Sons of Equestria

Chapter 8: The Battle Begins

  “Doctor, we are in trouble!” The Russian yelled to his German friend to was riding shotgun in their oversized van.

  “Vhat is it now, Heavy?” He said while rolling his eyes.

  “Well, one of the things wrong is this: We are falling past any speed limit.” The Heavy said while tilting his head to the Medic, but not looking away from the windshield.

  “Heavy, the speed limit does not apply in falling.” The Medic said huffing.

  “Well, second is that we are going to land.” The Heavy said while turning his head back to facing completely at the relatively thin glass in front of him.

  “And, vhy is that bad?” The Medic said with his arms crossed.

  “Because van is going very fast, and Heavy can’t slow it down.” The Heavy said growing slowly more concerned as the ground grew closer.

  “VHAT IN ZEE VORLD!” The Medic said as he looked out the windshield at the quickly approaching ground. “Everybody, buckle up quickly, we are going to be landing shortly!” The Medic said shouting into the back of the van.

  “AH!” A unanimous yell erupted from the back of the van as the members of the different teams charged to their seats and buckled up as quickly as they could. Suddenly the whole van shook from the front to the back as they made impact. The empty airbag compartment flung open, but the air bag, as usual, was missing.

  “Doctor, stop the car!” The Medic sighed and peered out the window with his needle gun out. He shot several times at the tires, which caused them to pop. The medic then grabbed Heavy by the collar and dragged him from the driver’s seat. The Medic planted himself on the seat and slammed his foot onto the break while veering the wheel in the opposite direction of the popped tires. The car came to a skidding stop, right in front of a Rahgahgogarian.

  “Alright, everyone out of the car, now, come on!” The Medic shouted as he stumbled out of the huge van. The two color teams came out of the van in all of their numbers, with the red Heavy driver falling out. “Let’s see now… do we have all our troops?” The blue Medic shouted.

  “Yes, Doctor, five red scouts seven blue scouts, six red demo and three blue demo, five red soldiers and two blue soldiers, three red spies and six blue spies, four red engineers and five blue engineers, five red Medics and one blue one… you, two red snipers and six blue snipers, seven red pyro and three blue pyro, five blue heavies and me, red heavy. We all made it!” The red heavy said as he did a makeshift roll call.

  “Very good… that would be a first.” The Medic said; with the being last part under his breath.

  “This is a large group, 76 units, very impressive.” The teams turned to the Rahgahgogarian who had spoken.

  “It is rather large; we only usually have around 12 units on either team, but with all our bases and the number of units that actually could come.” The red Heavy said proudly. The Heavy walked down the line and counted slowly his teams, and eventually came to the last unit. “Wait… we only have 75… something is wrong here.” He said looking side to side to see if someone had run off.

  “Heavy…” The blue Medic said, at the point of face palming.

  “Yes, Doctor?” The Heavy said while looking at the Medic.

  “You forgot to count yourself.” He said, causing one of the red team scouts to fall down laughing. The red Heavy motioned with his finger as if counting again, and at the end pointed at his chest. Immediately his eyes light up.

  “We do have 76, VERY GOOD!” He said as he ran to the truck and lifted a large crate from the back. “Come on tiny baby men, start hauling out the crates!” Soon enough the Heavies began to carry the crates, while the Blue Medic handed out the weapons and odds and ends. The red Heavy grabbed his Sasha, Sandwich, and fingerless gloves. The blue Medic had his Medigun, Crusader’s Crossbow, and Bone saw.

  “Alright, where are we going to set up?” The blue Medic asked the Rahgahgogarian.

  “Well, you and the rest of the incoming men will be held up in sector G-27, follow me.” He said as he began to walk toward the site, but before they got too far, the roar of engines was heard as a ship commenced touchdown. The group turned and saw the ‘Normandy’ land. The ramp opened and let out a group of people and aliens.

  “Hello, you with Jason’s group?” Sheppard said to the Rahgahgogarian.

  “Yes, but he is in the council room right now. This group and I were heading over to the place where you guys are holding up while in your stay.” The Rahgahgogarian said back to Sheppard.

  “Well we better wait a bit; I saw a few more ships coming down.” He said pointing upwards at the several looming shadows coming closer. Soon the alternate U.N.S. ships landed and let out their troops, including several Spartans, with Master Chief amongst their number. Suddenly a Combine Ship crashed into the group, and all guns automatically snapped to it. Slowly Gordon Freeman and Alex came out with a few rebels.

