational skills. He just had to keep in mind that the woman may shift her style once she discovered he was no longer biting. "This is how you dance then?" Raul said, skirting to the side of a downward slash. He tried to retaliate with his own hidden blade, but the Twin Fang was already there, her dagger parrying it and turning the attack aside. "It seems rather boring."

"It has to be," came the immediate response, with no change in emotion. "One cannot simply tango or waltz in their first moments. It must be gradual and slow, and it must build into a moment of pure passion." The two entered back into their dance macabre, neither wishing to strike first, each watching the other for the next move as they encircled each other. So it only gets worse form here then, Raul thought.

The fighters entered into a stalemate, neither holding an advantage over the other. Raul certainly preferred quick strikes and assassinations, and to attack when he held some element of surprise, but it seemed this woman enjoyed staring down her opposition, and engaging in duels where she slowly chipped away. She had incited all of this, after all, when she probably could have attempted something craftier. It jus didn't make sense why she would do it though, because her fighting style wasn't suited to these duels either. She kept attempting quick jabs and barbs, and her weapon was designed to incapacitate in a single blow. Nothing she was doing indicated she wanted this fight either. So why engage in it?

Raul ducked an overhead swing and flipped backwards, anticipating the feint and follow-up. He was already calculating all of the possible combinations that could be chained with those two strikes, but as he hit his feet, he saw the Twin Fang back to standing across from him. It seemed his opponent was ready to hesitate, or was willing to toy with him and delay things, stretching them out unnecessarily. The two of them should have been exchanging blows, not staring at each other again. "Where's the fun if you aren't going to actually fight?"

"The dance itself is the fun. The flowing, the ebbing, the motions, these are things that hold fun in them. It is not in the moves themselves, but what happens between the moves."

"She makes no sense," Raul muttered, leaping back to counter the woman's own forward jump. He grabbed the shuriken from his back and deflected the dagger from the Twin Fang, keeping the motion going until he reset the weapon on his back. He needed to make larger strikes. Constantly dodging and blocking these tiny attacks would eventually lead to a mistake, to some sort of little scratch that would disable at least a portion of his Goliath, and then it was over. This was what she meant by the dance when she had spoken before, and Raul could feel himself being pulled into her web of movements and motions. All of it was an intricate trap designed to seduce and deceive, and the young pilot had to admire the technique of his opponent momentarily.

There was a counter though, even if it was not something Raul usually preferred: overwhelming force. Breaking through the dance by overpowering it was the fastest route out of this fight before it became too late. Another lunge forward from the enemy forced Raul to step back in order to dodge, the blade sliding by his shoulder before quickly withdrawing. The young man didn't wait, using his back heel to push into the ground and spring forwards, both hidden blades shooting out from the wrist-mounts on his Goliath. One of them immediately smashed aside the woman's arm as it came up to defend, his other sword slicing downwards from above in an effort to slice the Twin Fang's cerebral unit in half.

The assault worked, as the Goliath began to split into two equal parts, straight through the middle from the top. But it rapidly became apparent to Raul that it was not his weapon doing the damage; the Goliath was dividing all on its own, breaking into two halves. Each leg began to bend before extending outwards, splitting the battlesuit even faster as the new halves jumped to the sides.

"So it's like that, is it?" Raul smirked, watching the two semi-Goliaths each turn to retaliate with their own weapons. He knew he was caught, that he had fallen victim to the true trap lying beneath the web of dance.

"We never enjoy those who rush through the dance," the first voice said.

"They always ruin the mood," came the second voice, as the Twin Fang plunged its knife into the Blue Blur, releasing its oils into the warmachine's systems.

Raul saw the responses across his viewscreens, multiple warnings going off simultaneously before they all shut down, the device's mobility crippled instantly, followed by its communication systems, and lastly its internal computers. His Goliath fell to its knees before toppling forwards, smashing into the ground, sending vibrations through its interior that rattled the youth's skull. "So the Twin Fang has a deeper meaning," Raul mumbled to himself, slowly unstrapping his body from his chair. "One that isn't registered in any database on the general. I would assume that anyone who meets them and sees that trick doesn't survive to report back about it. We'll see if I can change that."

There was a rumbling as the Twin Fang shifted outside the fallen Goliath, reassembling into its original form. The sisters in operation of the device stared down at their slain enemy before speaking to each other, letting their voices boom out into the air around them so that they could taunt Raul. "Your time was fun, but it comes to an end."

"As our first partner for the day, we give our respects to you."

"In that respect, shall we not let you be the last to die?"

"Quite! The first to dance, the last to fall."

"What is it like to dance around one who is disabled? Will their despair, their fear, spurn us on?"

