Syn licked the warm blood off of his cold metal skin and relished the taste that registered in his mouth, letting it tingle a little before spitting it back to the ground. It was not his blood of course, for he could not bleed. As he had been flying he had swooped too low at such a high speed that he collided with a soldier on the ground, and the man had instantly vaporized into a mist of blood, the rest of his body burned away by Syn's passing.

It was such a pity that Syn's playground was cluttered with all these fragile objects. The android rolled out of the way of an energy beam that cut through the air and then a tank, slicing it clean in half. The purple projectile had come from Sigma, Syn's newest obsession and sparring partner, though he fought with him like less of an opponent and more like puppies practicing.

The setting sun reflected its brilliant orange across the metal of the two cyborgs, sending glimmers and rays shooting through the air as the duo continued their deadly dance. Syn's razor claws shot out as he dashed for Sigma in a surprise strike. His opponent barely pulled back enough to dodge most of the blow, leaving Syn to rake across Sigma's chest.

"Brother, this is too much fun! But must we always be fighting like this? I remember when we first met. You were so intent with your causes, so resolved to solve all the problems you thought existed. Now look at you! Fighting a stranger because you don't like how they look? How strange."

"Shut up you killer!" Sigma lashed forward with his fist, enveloping it in the purple energy he stored within himself. It crackled through the air before Syn brushed it aside with his own hand. Sigma attempted to follow through with an uppercut but Syn caught this one and tossed Sigma into the air playfully.

"You'll never win with those kinds of moves, no way now. You need to do things like this." Syn disappeared in a blur, leaving Sigma floating through the air, his sensors scrambling to find his enemy. He could detect everything all over the earth, everything he could connect to, but suddenly that massive power signature had vanished?

Suddenly, he felt Syn's clawed fingers biting into his right arm from behind and heard Syn whisper in his ear. "You're no fun to kill Sigma. Fun things to kill can bleed and scream in pain. You wouldn't do that for me at all."

Sigma twisted and threw his elbow back into Syn's head, finally connecting a solid blow and shaking the android off himself. He turned to look down at Syn, who was lying on the grassy fields outside Narrius as though it were a peaceful sunny day. The sadistic robot pointed over at the sun as it faded on the horizon. "It is beautiful, brother. Beautiful, but deadly to all life at the same time. You cannot live without it, but you can't live with it." Syn pointed at his chest, then Sigma's. "It is like us isn't it? These people need war and violence and politics and endless battles and so they need us. Beautiful, but deadly. They couldn't live without us, but they can't live with us either." As he spoke the final words, Syn lazily launched another orb of white energy towards a group of Goliaths. With a snap of his fingers, the machines were immolated by an explosion that tore through the sky.

"I would like to say I'm nothing like you Syn, but I'm aware of our many similarities. And it looks like neither of us wants to be stuck within the boundaries of what our masters wish."

"Oh but I do! I'm doing what I was asked to do. You don't remember that at all though, do you? Our program? Our purpose? The things we are supposed to do? How sad." Syn looked genuinely depressed by Sigma's lack of memory, igniting fury within Sigma. At his mockery.

Syn flipped up just in time to dodge another blast from Sigma's energy beams, this one shooting off and fading away harmlessly in the air. In response, Syn took off towards Sigma, head butting the android in the chest and sending the two flying through the air. Sigma began pounding his fists down against Syn but to no avail as the two careened through the air.

The duo suddenly veered upwards as Syn took them into the sky. They streaked up in a twisting mix of white and purple until they crashed into the bottom of one of the warships hovering over the battlefield. Their bodies hardly took any damage as the two tore upwards through the floors and burst through the top, where Syn dropped Sigma down onto the top of the ship's hull.

Sigma looked down to see the mark of the Artisans on the ship and breathed a sigh of relief, though he wasn't quite sure why. Yes, he wouldn't be killing his own people but...they weren't his own people really, were they? Either way, he knew he couldn't let Syn hang around any longer. Whether his more human emotions didn't want to see such a crazed killer on the loose or if his competitive nature just didn't like a rival being, he had to dispose of the abomination opposing him. But hopefully he could get some information out of Syn first.

"Syn what's this purpose you're talking about?"

"The very same one you have Sigma. You're going to have to look deep inside your own coding and programming files if you're going to find the answers because it's nested in there." Syn held up another ball of energy in his palm and toyed around with it, much to Sigma's dismay.

But Sigma wouldn't be upstaged anymore. He scanned throughout the interior of the craft beneath his feet, his machine mind able to cruise through the security systems and network files of anything he was close to. Soon he had the schematics and blueprints for the vessel in his mind and he crouched down on the top of the ship.

