It took five of those orbs to shatter the crystal wall. Most of the nobles were already out of the room and in the hallway by then. Two of the Tualankir had flown in already and the guards had to stay back to defend.

  The Redinan soldiers and guards opened fire immediately. Grey flesh splattered and blood fumes filled the room as the thermal rifles tore through their wings, keeping them grounded. The Redinan soldiers fired from their arm-rifles at the creature's neck's shell. The bombardment was forcing them to retreat. For a brief moment they were winning.

  Suddenly three dozen Scavengers leaped off the creatures' backs.

  The battle changed tides quickly. The guards nearest to the creature died quickly as the Scavengers attacked at close range, leaving no chance to fire the rifles. The guards weren't trained enough to fight off the ferality of the Scavengers and the Redinan soldiers had to split between defending themselves and keeping the Tualankir at bay.

  The room's design gave those on the higher steps some advantage and helped create some room, but the moment they changed their focus to the climbing Scavengers, the Tualankir gained a chance to heal. Any moment now, they'd return to full strength and gain a chance to fire more of those flesh orbs.

  The orbs wouldn't do anything against Tipine. That hadn't changed. No other wall in the room was made of whatever crystal the transparent wall had been made of. If everyone managed to get in, they could seal it off, shutting the Tualankir out and everyone would be safe again. But that 'everyone' didn't include the soldiers, nor the guards fighting off the Tualankir and the Scavengers.

  They would die.

  It didn't look like they would even achieve their goal before they did. Three Scavengers managed to get past the guards and head straight for the entrance. The last two guards overseeing the noble's exit moved foward to defend them.

  The Scavengers were three 'steps' lower than the entrance where Araan stood. A Redinan soldier behind them shot one down but couldn't stop the others, leaving two to finish the climb.

  Up close, the Scavengers towered over the guards. With their overly long and thick aksoras flailing wildly with excitement. They seemed bigger than they were, crushing morale even further. The first guard fought through the fear, charged screaming into the Scavenger in front of her and they toppled a few steps down. The other stood still and only fired when the Scavenger got too close. His shots missed everything vital and the wild raider responded by spearing him into the wall. If Araan had to guess, by the unnatural position his head was in, he was either dying or dead already.

  During the attack, the last of the nobles had left the room, Araan included but they couldn't leave because the room was compromised and the door wasn't locked and they couldn't lock without a Redinan soldier's assistance. Only they understood the technology that controlled the Tower.

  The nobles couldn't leave the hallway and head somewhere else either, as each entrance in the hall was sealed shut until opened by a Redinan soldier. With attacks like these happening everywhere in the tower, it would be a while before anyone came up, even with Tisiryk being here. If these soldiers failed, that would leave the Scavengers rampaging through a bunch of nobles, most of whom have never wielded their strengths in their lifetime.

  From his position next to the entrance, Araan could see the approaching Scavenger. In that moment, he stopped being the bystander. He walked back into the room.

  “What are you doing, Araan?” He heard Tisiryk say. It was the first time he'd called him by his name. Everyone was staring, surprised.

  Araan caught Fuki'ra's stare while resting on the wall leftwards from the entrance. She didn't look confused at all.

  “See you if you can figure out how to get that door to shut. You're Sygad, if there's anyone who can find a way, it is you.” Araan replied as he worked on opening the locking mechanism of his vambraces. Tisiryk still looked confused.

  “Leave them on, Lord Redinan,” Fuki'ra said, sounding rather dramatic, more regarding than anything she'd ever said. “They won't break.” Tisiryk seemed to realize now reverence filled the hallway. Araan clenched his jaw. Did every moment have to be a chance to manipulate for this people?

  Araan left the vambraces on and went in.

  It took a moment to shift gears from being the innocuous noble to Commander Araan Vinid. He had hunted down creatures inside of cities before but never in crystal palaces or in fancy Life Armours. But in the midst of it, there was the familiar tangy smell of superhot plasma and the roars of cyperans fighting—that did the trick. His quick paced walk turned into a full blown run and Araan clashed with the charging Scavenger.