"Let it be the great inspiration for our next masterpiece!" And with that, the pair were gone, dashing off towards the main conflict, no longer satisfied with tormenting someone they had already defeated.

* * * * *

Rex's sword cleaved straight through another Goliath, dividing the body in half from shoulder to hip. He had passed straight through the cockpit, but there had not been a single second where the death of the pilot within the machine had crossed his mind. There was only survival now, only fighting. These were the ranged battlesuits, the ones that had tried to shoot from down from afar. It was their fault they were falling, their fault they were losing. Whatever happened to them was their own responsibility, for it was they who had fought dirty at first.

A bullet passed by the boy's shoulder, blasting a hole through the head of an approaching Artisan machine. The Goliath stumbled forwards and toppled to the ground, its gun bouncing off the earth and spinning up into the air, before crashing back down. Slightly confused, Rex paused to glance back over his shoulder, the cameras across his battlesuit adjusting and zooming in to identify Nami with her smoking gun. It hadn't been a missed shot from a new enemy; just a helpful shot from an ally.

The young boy shook his head a bit, the world snapping back into focus around him. Visions of chi, of life pulsing around him, melted away and were replaced by his cockpit in its entirety, lights flickering, viewscreens shifting in the air as they changed angles and brought up new information, the controls within his hands, all of it. He blinked a few times to help rapidly adjust, and tried to follow with what was happening. "What's...what's going on?" he asked, twisting around to look back at his comrades. He pulled his sword out from the wreckage of an Artisan Goliath as the final shots rang out across the battlefield. The last of the Artisan troops had fallen.

"We could ask you the same thing," Ardwen replied, watching everything from a distance with Nami and Riya. The two females had executed the last of the soldiers, and were finally beginning to lower their weapons and rest. Ardwen had stayed between them as assistance, his Goliath not designed for extended or intense combat. He could certainly act as a pathfinder for his two partners though, spotting targets and calling out incoming attacks.

"It was rather fascinating to watch," Irina cut in, reminding everyone who had accompanied the students and been placed in charge. Her own Goliath was covered in specks of ice, tiny crystals having formed across her body as she had wantonly used her chi to obliterate enemies. There were numerous warmachines left out on the battlefield, skewered on spears of ice, trapped within a frozen coffin, or lacking limbs that had been shattered. "But it would seem we have halted the extermination party for now. A rather excessive group to have included a few generals like that."

"A few?" Ardwen responded, but was instantly answered with a crash. Rex's Goliath was suddenly twitching, a pink, electric whip wrapped around its chest. In a blur, there was a new Goliath standing next to him, the end of the mechanical whip attached to its forearm. And then, as quickly as it had happened, it withdrew the whip, letting it recoil back into its arm, the weapon sliding off of Rex, leaving a trail of gouged metal and exposed circuitry. The pink-shaded battlesuit bent down, laying a metallic rose down on Rex's chest, before stretching back up, massive eyes twisted and shifting to examine the remains of the battlefield.

"Who does not listen to the laughter of the Jade Jester?" the voice from the machine echoed out, altered by technology within it to give it a metallic feeling. Lengthy fingers moved back and forth individually, as though they were stretching, impatiently waiting for the next move to happen. One leg came up, the warmachine's foot, coming down to stand atop the fallen Rex. The rose laid on the boy's chest exploded, metal petals shooting across the Goliath, electrifying to further cripple it and ensure it was no longer functional.

"Jade Jester?" Riya questioned, poking Ardwen in the back as she hoped for more information out of the usual source. "Who is that?"

"The Rose Thorn General," Irina answered, faster than Ardwen could pull the information. Almost all generals within the countries knew of their peers and equivalents around the world, for it would be them who met in combat ultimately. It was a waste to have them remove of peons on either side. They could simply fight one another and the winner would most likely be able to defeat the remaining forces. "I would advise against trying to engage her."

"She would be outnumbered though, even without Rex or Raul." Ardwen was already drawing up his calculations and plans for potential engagements.

"A dance is not a dance if there are not enough participants." The Twin Fang landed gracefully between Irina and the students, both daggers out to the sides in preparation. "Let the children play with me and learn," the general said over her shoulder, directing the comment towards Irina.

"Come enjoy the Jester's show," the Rose Thorn General added, a pink blade formed of energy projecting out from the other mount on her battlesuit's wrist.

"Suit yourself," Irina replied, striding forwards to match with her challenger, leaving the three remaining to duel with the Twin Fang.

"Then how do we-" Ardwen was cut off as he was shoved aside by the Twin Fang, as it had already identified the two larger threats out of the three. Nami and Riya both started to pull away from each other, trying to gain separation and make things harder, but the Twin Fang immediately began to split in half, instantly revealing its trick to catch the students off-guard. "Now!" Ardwen shouted out, and the two girls stopped their motions away from each other, suddenly lunging forwards to counter the Twin Fang.

