Part 60: Nightmare

Well, this is new.






For the first time, we have control of a handful of PACT units and can finally see what they’re capable of.



The Bianca may be gone, but having access to a second support ryder with the Flak Off ability more than makes up for its loss.




Like so.



Long story short, this fight is a massacre.



By the end of the first turn we’ve almost completely cleared the board. And there are no more enemy ships coming. Arcadius has finally run out of cannon fodder.



Enemy lines are crumbling, sir. Several of the outlying PACT ships are signalling their surrender and powering down.
This is it everyone! Throw everything we have against the prototypes and obliterate them!



Hmph. If someone had told me that I’d be fighting side by side with you to free Cera I would have said they were insane.
Heh ... I never once imagined that I would be glad to have you on my side, Fontana.
This isn’t over yet. We’ve got a new contact closing fast. A ryder of unknown design!




It can’t be ...
Sola?
Myr'lan'dur. The personal ryder of Sharr Myren, who vanished without a trace four hundred years before my birth. I thought that dark ryder was nothing but a legend, but … in the modern tongue, the name means--
Nightmare Ascendant.



To think that I would actually have to use this again after so many years. This is where your advance stops, human.
Surrender, “Arcadius.” I've gathered an allied fleet of more Alliance and PACT ships than the very stars to liberate this world. And I'm not about to let a single ryder stand in my way.
Overconfidant, just as the Imperials were. But you have not yet witnessed the full might of the Nightmare Ascendant!




Captain! T-those projectiles are single handedly gutting entire ships! I-it matches no known ryder configuration in our database! According to these readings it's completely beyond anything we've ever encountered.
Sola, how do we kill this thing!?



Such a task would have been difficult even for the war machines of my era … retreat may be unavoidable.
We can't give up now! Ava, fire the Vanguard!



Direct hit confirmed!




No effect! Repeat, no effect. Target … remains.



HAHAHAHA! Now you see, captain? Everything you accomplished here was meaningless. You were always at my mercy. Did you once fear the Legion? The Paradox Core? My useless clones? Mere toys. Diversions. Cannon fodder. All the ships of PACT are disposable. For the Nightmare alone can rule the galaxy. Now suffer as victory is snatched away, just when it appears in reach. Watch in horror as everything you built up burns.



... captain.
No, Ava. Not when we’re so close. Losing Cera a second time … the crew couldn’t take it. I couldn’t take it.
I was going to say that ryder is proving quite intractable. So how about we see how it fares against every shell, laser, and missile we have.



Let’s show that bitch the full might of humanity's wrath.
…



I'm ... gonna do it!
Asaga?
I don't care if it's invincible or not. All this time, I was stupid, but not any more! This time, I'm really going to save everyone! I don't care about being a queen, or anything like that! That's not what I wanted at all! This time ... this time, I'm finally going to be the hero! And I won't let the darkness control me!



Sola, this thing might be a legendary weapon from the past, but has it ever faced two Sharrs of Ryuvia fighting side by side?
…



It has not.



Hmph. I feared the Nightmare would make its appearance eventually.
You knew about this, Fontana!?
The full capabilities of that devilish thing will never be known. But it is not a god. It was made by the hands of man, and it can be felled by the same.
Damnit Fontana ... you could have at least warned us.



Are you ready, captain?
Sunrider, standing by.
A single ryder, against all of us? I know where I’d put my money.
Give the command, Shields. The Alliance has your back.
All units! That ryder stands between us and our home.
Let’s move her out of the way.