  “Not the best entrance, but it does for getting here in a hurry.” Alex said as she took out her shotgun. The group of rebels wasn’t as large as every other group, but they had some of the most varied weapon types and skill sets around.

  “Alright, all of you, follow me, Jason has a part of camp set up just for you all while you are staying here.” The Rahgahgogarian said as he started off towards the camp.

  I walked through the doorway into the council room where a group of some of the most trusted generals of the U.S. sat in a meeting.

  “Major General Jason Paladin Webster reporting as requested, sirs.” I said as I assumed my position in front of the table with my arms crossed behind my back.

  “Thank you for coming with such speed, please take a seat.” I pulled out one of the chairs. I folded my hands and placed them on the table as I leaned forward. “Jason, we are gathered here to discuss pressing matters that have happened of late. Firstly, concerning the status of the newly found traitor, General Armando Sanchez, how exactly did he die?” I began to tell about how Max and I stormed the base and how I had run into him while covering myself from the blast.

  “It is very unfortunate that he was a traitor. Undoubtedly, he was sending vital information to the U.N., that means that now they have one less supplier of info, so good job in that respect. Now it’s time to move onto the second concern of this meeting, one concerning you, but more specifically your rank. Please make you way over here.” I stood up and walked to the other end of the table. The well aged man stood up, his features slightly damaged by scars, his gray beard and head of full hair gave him an air of respect. His four stars that decorated both his chest and shoulder pads gave me all the more reason to respect him. I noticed his name tag and was shocked to read ‘General Logan Connors’. This man was truly a soldier from the past, one of the first six to have A.I.s, he truly was something amazing.

  “Before you left for your mission the board of Generals has approved for you to gain a rank, but now we have changed our decision.” with the way this conversation was going, I’d still be honored ever if I was stripped a rank, as long as it might be an iconic soldier, which was a rather pathetic thing on my part. “After some words to the President and several other members of high ranking offices we have come to the decision that these should be taken from you.” He said as he removed my two stars from my sleeves and chest. “And give you these.” With that he placed something a bit bigger than one star on my chest and sleeves. I looked down and saw the gleaming five stars looking back at me with the twirling vines under them. “Jason Paladin Webster, for acts of bravery, extreme prowess, quick thinking, for going above and beyond the call of duty, for over all doing what some may consider the impossible, The Council of Generals, President and Vice-President of the United States, Senate, and House of Representatives declares you to now be raised to the rank of ‘General of the Armies’ and to be the head of The Council of Generals.” I was completely shocked as he saluted me, along with the rest of the council as they stood up and raised their right hand to their forehead. I looked to the war worn man in front of me.

  “It is an honor I cannot say I deserve, thank you all, I will try to live up to your expectations of me.” They took their hand out from salute and began to clap as General Logan led me from the room with a firm slap to the back and a smile.

  “I believe you’re needed outside. Larzyhorintorhmax communicated with me in the middle of the meeting saying that all of the people who you had called have arrived and are being led to the reserved area. Also, take this jacket; it looks like it’s going to storm out there soon enough.” Logan told me as we passed through the door way. I nodded, grabbed the jacket, and walked towards the outside.

  The air was fresh and was rather chilly, even though by what my father had said only a little while earlier, we were only in spring, but then again, spring is rather cold. I ran towards the separate camp, while zipping up the jacket Logan had given me. I soon found the men organizing their things. Max walked up to me and handed me a pad that gave the number of troops.

76 fighters from Red and Blue teams, 100 rebels including Gordon Freeman and Alex, approximately 235 with Sheppard including several army regulars, and +1000 from U.N.S.C. making a total of around 1500 men if not more.

  I was rather well pleased with the number of units we had present.

  “Sir, have you contacted the Princesses yet?” Max asked me. I turned to him and nodded.

  “Aye, just before I entered the meeting I had Spike send off a letter to the Princesses, we should be hearing from them soon.”

  “Speaking of the meeting, what happened?” He said as he slightly cocked his head. I unzipped my jacket slightly and showed my five stars to Max, who stumbled back slightly and stood up extremely straight and did a salute.