Caught in two halves, and wrapped up in the trap, the general froze for a moment, hesitation coursing through the usual flow of her dance and assassinations. Riya got to her first, her massive Goliath dwarfing the half, and she wrapped it up in a bear hug, squeezing it tight and inhibiting its movements. Nami did much the same, but her sleek suit still struggled, and she had to pin her half between herself and her massive rifle, holding it close to her chest to restrict it from stabbing her with the dreaded knives.

"You can't expect me not to see every part of the battlefield." Ardwen smirked, lording his victory over his opponent. "You work solely on an element of surprise and trickery, but you're up against someone who does nothing but watch. When you don't have a talent for combat, you better at least be good at paying attention." Ardwen gave a thumbs up, a grumble the only response from the sisters in their machines. Riya, seeing the signal, grabbed the Goliath at the shoulder and hip and began to pull, the immense strength within her warmachine coming out in full force, as the half-battlesuit was torn in two, ripped apart at the chest by Riya. Fluids spurted out, spraying across The Warlord and ground around the young woman, and the cockpit toppled out, smashing onto the ground and rolling slightly before coming to a stop.

Nami, in a much weaker Goliath, was struggling just to keep her half of the Twin Fang down, and had had to fall backwards onto the ground, doing everything she could to hold her opponent to her body. Ardwen dashed over and settled on top of the two to further pin down the enemy, the hand of Mother Gaia reaching up to rest on the partial skull of the Twin Fang. Using what strength he had, the teen squeezed tight, crushing the cerebral unit of the battlesuit, before tossing it to the side.

But against such a tricky opponent, Ardwen didn't want to take any risks. He punched into the side of the crippled Goliath, ripping out wiring and hydraulic tubes anywhere he could. A machine that could split in two could also have an entirely different means of controlling itself, or a whole new spinal set. With the potency that this particular opponent carried, having already downed Raul, nothing could be left to chance, and by the time Ardwen was done, the Twin Fang barely resembled its former self, as it was a mess of spilled wires and parts scattered all around it.

"That wasn't an exciting dance," Irina said, seeing everything on one of her viewscreens as she taunted her opponent.

"There is only one true performer in the universe, and they guide my hand," came the response, and the general gave a slight bow as though indicating she was ready to begin.

"We'll see if your god holds your hand once it's frozen," Irina spat, her eyes already beginning to faintly glow blue as chi coursed through her battlesuit.

"All this talk of gods, as though they don't exist." A foreign voice, new yet familiar, interrupted the stand-off between the two powerhouse fighters. "When you have always been in the presence of one." Syn stepped out from behind the head of the Rose Thorn General, his tiny, white frame visible on the massive shoulder of the machine. "You all seek salvation from a higher power, when you can simply have it granted by me."

"Salvation isn't murder, Syn," Sigma said, dropping down from low orbit and hovering next to Irina. He had watched from above, as discussed between himself and Irina, on a hunch that Syn may be drawn to the conflict, or that he could be behind such a large force extinguishing villages. It was hard to imagine the psychotic android would pass up an opportunity to be authorized to kill.

"Ah, my compatriot arrives, my brother, my kin. Like the ancient gods of long-dead cultures, we come together to bicker about the value of those beneath us." Syn inspected his bladed fingertips, obviously bored with the conversation that was keeping him from killing. "It is interesting how history repeats itself, isn't it? But, of course, those folktales were nothing but myth and fantasy. We are very real."

"My hope is that only one of us walks away from this still real," Sigma responded, eyes narrowing as he suppressed a surge of emotion within him. He had had to come to grips with what it meant to feel again, to gain control over the influx of emotions that could suddenly burst out at him, and existed as an opposite to his computational brain.

"So it's a trap then? Or was I baiting you? Who was tricking who here, I wonder? Everyone knows I would want to come along with a murder party, and everyone knows you would want to prevent a murder party, so which one was it? Or are we mad? Is this mutually assured destruction? Will we both go everywhere in an effort to thwart the other simply by our presence?"

"You're getting your words mixed up. I'm mad, you're insane." As Sigma spoke, the slot on his palm opened up, purple light radiating outwards as energy began to gather.

Syn simply waved a finger at his adversary, folding his arms and shaking his head. "Not sure you'll want to start blowing things up, brother. You know as well as I do that if we fight, he comes." Syn pointed downwards, revealing the shared understanding that Ur'Wrath was always out there, stalking the two and waiting for them to reveal themselves. Sigma's fist clenched, hiding the energy attack that had been building, and he grit his teeth at the reminder. "But, of course, fear has never been a driving factor in my actions."