Syn watched with curious amusement as Sigma went on one knee and lowered his head. A signal that he finally acknowledged Syn's superior nature? That wouldn't do. Such a submissive servant wouldn't play along with the sinister robot. He needed a playmate more than ever now and Sigma was the answer.

However, the purple android had a different plan. He reached his right hand up into the air then drove down hard, piercing through the armour of the ship. His fingers wrapped tight around the metal rod he had hoped for and yanked hard, rewarding Sigma with his prize: one long metal pole, almost to Sigma's height.

He tossed it aside and the vessel's component clattered onto the ship as Sigma returned his hand to the interior. This time he dug a little deeper in, pulling out a small mechanical catalyst, a part of many machinations that allowed for the free-flow and transition of energy, often converting it from one form to another or limiting it to suit the needs of the machine.

Sparks shot from Sigma's palm as a small, constant beam of energy flickered out of the hole in his hand. He brought it up to the catalyst and began to carve out a hole in the bottom of the device, adjusting its existing connection port to fit his own needs. He then gathered up the rod off the ground and jammed the catalyst on top of it, fusing the two with a little bit of welding from his energy beam.

"There, that should tip the tide a little," Sigma said with a smile growing across his face.

"With what? You plan to beat me with a crude club?" Syn held his stomach as he laughed, pretending he still had a gut that could hurt.

"Not quite." The purple energy contained within every circuit of Sigma coursed through his body and weaved down his left arm and into the metal rod. That piece of metal contained circuits and wires within it, once being a part of the electrical system of the warship. Now the electronics within it conducted Sigma's energy up towards the catalyst.

Shapeless purple light burst from the end of the catalyst, wriggling and flickering as it poured out into the air, looking for some sort of current to continue along but finding nothing. "Yes, this will do fine," Sigma stated with uncontained joy. "Watch and learn Syn." The light began to waver less, now taking on shape and concentrating into something thicker, stronger. It grew outwards, tapering off towards the end and curving down until it created the wicked blade of a scythe, conceived completely out of energy.

Syn clapped his hands together with delight. "Oh what a marvelous weapon to have! So elegant yet cruel. I want it!"

"Well I'm afraid you can't have it." Sigma twirled his new weapon around his body before adopting a fighting stance.

"Oh we'll see about that."

* * * * *

Porter stopped on the fringes of the battlefield. Narrius was to his left, the massive steel city ignited by the light of the sun as it descended. It was no time to look at the glittering spectacle though; there were far more pressing concerns.

They had all seen the two androids take centre stage and shoot up into the sky, blowing clear through a warship that anyone would normally describe as "impenetrable." But it had been done. It was incredible what was happening and certainly explained why the CRU had been called away to handle a distracting side mission: nobody wanted anyone interfering with these two weapons battling.

Considering the state that most of their Goliaths were in, Porter wondered if they could even contribute now anyways. The centre of the field was in chaos, with the remains of various different battlesuits and tanks scattered throughout the charred earth. Most of the battles had slowed down or stopped completely to watch the spectacle or had been halted when one or both combatants were destroyed in the crossfire of the android war.

Ardwen came up beside Porter and the two stood overlooking the theatre of war. "I've sent out a signal to the Enian command here in Narrius. Hopefully they receive and reply to give us some orders. Otherwise we may have to pull out. I know we all want to contribute here but there isn't much any of us could do against those things. You saw what happened."

Porter's sigh was audible across the channel, for all the Crisis Rescue Unit to hear. "I know. We just rushed here so recklessly thinking we could do something and yet we would be more than useless against those enemies."

"Listen to yourselves!" Riya cut in, with more passion in her voice than anyone had ever heard from the shy girl. "You saved Easley and beat Ramirez without fear, you faced my father and saved me from Omnicorp, and you were nearly killed in Abertyl! And now that we come to Narrius you all want to pack in and give up? Never! That's not the Porter I know! Nor is it the commanding Ardwen I'm used to!"

"Riya's right," Chase said, much to the surprise of everyone yet again, as Chase never agreed with anyone. "We can't just run away because we think we won't win. I never think that! We'll always win."

"Well, isn't that inspiring, right Porter?" Ardwen asked as he turned to face Porter. But he was met with snores over the intercom. Porter was so exhausted from his earlier battle he had fallen asleep in the cockpit, missing most of the speeches.

"Porter!!" Nami shouted into the comm network. The White Storm leapt up into the air in shock as Porter sprang awake and came crashing back down to the ground.

"What, who, I'm awake Mr. Toriyama. The answer is the year two-thousand sixty-eight!" Porter sat up and looked around at the rest of the group. "What happened?"

"You fell asleep again," Raul stated in his blank manner.

"Oh, I did? I didn't even notice. Anyways, I think we should go ahead and try our best anyways and not give up guys!" Each other Goliath in the group smacked their palm to their face in unison and groaned.

