Chapter 18(The Alliance vs Antithese)

The Alliance vs Antithese

Three Years Before The End Of The World

Raven watched as Elsword, Aisha, and Rena discussed their plans with Lento on how they would take back the Feita Temple. The Cyborg gave all the relevant information and added little to the discussion; he had other things to worry about, like keeping an eye on that Nasod. Ever since Eve found that unknown Code, she's been suspiciously quiet. There was something obviously wrong with her, one of them being that she couldn't fly anymore. He brought this up to the others, but Elsword brushed his concerns aside. When asked, Eve chalked it up to her flight program being damaged; the former Captain didn't believe that.

"Is there a problem, Raven?" The Cyborg was brought back to reality when Eve asked him that question. He finally realized he was staring at her and made no effort to hide it. The Nasod crossed her arms and gave him a slide glance. "Are you still worried about the code I found?" She replied in the same emotionless note.

Another thing that frustrated Raven was that he couldn't prove the code unknown was dangerous. Sure he could fly an airship, fix engines with a manual on hand, and even work with taking apart Nasods and putting them back together, but getting Code to work, or even how they work? He had no idea, and it didn't help that others didn't know squat. Elsword isn't well educated, Aisha is only good with magic, and Rena is an elf who dislikes technology. Then there's Ain...wait, where the fuck is he? It didn't matter right now; he needed to talk to Eve.

"Of course I am; you found something dangerous," Raven replied with venom in his voice. "I might not be a coding expert, but all Code has a purpose. Tell me, what purpose does your Code have?" The man could describe the Nasods as many things, but he couldn't describe them as inefficient and making useless Code, or wasting time and resource. Going by that logic, this unknown Code must have a purpose, but what? "Well?" Raven asked, sounding impatient.

Eve closed her eyes and shook her head. "As of right now, I do not know, but I will discover its true purpose with time and research." The Nasod's stoic face turns to worry, and she looks at Raven's damaged Nasod arm. This made the Cyborg's skin crawl; it felt so forced; then, it's probably her programming again. "You should worry about yourself; the venom is destroying your body."

She was correct, as the pain got worse each day, and he was starting to lose vision in his left eye, but it's a small price to be free from the Nasod's influence. Raven rubs his Nasod arm out unconsciously, and like always, it aches. "I can still fight; that's the only thing that matters. but let me make this clear. " The Cyborg walked over and got in Eve’s face. "If I find out that code makes you a threat, I will put you down myself!"

"Oh? What about you?" Eve's worried face became condescending, and Raven swore he saw her core flash red for a second. " I know you've been sneaking off doing unsavory things." The Nasod taps a finger under her chin in thought while keeping eye contact with Raven. "Like executing certain nobles?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Raven backs away, feeling a pit form in his stomach. "How the hell does she know!? Does she know about Add?!" This was what he gets for being so careless, but Eve had no proof.

Eve sighs and shakes her head. "You go around saying you want to redeem yourself, but you hurt innocent nobles."Eve sounded disappointed, but in reality, she was trying to get under the Man's skin, and from his reaction, she struck a nerve.

"Innocent!?" Raven looked ready to strangle the life out of the Nasod. "What they did was unforgivable, and they need to be brought to justice!" The very thought of those Velder nobles walking away scot-free made his blood boil. Especially Owen! It didn't matter if it was right or wrong; he would avenge his fallen comrades and Seris.

The Nasod tilts her head with the same condescending look on her face. "So you admit at what you're doing then?" Raven looked away; he walked right into that and had no one to blame but himself. "It's none of my business, but I think it's hypocritical when you call me dangerous. I won't say anything as long you stop breathing down my neck. Deal?"

Raven said something rather foul under his breath and walked away without giving Eve another glance. Eve's core started glowing red. "Add was right; revenge is the only thing he cares about." She could use this to her advantage, but that will come later. Eve had other plans, like finding a power source big enough to allow her and Add to reshape this world.

"Pfft." The Nasod Queen found it funny how Add had begun to call himself 'Master Mind.' that boy was anything but that. Although she needed a name for her Code, the unknown was a bit drab and needed something fitting her status as Queen. Then she thought back to the day when she found the Code and thought she had made a mistake when her flight program stopped working. "Queens don't make mistakes. Everything I make is perfect; there are no mistakes. I will rebuild my kingdom with this Code, and it will be failess!" Failess, it had a nice ring to it.