  “At ease, Max, we are still friends and part of the same unit, no reason to start abrupt reverencing now.” Max released his tight stance and return to his normal relaxed stance. I zipped up my jacket and breathed in deeply releasing a puff of steam as I exhaled. Suddenly a burst of magic energy came from behind me. I whipped out my magnum and aimed at the materializing being. The being slowly stood up to its full height and released a huge sigh as it finished stretching. Even though he lacked his usual lightning bolt effect, I recognized him in an instant.

  “Discord, what are you doing here?” I said as I adjusted my aim to point right at his face. Discord looked taken aback, and maybe slightly scared.

  “Put that thing down! I’m here to deliver a message from the princess.” He said while recovering from the initial shock of having a heavy-duty pistol loaded with anti-personnel rounds.

  “Fat chance buster, now stand down.” I said as I flicked my pistol down, signaling him to get down on the ground.

  “Wait, Jason, he’s a friendly!” I heard my father shouting from behind me. I turned and saw him coming up quickly. “Discord is on our side, he’s good.” I turned to the draconequus and eyed his suspiciously.

  “Are you sure, dad? Last time I checked Discord was one of the bad ones.” I said as I continued to be alert.

  “Yes, ever since season three he’s been good.” I put my pistol back in its holster and addressed Discord.

  “Sorry about that, last time I knew about you, you were against the ponies.” I said extending my hand to the now kneeling creature of chaos. He grabbed my hand and shook it as he stood up.

  “I understand I haven’t been for ponies for all that long so I am still mistaken for wanting chaos to spread.” Discord replied with a facial expression I could label as a smile, although it was on the edge with a sinister grin.

  “So what is the message from Celestia?” I said as I folded my arms behind my back.

  “She says that she awaits your arrival, and that I am to teleport you to your destination.” He said as he again stretched his back, creating a rather loud pop.

  “Alright, I’m ready to head out, Max, keep these guys in order until I’m back.” Max saluted and walked away towards the large group of men attending to their weapons. Discord snapped his finger while he had his hand on my shoulder, and quickly a flash of light enveloped us. We soon stopped moving, with another flash of light letting us loose from a slight limbo state. Discord pointed towards the great door at the end of the hall, I nodded and walked up to it. I pushed open the door and found the two princesses sitting at a table, much like the first time, except this time I actually sit down, being as my weight was reduced to around 170 pounds, a rather manageable weight for a chair.

  “Your letter said that you needed to talk urgently with us. What is the matter and how does it concern us, also what were all those things falling towards the Ponyville?” Celestia asked me, getting right down to business.

  “The things descending towards Ponyville where drop pods and ships here to help us, and the reason we need their help is tied to why I asked for this meeting. We have found out that the U.N. is here and needs something that is abundant on this world, magic. Knowing the U.N. they are going to fight to the end just to get any measure of the stuff, even resorting to kidnapping a unicorn.” I said as I leaned forward, folding my hands on the table as I usually do.

  “Oh my, this is not good at all is it? What do you suggest we do, being as you are the one with more experience with these people?” Celestia asked, growing rather concerned.

  “We have called in aid from several sources, and we are still expecting several units. But until U.N. makes it move it would be best if we hunkered down and prepared for the battle ahead.” I said, and would have continued had it not been for Luna interjecting quickly.

  “Wait, you mean we are not going to attack them now when they are not at full strength? With the assistance you have now you could…” I stopped her by slamming my hand palm first on the table.

  “We could die and not be able to stop them. Luna, with all due respect, but you have not seen even one of the past seventeen years. We have the greatest group forces on the ground, and stand the greatest chance of winning if we stand our ground and get ready to hold them off. Trust me, if this battle had ponies out of the equation, I might just send up an attack squad and try bringing them down, but considering we are here to protect you from any harm I can’t do that.” I said, slightly angered at the nighttime princess. I sighed and looked at her. “I have fought against the U.N. a few more times than most, I was on the team that attacked the Gohoritykah home world, and trust me, it was living hell there, and I can expect no less for this world if we attack now and weaken ourselves potentially more then we could weaken them. My entire reason for building up strength here is all in the best interest of every pony in Equestria.” I said sitting up straight as I relaxed.

  “Then what else do you have to suggest? You couldn’t have asked for this meeting just to tell us this.” Celestia said still rather concerned for her ponies.

  “I… I request for you to provide us the assistance of your Equestrian Guard, and to give us right to draft any pony into the war effort.” I said, rather hesitant to make such a bold request to a princess entirely in favor of peace.