  The cyperan came in full force with his shoulder like a spear and Araan collided against him with a hard shove of his.

  The Scavenger stumbled backwards.

  Araan didn't.

  The Scavenger stood in shock. “No Dome-dweller has matched me before. How—” Araan closed in and swung a fist. The taller cyperan evaded but didn't miss Araan's sudden second punch to his neck. It connected in a loud thump and the Scavenger went limp, falling to his knees as his neck bent.

  Grabbing the dead Cyperan by his jaw, Araan pulled his lodged fist out of his neck. He lifted the body up in the air.

  If they want to be insane, let's be insane, Araan thought. He roared loudly and threw the corpse into the heart of the battle.

  That paused the fight for a moment. They stared at the corpse in shock and it turned to rage quickly. They looked frantically for Araan but he was already in the air, headed for them.

  Araan's leap ended close to the broken crystal view, at the second row just before Tisiryk's and his seat. Scavengers chased and he looked around as he ran from them. There was a fallen guard close to Tisiryk's throne, his thermal rifle right next to him. Araan sprinted there, picking up the rifle at the last moment.

  Something was wrong, the rifle was too hot.

  Araan aimed and fired.

  Nothing.

  The first Scavenger got to Araan and speared him into the wall. He blocked most of it by bringing his forearms before his chest just before the shoulders connected. Pain shot through them as the Scavengers crushed into them repeatedly but he could deal. Suddenly three more came at him, one spearing his left side and pinning his arm, the other two grabbing fistfuls of his askoras.

  Araan's vision blurred with every tug and the pain came rushing after, to his head and his back. And the Scavengers, they kept attacking: pinning, punching and tugging at the same time. Their roars smothered his groans, he could barely think.

  Almost instinctively, he let go of the rifle he'd been holding and grabbed at the Scavenger pinning him. The cyperan bit his hand but Araan caught his lower jaw in his palm before he clamped it shut. With all his strength, he squeezed it hard. In pain, the Scavenger tried to pull away but Araan held him in place, squeezing till he felt the jaw crack in his hand and tear from the rest of the raider's face.

  It wasn't enough to kill him but when Araan finally let go, he backed away roughly, inspecting his face. The disorientation made them ease up for a tiny fraction of a moment and Araan used that. He slammed his fists into the back of the other Cyperan pinning him till he dropped. When that happened, Araan kneed his face, sending him to the ground. He was out.

  The Scavengers pulling at his askoras did so harder but Araan could follow them this time, lessening its damage. It continued till they were close to what remained of the crystal wall the Tualankir damaged. As they discovered his askora won't tear off like a normal cyperan, they planned to throw him out. Araan realized it when he caught them trying to lead him toward a giant hole in the transparent crystal wall.

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  It would have worked but suddenly Araan came at them faster than they were tugging. Before they could react to it, he was close enough. He grabbed both by their waist, lifted them simultaneously and threw them into the ground.

  Araan was kneeling between them. He was too close for them to keep tugging his askoras without reaching higher but he didn't let them. Pinning the other down, he dug his fingers into the eyes of the Scavenger on his right. Grabbing bone and flesh underneath, Araan pulled as hard as he could and parts came off. The dying Scavenger twitched violently as blood gushed out of the orifice.

  Some of the fumes got into Araan's eyes and he was blind for a brief moment. He could hear the last Scavenger shout in anger whilst breaking free of his grip. He punched Araan's jaw right after. Hard.

  Araan rolled out of the way as some of his vision returned. He stood up quickly and so did his opponent. He came swinging but Araan sidestepped and shoved him into the Tipine wall behind him. Araan lunged at him and punched his chest and Life Armour. The Scavenger roared and hit Araan back.

  It barely hurt compared to the punch or the tugging from earlier. The scavenger was hurt. Araan stood his ground and continued hitting the Scavenger's chest or more accurately, the metal of the Life Armour covering it, using it to bruise him. Araan kept hitting him hard, until the Scavenger stopped punching back and began defending himself, until he tried to push Araan off him. Araan kept going. Until the metal was partly embedded in his chest.