Eve looked at the cloud-covered sky, held her hand towards Fetia, and tried grasping it. Eve finally found the meaning of the Code. A Code that will remove all imperfections from this imperfect world was her duty to make it so. All Errors and broken programs will be determined as successes. After all, she made it, and she was perfect! Because she deemed it so! "Code: Failess"

Present

"noW tEll mE, WhERe iS THe AuthOrizAtiOn CODe?" Raven had no idea what this crazy Nasod was talking about. Between the pain of being shocked and his Valasia arm going numb, he was having a hard time focusing.

"I-i d-don't know! GAH!" For his efforts, the Cyborg receives another slap from Eve. Maybe if he could gather enough mana, he could perform Power Assullt and escape?

"Y-Y-YOU'RE LYINg! I kNOW tHat woRTHleSs piEce of shIT Add gAve It tO You! HOw daRE hE locK mE out OF mY arcHivE! If onLY i COuld kILl HIm, tWIce!" Raven felt the familiar pain in his chest; Add was dead. Yes, he was a means to an end for his revenge, but maybe after, he could have helped the boy. "nOw GIvE mE thE-"

"DARK SPARK!" Antithese jumps out of the way as the dark energy beam narrowly misses her. A giant hand made of shadows grabs raven and pulls him out of the pink electricity. The limp man was brought over to Oleander and dropped promptly. "Thank you, Fred." She thanked the hand coming out of the Necronomicon. -

Fred gave the unicorn a thumbs up. "No trouble at all, but we need focus; we're about to be in the fight of our lives." The hand points towards the fuming Nasod then points at Raven, who's slowly getting off the ground. His Valasia arm was completely limp as he did this. "Are you able to fight, Mr.Maxwell?"

"Y-yes," Raven still had a firm grip on his sword, but his artificial arm still refused to move. "But my Valasia arm refuses to move." No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his claw to move. This shouldn't be possible anyway, the arm was organic now, or most of it should be. The Cyborg could look into this another day. Right now, they need to take down Antithese. Claw or no Claw, Raven will kill Eve. "Get ready!"

"YOu'LL pay for thAT! I-" She was cut off again as the nearby Changelings tried blasting her with their magic or using sticky slime to keep her in place. The Nasod was surprisedly agile as she dodged every attempt on her life with ease and even performed a backflip at one point. "peSt!" But her mood quickly switched to utter joy! "ADAM!" True, she could easily kill all these disgusting bug ponies, but the Nasod Queen had important things to take care of, like getting the Code from Raven.

Did Raven hear that, right? Adam, the King of the Nasod? The one he and the El search party, defeated in battle? Even if someone somehow got him working again, they would need lots of El energy to sustain him and run. Nowhere on this barren valley did he see the necessary equipment to contain the El, and he couldn't feel it. Raven's doubts were washed away as soon as he saw what materialized before the group. It was Massive.

From the holographic error screens and pink pixels came a machine that towered over Lord Torch and could give an Ursa Major run for its money. Like other Nasods, this included the second generation; this one had the same yellow tubes that made up its body and allowed movement. Its chassis was made from a shape memory alloy and other unknown materials.
Mounted on each shoulder were four cylinders; none of the Equestrians knew what they were, but Raven did. Its head was nothing special, just a flat yellow screen with dark blue metal surrounding it and making it look like a crown.

Usually, something this massive made out of metal would have difficulty moving. Thankfully Its creator took care of this problem; the machine floated off the ground. It was the same with the arms; they were separate from the main body and floated beside it. But something this large needed a power source; where was it? The answer came in the form of pained wheezing and screams.

In the middle of this machine was its power source. "KILL ME" "IT HURTS!" "MOMMY!" "I CAN'T SEE!" "STOP!" "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH" "IT'S IN MY HEAD!" "PAPA" "HAHAHA!?" "CELESTIA, FORGIVE ME!" These were one of the many screams that came from the core that was made of flesh. This fleshy core was composed of teeth, muscle, hair, puss, faces, eyes, blood, and other fluids. This flesh was entirely composed of ponies, zebras, griffons, dragons, and any other unlucky beast that wondered in the valley. The flesh's movement and screams were constant.

The smell became apparent even down the ground, and it was putrid. It smelled of rotting flesh, feces, and anything that could be found in the sewers. Many of the Changelings started emptying the contents of their stomachs, and Ambrosia held a hoof to her mouth. As for the Black Crows, Xuez threw up with Cozy and the thestrals; Oleander kept her composer but gagged a few times. Amber wetted herself, and Jade started crying.

But they all felt it, fear. All of them came from Equestria, and the most dangerous thing you could find was the occasional dragon or silly spirit of chaos. This was different; the smell of blood was already in the air, and if they didn't fight with everything they had, they would end up dead, or worse! If any of them survived this, this moment will haunt them for the rest of their days. The only one unphased by all of this was the mad Queen herself, Anthiese.