  “Seeing as… seeing as war is upon us as we speak, and that our ponies would have fought this war whether they wish to or not, I believe that you may be able to provide them with training and resources to help them stand a chance against the U.N. soldiers. I entrust you with the care of our dear ponies, treat them well.” Celestia said halfheartedly. I understood her entirely; this was a choice only a Gohoritykah could take lightly. I admired her courage above everything.

  “Thank you, I’ll make sure they are equipped as best as they can be and trained to the height of their potential.” I said as I began to stand up.

  “I trust it to be so. I’ll send word to Shining Armor to send our forces to Ponyville.” She said in the final conclusion.

  “Also, I’ll be shipping over a few units and defense mechanisms to the city; I suggest telling your ponies in a conference about what is happening so they aren’t in the dark.” I said before I turned to the door and walked out. I looked at Discord you nodded and snapped his fingers, sending me back to where we had stood before, but he was not with me.

  “Sir, how did the meeting go?” I heard Max say just as I came back.

  “They accepted and are going to send over their guard and give us the right to enlist the ponies necessary. I don’t want to drag to many more ponies into fighting so enlist them sparingly.” Max saluted and walked off towards the town. I walked over into the main building of our operations, and found Twilight with her friends talking to a guard.

  “Orders are orders ma’am, you’re not allowed in unless you have proper identification or are accompanied by an escort, of which we don’t have to many of.” The guard said to Twilight and her friends.

  “What’s going on here, soldier?” I said to the guard, who was a First Lieutenant. The guard turned to me and saluted.

  “These ponies are requesting admittance but don’t have proper identification on any of them, much less an escort.” He said pointing towards the colorful quadrupeds.

  “These ponies are to be granted full access, excluding the Council Room, give them their I.D. tags later, until them, I’m taking charge of them. Understood?” I said to the soldier.

  “Sir, only a full grade general can give that order, you are only a…” I stopped him by unzipping my jacket slightly, exposing my five stars. He saluted immediately, in a rather stiff pose. “I’m sorry, sir, I wasn’t informed earlier that you had been given the rank.”

  “It’s alright, I haven’t had for too long. Carry on.” The soldier stepped to the side, allowing me and the ponies through the door.

  “Thanks, Jason, he was rather obstinate.” Twilight said as she trotted up next to me.

  “Well, he’s supposed to be, it’s protocol to have correct identification, and I’m sorry I hadn’t given you it earlier.” I said without looking at her.

  “It’s alright. And what do the five stars on your shirt mean? I get they symbolize a rank you have, but what exact rank?” She said, taking a glance at the five stars.

  “The rank they signify is General of the Armies, the highest possible rank in the armed forces, except of course President and Vice-President, but they run the country so, General of the Armies is the highest enlisted rank possible.” With that being said, all eyes stared at me in disbelief. I interrupted their daunted gaze by entering a chamber and motioning for them to stop. The door slowly closed behind me, and I pressed the communications link button to the outside hall. “This place is where I am going to get suited up, you need to wait outside, but there is an observation area where you can watch the process. I’ll call a guard for you so nothing bad happens while you watch.”

  Twilight her friends looked at each other for a moment, but soon a guard came up and directed them to the watching area. He walked up to the pad, and after pressing a few buttons a little man popped up from the screen.

  “Confirm selection, H-W suit operation for civilians.” The little man said to the guard. The guard pressed a button and the man nodded. “Welcome all to the presentation of the Heavy Webster, or H-W, suit up operation. The person who is going to be suited up today has not yet entered, so until then, let me explain a few details over the H-W suit’s origins. In the year 2035 Johann Webster created the first model of the W suit, which in later years became the base model for the L-W, the Light Webster suits. After a year, Johann created the Mark III, his last model, which became the base model for the H-W suit. After one year Uranus Innovations took over the creating of the specialized suits. When they had created the Mark VII They began creating both L-W suits and H-W suits. The L-W and H-W suits began receiving many more upgrades in a shorted amount of time, and as an example of that, the current model of the normal W suit is the Mark IX while as the L-W is in the XIX model and the H-W is in model XXVII.” At that moment Jason walked into the room, his stars removed from his shirt and his jacket taken off. He walked up onto the platform, and soon four robotic arms came out from the floor and ceiling and placed metal rings on his wrists and ankles. Suddenly he began to float upwards as a low humming sound began.