"Quite a feisty young group, I must say. Rather impressive." The voice cut through the CRU's channel. Strong and commanding, it was a presence they had never felt before, but it certainly wasn't threatening, unlike the usual intruders.

An enormous shadow loomed over the group as a Goliath descended down from above, with a floating grace they had never seen before. The battlesuit touched down beside them, the largest one any of them had ever witnessed. It was an easy sixty feet tall, as opposed to the usual thirty, maybe more, with a frame that dwarfed almost two combined Goliaths. Across its chest was the mark of Saint Enia emblazoned in gold, a circular oval with Ishiyama's cross running through it on an angle. Only the highest Generals were granted such an emblem.

The monolithic warmachine held on to an immense broadsword in its right hand, which was almost as large as Porter's White Storm. It too was granted Ishiyama's cross running along its square blade, an imposing weapon but impossible to wield for anyone other than this behemoth.

But the most impressive feature of the Goliath was the set of six feathery, white, angel's wings that spread out across the back and helped guide the battlesuit down for the landing. They shimmered with the light of the setting sun and had the group in awe. As the machine landed, they folded to the sides, their girth causing them to still flare out past the battlesuit.

"I-Identify your..." Ardwen trailed short on his own as he sputtered and stuttered through the command.

"I am General Cross Marian," the general said as he introduced himself. "An old friend of mine sent me a message you would be coming here, against your orders. And then I got news from my command post that a small group of specialists as approaching sending out a signal that they were looking to help. Well I just had to come and greet the top students of Saint Maurius academy. And they do not disappoint." As Marian said this last line he looked over the group in approval. "You know, I've been missing something in my arrival here and I think I've figured out what it is. An envoy! Yes that would be perfect I think."

The CRU exchanged glances amongst their Goliaths. "You mean us?" Nami asked.

"Of course he means us!" Chase shouted. "He heard I was in the group and wanted me to guard him. Everyone wants me to fight with them."

"Yes Chase, Shotuku gave me a special warning to watch out for you," Marian said.

"What? That old geezer doesn't know what he's talking about!" Chase responded, his fists flaring up for a moment before fizzling out.

"He thought you might say something like that and if you did, I should do this." Marian's Goliath lifted its massive arm and brought itself down on Chase's head in a karate chop. The South Star teetered a little before falling over, though it looked like no permanent damage had been done. "There, that's settled then."

"Uhm, General Marian sir, if you...umm...don't mind me asking but umm...where do...where do those wings come from?" It was Nami, her insatiable love for Goliath knowledge driving her to ask.

"Oh these?" The wings flapped a little lazily, as though they were a common occurrence. "This is merely the expression of my Chi in form as some of it overflows from the machine and takes shape as my mind wills it." Marian bent over a little to pat Nami on the shoulder. "I'm sure one day Ishiyama will bless you with the ability to do the same." The Archangel strode to the edge of the battlefield, where the low hills rolled down onto the plain. "Now then, let's get to the fighting!"

* * * * *

Sigma deflected Syn's claw with the shaft of his scythe. He spun the weapon until he was back to his stance before lashing out with it at Syn. The android spun out of the way and landed nimbly on one of the fins of the ship, balancing with ease thanks to his mechanical components.

The two had been in continuous combat during the setting of the sun and now the last of it was fading away and leaving them in the dark. Each one gave off a faint glow from the energy pulsing in their circuits, and Sigma's scythe emanated its own eerie light. "Let's end this before it gets too late Syn."

"Agreed. It's my bedtime soon." Syn took off from his perch and the jets on his back ignited, rocketing him forward just above the hull of the vessel beneath him. His blade-like finger drifted down beneath him, carving into the metal of the ship as he travelled along it. His hand shot forward towards Sigma, whose scythe caught the blow again before following it with a retaliatory fist. Sigma's counter caught Syn's arm as he twisted past and sent the cyborg spiraling through the air.

The advantage wouldn't last though. Sigma swung his scythe around to try and catch Syn off-balance but the white android had already regained his composure and easily ducked the attack. "It would seem we have reached a temporary impasse brother," Syn said. "I cannot surpass you and you cannot best me. Whatever shall we do?"

"I'll tell you what we do." Sigma suddenly on a burst of speed and tackled Syn down to the roof of the ship, pressing down with the rod of the scythe against Syn's neck, pinning the cyborg. "You're going to tell me what happened. What I'm made for, made to do, what I was like, everything."

"Oh you poor little boy, trapped forever in the misery of unknown memories. Well since you have me here anyways, let me enlighten you to the story of how we all came to be..."

A/N: Marian joins forces with the CRU? Does this mean the coolest battle sequence ever? I think it does! Oh, but first we'll have to wait for a little flashback time!