Kairoth moved through the jungle like a curse given form.
His double-sided scythe spun in dark arcs, the black handle flashing between his hands while the red blades carved through demons with ruthless precision. His gothic armor pulsed with faint red veins, as if something alive was breathing beneath the metal. The glowing red mask over his face, crowned by horn-like projections, made him look less like a soldier of the Empire and more like some ancient executioner dragged out of myth.
Every swing dropped another demon.
Every step pushed the jungle line forward.
Then the air changed.
A wave of purple lightning crashed into him from the side.
Kairoth was blasted backward, boots ripping through mud as he skidded across the battlefield. He caught himself on one knee, scythe planted into the earth, and looked up.
A figure stood beyond the smoke.
He was massive, wrapped in black-and-purple sci-fi samurai armor that gleamed with violent energy. One side of his face was demonic, with a horn jutting upward from bone and flesh. The other side was hidden behind a cybernetic mask. Horns rose from his forearm armor as well, and in each hand he carried a chainsaw sword, both blades spinning with a savage metallic growl while purple lightning danced around them.
Kairoth slowly rose to his feet.
"You must be the demon commander."
The figure tilted one blade toward him.
"Yes," he said, voice deep and crackling under the hum of his weapons. "My name is Razor."
Kairoth didn't waste another word.
He leapt forward, scythe cutting in twin arcs meant to take Razor at the neck and waist at the same time, but Razor met both strikes head-on. Sparks and purple lightning burst between them as chainsaw blades screamed against red steel.
Then Razor moved.
His leg came around in a spinning kick so fast it barely looked real.
The blow crashed into Kairoth's side and sent him flying through the undergrowth. Branches snapped. Mud exploded. Kairoth rolled, recovered, and answered with a dark Kia pulse that burst out from his body like a pressure wave.
Razor actually dropped to one knee.
Purple energy flickered unevenly around him for a second.
"What is that?" Razor growled.
Kairoth was already moving.
He came in hard, scythe flashing for Razor's chest, but at the last instant, Razor twisted aside with impossible speed. One chainsaw sword missed Kairoth's throat by inches. The second sliced across his armor and landed clean enough to stagger him back.
More Imperial soldiers poured into the area a moment later, firing in support.
Razor turned toward them.
A battle tank smashed through the trees behind the infantry line, its cannon already lined up.
"Fire!"
The shell thundered out,
But Razor jumped.
He shot into the air like a missile, flipped forward, and came down on the tank before the crew could react. Both chainsaw swords roared at once, and in one savage cross-cut, he split the entire vehicle in half.
The explosion lit up the trees.
A Razorback assault vehicle rolled in from the left and opened fire, but Razor met the barrage like he was dancing through rain. He blocked shot after shot with his spinning swords, then hurled one blade forward.
The sword tore through the Razorback and detonated it from the inside.
A second later, the weapon curved back through the air and returned to his hand.
Kairoth narrowed his eyes.
"He's not just strong," he muttered. "He's absurd."
A heavy presence crashed into the battlefield from the right.
Dreadwake, the Fifteenth Great, entered the fight at last.
The cybernetic pirate captain came in like a storm off a dead sea, battle-worn coat whipping behind him, mechanical enhancements humming under his gear, weapon drawn and ready. He moved up beside Kairoth without taking his eyes off Razor.
"So," Dreadwake said, "this is the one making all the noise."
Razor didn't answer.
He vanished.
One second he was in front of them.
The next, command vehicles in the rear started exploding.
Artillery crews screamed as Razor tore through the backline, moving so fast he looked like a flicker of black-purple light bouncing between targets. One battery went up in flames. Then another. Then a supply truck burst apart as his chainsaw blades screamed through its hull.
Kairoth took off after him immediately, but the jungle was too crowded, too chaotic.
He lost sight of him.
When he finally stopped, breathing hard, the battlefield behind him was full of burning wreckage.
"He's fast," Kairoth said darkly. "Fast and powerful."
That was when Capt One Arm and Red Riot found them.
Capt One Arm came in with mud on his armor and blood on his blade, still carrying himself like the battlefield belonged to him. Red Riot landed nearby from the trees, crossbow still in hand, his eyes already scanning for the next problem.
Capt One Arm didn't waste time.
"We heard what happened," he said. "He has a massive push of troops coming this way."
Dreadwake frowned. "How bad?"
"Bad enough," Capt One Arm replied. "We're not chasing him blind through the jungle. We bunker down here."
Red Riot nodded toward the rear positions. "The desert army is on the way to reinforce us."
"And Ian and Optimus?" Kairoth asked.
"At the mountain front," Capt One Arm said. "So until reinforcements arrive, we hold."
Kairoth looked back at the burning command vehicles, then toward the darkness where Razor had disappeared.
For the first time in a long while, even he looked wary.
"Alright," he said. "Then we dig in."
Orders spread fast.
Soldiers pulled back and hardened the position. Defensive lines were built into the mud and roots. Vehicles were repositioned into chokepoints. Artillery that had survived was turned toward the likely avenues of attack. Medics dragged the wounded back while scouts spread through the treeline.
The jungle, which had been a place of motion only minutes ago, became a fortress of tense silence.
Kairoth stood near the forward edge with Dreadwake, Capt One Arm, and Red Riot, all of them staring into the dark jungle ahead.
Somewhere out there, Razor was gathering his troops.
And when he came back, he would come back hard.
So they hunkered down and waited for the desert army to arrive.
And in the shadows between the trees, the next wave of the war began to gather.