  “The metal rings on the man’s wrist and ankles are small electromagnets, the room is equipped with several electromagnets, and so with the aid of these devices he is able to be elevated to the correct level where the robotic arms can suit him up. To begin, the first layer you now see being placed on him is a composite of rubber interwoven with aluminum for both protection and flexibility. This layer’s back is the thickest since it is this layer that contains the shield generators and the power supply for all the suits vital functions and add-ons, all except the helmet’s systems which are powered by an independent lithium ion battery rated for use up to ten years.” The arms twirled around towards a hatch and picked up the next layer, that looked like a black latex suit with blue spots scattered across it.

  “This layer is made up of tough fibers that have energy absorbing gems implanted at regular intervals, being the blue spots. This layer is responsible for absorbing a good amount of the energy from plasma weaponry and most shock weapons, and not only absorbs them but uses the energy obtained to help power the generators. The crystals are the strongest energy absorbing matter, but if too many impulses are making impact at a time the crystals may break, causing a failure in that region of the suit.” The arms again reached into the small cabinet and grabbed something from it and swung it towards Jason. The layer itself looked like a suit made of thousands of threads bundled together, much like a suit of exterior muscle. One thing distinct about this part of the suit, however, was the fact its collar reached the base of Jason’s head.

  “This next layer is a rather important layer for every user of the H-W suit and most every model of the W suits. This layer is special technology that increases the wearer’s strength greatly; this layer also has special metal strands in each bundle that help ease the striking force of any type of impact.” The arms stopped moving for a second, but soon a humming sound started up, and soon a human model rose from the floor with heavy metal armor being worn by it.

  “This is the last and heaviest part of the suit.” the little man started again. “This layer is not only the primary protection for the unit when the shield fails, but also is the layer of the suit that contains all of the add-ons, except armor lock, which is housed in the first layer of the suit.” The arms swung from the dummy to Jason, taking armor from the model and placing it on Jason. Jason slowly was lowered to the floor as the arms placed the final piece on, his helmet which was very different from the regular W suit. While as the regular W suit’s helmet was mostly metal with a visor about 3 and a half inches tall and 10 inches long, the H-W suit was mostly glass. The only metal on it was on the bottom side, which slowly sloped up as it went farther towards the back.

  Jason stood on the platform as the arms removed the electromagnetic rings from his wrists and ankles. Then the arms placed on each layer suit layer’s gloves and boots, and soon he walked out of the room and out the opposite door than the one he had entered.

  I walked out of the doorway with the familiar weight of the suit on my shoulders. I grabbed Orion’s chip from an alternation tower, which had transported and changed certain information and placed it onto a new chip suited for my new helmet and suit style. I placed the chip into the slot on the back of my helmet, and quickly Orion’s face popped up, along with the suits several systematic that had finally powered up.

  I looked towards the six ponies, which starred awe struck at my huge armor. I pulled of my helmet and looked at them.

  “Now we are ready to begin this fight.”

  Admiral Sandusky watched with, what can only be described as, an evil grin. He watched as the Forerunner, Covenant, Reapers, Combine, and Robot ships quickly approached the planet. The Cybermen, Darlek, and Sontaran ships had been held back as the backup, if needed, although it took a lot of convincing to keep the Sontarans from charging.

  The U.N.S. Hailstorm’s inter-multiversal disturbance alarm went off and soon several ships zipped by. The ships were easily spotted to be a high jacked Combine and Robot ship and the U.N.’s multiversal inverse twin, a U.N.S.C. fleet. Quickly following them were several U.S. space craft.

  “Sir, fifteen cruiser classes and five cutter classes have just breached the gap, their coming to engage.” A man shouted to the Admiral from his station.

  “Get to battle stations!” The Admiral shouted to all the ship over the inter-com. Soon the plasma turrets were manned, and several small battle pods were ready for launch. “Plasma turrets shoot at the cruisers, battle pods, go for the cutters.” Soon the side of the Hailstorm was light up by launching pods and firing turrets.

  Admiral of the Fleet Johnson stood at his battle platform. Around his men sent signals to the other ships and received signals from others.