  Until the only thing keeping him from falling was Araan's repeated hits.

  Araan turned around. The Scavenger he had knocked out was where he left him and the one missing a jaw was lying dead not so far away in a faint cloud of yellow, the last puffs of blood escaping periodically. There were no Scavengers on the higher of the end of the steps but there was still a mess of things.

  The reduced Scavenger numbers didn't reduce the intensity of attacks and the Tualankir were still in play. With every passing moment there was one less guard or soldier alive.

  And for what? What was the reason behind this? Out of all the cities they talked about safeguarding, Kolvak wasn't one of them. How did they get into a guarded dome city in such large numbers without the Citadel or the Tower being notified? None of this made sense.

  He wondered what the nobles thought of Tisiryk right now, given his stance on the Scavenger raids earlier. Nothing would have been different if he had made the decision to safeguard the outer cities, but his refusal and this happening right after wasn't a good look. It potentially meant more time establishing Tisiryk before the nobles and the people. More time when the people thought about him as Araan's rival and less time for him to do what he actually came here for.

  “This shouldn't be happening,” he said through clenched teeth.

  Araan refocused his thoughts as he walked back into the fight. He was sore in a lot of places. Scavengers hit a lot harder than other cyperans and there was more targeted pain than he got when he fought as a Trigad Commander, but that was because he wasn't wearing his Mantle Armour.

  If the Redinan healing is going to kick in, now would be perfect timing. He'd never experienced it before, the healing. They called it Blazing. It was supposedly activated after a gruesome injury and apparently every one he'd gotten throughout his life hadn't been enough for that.

  He felt his askoras and smiled ruefully. No such luck.

  The soldiers and guards had managed to keep the higher parts of the room free of the Scavengers. Their effect of their thinning numbers was starting to show, at a slow rate but it was happening. Ironically, the Tualankir helped them in this area; if the Scavengers outside the Tower wanted to send in more, they were blocked off.

  As the giant creatures screached and puffed, Araan was reminded of the more important aspects of this battle. When he looked, he found the door still open, a couple heads sticking out and watching the fight.

  “You!” he shouted pointing at a Redinan soldier not so far from him. The soldier fought off and fired at a Scavenger before facing him.

  As he came closer, Araan pointed at the entrance to the room. “Can that door be unlocked from inside if there's a need?”

  “Yes, Lord Redinan,” The soldier said sharply. Unaware, the injured Scavenger he had been pelting escaped his aim and came at him.

  Araan shoved the soldier out of the way and booted the Scavenger in the chest, sending him back a few paces. “Shut it and stand guard by the Lord Commander's side. Now!” The soldier ran for the door even as the Scavenger rose again.

  The Scavenger didn't get close enough the second time, two Redinan soldiers emerged from the thick of the battle, rifle-arms lifted and firing. Their ammunition comprised shards of hard metal. As it hit Araan's attacker, he roared and fell forward. His back and its thick askoras were punctured with pieces of metal and tiny streams of blood escaped the cracks they formed.

  Almost simultaneously, the entrance door slammed shut. That was all he had been waiting for.

  Araan acknowledged the two soldiers with a nod and charged into the battle. He picked up a rifle and fired at the Scavengers in his way. As he moved, he tackled a path through the bodies and kept going. The soldiers noticed the path he was charting and restructured their attacks to aid him. One half continued firing at the Tualankir to keep them at bay in the right wing by Araan's throne, while the others killed the Scavengers that dared get too close to him to attack. It was mostly a straight line to the Tualankir now.

  He got to one tattered wing first. The Scavenger there punched at Araan and he evaded. Spinning with the same momentum, he slammed the rifle into her head like a club. She crashed into the wing and fell. Araan put four holes in her before she could recover.

  Climbing the wing was difficult, it was sleek with nothing to latch onto and the Tualankir didn't stay still. But he had to get on its back, if he wanted to get to the head.