"HahAhAhAhA, isn'T BEAUTiFul?! I GoT tHe iDeA FrOm yOU!" The Nasod pointed a cracked finger at the stunned Cyborg. "nAsod And HumAn COMinG TOGEthER! And ThE ONlY THing PoWeriNG IT wAs YOur eMOTIons! mAgNIFIcenT!" Is she saying what he thinks she's saying? "aftEr thOse TWO dEmOnS DAmAgED ADam'S coRe BeYONd REpAiR, i COULDN'T poWEr HIM diReCTLy wiTH the eL, SO i camE Up WITh a wORKaROuNd!" She points at Adam's core. "crEAturES wITH STRONG EmoTioNs! bUT THeRE weREn't anY humAnS arOunD, sO poNies WerE THE NeXT best thinG! lOOK hoW hAppY theY ARe."
Nothing but agony could be heard from the pile of screaming flesh.

Antithese looked back at her work; to her, it was magnificent, all coming together and living in peace. "If you join me, Raven, we could bring peace and harmony to this world and bring back Humanity. It was unfortunate what happened when I reshaped th-" This is all Raven needed to hear. Holding his sword in the reverse grip, Raven charged forward and landed a solid punch in Anthesis's Face, sending her skidding back.

"You're the reason why everyone is gone?!" He all but yelled at her.

The punch only left a small mark on the Nasod Queen's perfect face. For a brief moment, her voice became normal again."I needed to recreate the world! I was going to bring them back, then Add rejected me! Then the others got in the way; they had to be put down!" The stinging pain in his chest became worse. Elsword, Aisha, Ain, Elesis, Lu, Ciel, and Rena were gone because of her! "When I woke up, I tried again, but the El rejected me, and SHE! rejected me, worse trapping me here! Are you rejecting me too!"

Raven didn't need to say anything because his answer was clear. He rejected her with his entire being. Humanity was gone, and it was all her fault, messing with forces beyond anyone's control! Antithese wants to unite every creature and turn them into abominations. Eve was dead, and what was left was a monster wearing her skin. In his eyes, this went beyond revenge; this was justice! No matter what it took, Antithese will die here! "Oleander, take out Adam's core. Same with you, Ambrosia, and your Changelings. And make sure the foals are protected." Raven wasn't asking; these were orders; it was do or die!" Antithese is mine!"

Oleander nodded, and Ambrosia had already sent the order to her changelings. Raven charged forward once more and held his sword normally again. Antithesis found this laughable; these lowly creatures think they could take down her creation? Such arrogance, they needed to know their place. The Queen sent out her orders to Adam and watched as her machine started moving. "fINE, I gAve yoU all A cHaNCE TO jOIn me iN pErfECtiOn, BUt It'S CLeAr NoNe Of yOU aRe WOrTH oF IT!"

Once in Range, Raven empowers his sword with mana and slashes at the Nasod Queen. "Mega Slash!" A skill taught to all Knights of Velder. It's a rather weak skill, but it could be devastating in the hands of a master. Unfortunately for the Cyborg, this skill required both hands for maximum effectiveness, and his claw still wasn't responding.

"Heaven's fist (Abandoned)!" Anthesis summons a giant Nasod fist in front of herself and sends it forward. Both skills clash, and the giant fist wins easily. The Nasod hand crashes into the Cyborg and sends him flying back into a cliffside. The stone around Raven crumbles as he crashes into the cliffside, soon enough leaving him under a pile of rubble.

It doesn't take long for the rubble to shake and break apart. "POWER ASSAULT!" Raven comes dashing out of the rubble with a couple of scrapes and bruises. The Cyborg powers more mana than needed into the skill, but the results were evident. Usually, the skill allows the user to charge forward a couple of meters in front of them, but thanks to his mastery of the technique, Raven can send himself forward no matter the distance, as long as he has the mana.

"oh mY, YOu stIll wAnt To PlAy? FIne I'll pLay wITH you!" The Nasod readied her drones and prepared herself. She could spare some of her time playing with Raven; after all, she was Queen. Raven swings his sword, and she meets the strike with her drones. The clash causes a shockwave and the ground underneath them to crack. "

Author's Note

Woot got another chapter out! Sorry for the wait guys, life has been getting in the way. Also sorry again, but only one update this week. Finals are coming up and I've been playing Elden ring. But I promise two updates next week! Thanks for reading guys!

By the way, if you're wondering why Raven didn't mention Chung, Ara, Laby, or Noah, because at the time he was captured and put into slumber, it was toward the end of Velder.