  “Shoot down the Darleks; we can’t have them join the ground battle.” The Admiral shouted. Soon enough dozens of high accelerated Ion canons launched their deadly beams and the one point, along with energy bolts hurtling towards the individual Darleks. The Admiral soon saw the U.N. battle pods screeching through the fleet. “Tell the Piranha to shot down the pods but mind its aim.” The Admiral ordered.

  “The Piranha is setting in motion and is sending out its own pods, sir.” A man shouted to the Admiral. The Admiral nodded and watched as volley after volley of bolts of energy were sent towards the Darlek fleet. The Darleks could stand most of the energy bolts, but the occasional Ion blasts assured great damage for their targets, if not death.

  “Helm’s man, steers us towards the Hailstorm and direct our gunners to attack it, but make sure all other guns in the fleet are on the Darleks.” The Admiral shouted. The ship slowly turned as the Helm’s man directed the ship towards the looming U.N. ship. All the guns turned towards the ship and began unleashing a barrage of energy bolt with a few intermixed Ion blasts. The ships shields flared up, catching most energy bolts, but let the Ion blast along with the energy bolt that traveled close to them. The Hailstorm began unleashing missiles, which the energy bolts were able to destroy.

  Suddenly a flash of red light came into view, and several ships exploded as a bolt of energy slashed through them. The Admiral looked and saw a lone Reaper shooting at them.

  “Keep the energy bolts going where they are, redirect all Ion cannons towards that Reaper!” The communication station came alive as all lines were used to send the message, and soon twenty Ion blasts charged at the Reaper, and were quickly able to destroy it, but soon three more came into view and began launching their deadly attacks at the fleet, destroying ship after ship. Soon the Ion blast came again and shot down another, but again the Reapers let out a large roar and released their massacring beams. A beam passed closed by the ships view, causing the shields to flare up and fall quickly.

  The Admiral looked at his display and saw massive damage coming on all sides. He looked up at his crew.

  “Aim all weapons at those monsters! Take them down at all cost!” The fleet turned towards the two remaining Reapers and unleashed all their missiles, energy pulses, and Ion blasts possible. And in an instant both Reapers were dead, but before the crews of the ships could cheer, on last, huge, Reaper came up.

  The Admiral flipped a few switches and directed himself towards the Helm’s man.

  “Full acceleration at that Reaper, we’re going to ram it head on.” The crew turned to him.

  “But, sir…” one man began.

  “Do it, this ship can’t take much more anyway, tell the other ships that if they are at critical to ram into some ship and bring it down with them, that’s an order.” The Admiral shouted at his crew members. The Helm’s man turned to the wheel and assured a true shot at the Reaper. He warmed up the booster for what would be a sub-warp speed ramming. “Set the ramming timer to thirty seconds, Helm’s man.” The Admiral said as he moved his finger towards the ship’s inter-com button.

  “Aye, sir, thirty second timer set.” The Helm’s man said just before Johnson pressed the button. The button sunk under the man’s finger, and soon the ship was alive with his voice echoing through the halls.

  “This is Admiral Amos Johnson, the ship is at critical, and we are going to ram into the remaining Reaper. Any man who wishes to drop pod down to the planet may do so and have nothing held against him. To those who are to remain, please make your way to the Ion cannons and hope for the best. That is all.” The Admiral let go of the button and the channel was cut off. He looked out the window and saw several drop pods already going to the surface. He turned to his remaining crew members who sat at the positions as usual. “You all may also leave.” A man turned to the Admiral.

  “We are with you until the end, sir.” The Admiral smiled. He looked down to his pad and pressed the last button and soon the ship’s automated voice rang out through the ship.

  ‘Self-destruction Nukes armed and ready for use.’ The crew members did not flinch, and no more pods were sent down to the surface as any member of the crew might have made his last attempt to leave behind this death.

  “Ramming commencing in 3...2…1.” The Helm’s man said, and suddenly the ship jumped into motion, as several Ion blasts were released at once and slammed into the Reaper only millisecond before the ship ran into it insuring its death. The ship jerked violently as they came to a sudden stop as it hit the Reaper, but not in a solid stop as the front of the ship exploded violently as it continued to strive through the synthetic beast. The Nukes suddenly let loose, and everything was evaporated inside the ship.

  The Admiral tilted his head back as the heat ripped his apart. He felt no pain, he had no regrets, he only had peace, the one thing he had ever sought to have. He smiled one last time as his last breath escaped his lungs.