  One of the rare moments a Sand Drifter was ever actually necessary. If it had been a normal hunt with his unit, Araan would have sent Trigad Seven, Fourteen and Twelve flying ahead to fire at the shell and the multiple heads from a distance till it broke and they all died, which in turn, would kill the Tualankir. But common thermal rifles didn't have the same power as Trigad battle-rifles, Araan didn't have his soldiers or any Augmentor and he wasn't fighting in an open field. Nothing was normal.

  As he climbed, the holes in the tattered wing helped with grip. If using the holes like steps hurt the Tualankir, the creature didn't show it. With everything going on, Araan doubted if it knew he was on it.

  He reached the shoulder and went after the neck shell. The terrain was different here, its back riddled with long, thick strips of skin peeled off and used as straps by the riders. The 'ground' that was its flesh was tough all over making running easy as soon he got used to its unevenness.

  Five riders held a pair of those long skin strips. They worked as a pair on the left and right sides and in the middle close to the start of the shell, the last rider stood.

  The Tualankir didn't like being fired at and tried to move out of the soldiers' aim but suddenly the left-side riders pulled at the skin, peeling it further. The Tualankir screeched and faced the soldiers again. To worsen things, Araan felt a surging wave underneath his feet.

  Still running, Araan opened fire on the creature's back. As it let another screech, some of the riders turned around, one even came at him. Close enough, he aimed at the riders and wasted no time: two shots through the first rightward rider's chest and head, two more into his partner's mouth and neck and a final one through the back of the central rider's head.

  He wasn't sure minor injuries from his rifle could stop the creature from forming its orbs. Quickly, he reached for the central and right-side strips and peeled. In protest, the Tualankir moved away from the soldiers and faced the steps.

  The remaining riders attacked Araan. One shoved him and the other punched him. There was no strong footing and Araan fell.

  Suddenly the 'ground' trembled, and gravity seemed to pause. Then right after, the creature crashed into a heap of crystal shards by the room's view.

  Many of the shards were as large as a person and more than a few pierced into the Tualankir. The remaining riders on it lost balance as the body shuddered like a tremor, one even falling off. The second Tualankir was fending off the soldiers with its tails while facing Araan, readying to charge into him.

  The second impact threw him off the creature as they both rolled into another heap. This time, he was pinned against the shards by its battered body.

  The guards and soldiers were on the attack, trying to distract the second Tualankir to give him a chance to free himself. It turned, screeched and spewed its fumes at them but the riders forced it to face Araan again. They could still see him trying to get out from under the injured Tualankir. They weren't done.

  They were trying to kill him. Not the fallen Tualankir. It would heal as long as the damage done wasn't to the head. The method was extreme, but taking control of their mount seemed to be enough reason to go this far.

  He hadn't planned this but his predicament seemed to give the soldiers an opening. Less focus on the Tualankir gave the soldiers a chance to deal with what was left of the Scavenger numbers.

  It was very brief but he noticed it was mostly the guards that still tried to stop the second Tualankir. The Redinan Soldiers ignored him as if they expected him to heal from whatever damage the creature dealt him. An odd time to be amused but he was.

  It collided with Araan and the Tuanlankir for the third time. The Tualankir sounded weak this time. Its shell was on top of Araan and he found it easier to lift as he pushed himself off the floor. He got out just in time to avoid being hit a fourth time. There was a crack in its shell after the fourth collision.

  Free, there wasn't much to do but attack the second Tualankir. Its riders seemed to know that too and came after the soldiers with its tail. They swatted many of the soldiers—and their own allies—as the Tualankir swung its tail toward the remains of the transparent wall, creating space between both sides. Suddenly they made the creature release blood fumes such great volumes that everyone in the room was blinded. Araan had never seen it happen before.

  In the nigh opaque cloud of blood, a vague object rose to the roof of the room.

  It was round. It swelled. Araan had no time to react.

  The flesh orb exploded sending everyone flying.