On Earth and Beyond HQ...

Chaos had begun to unfold on Earth, as Saphyra deployed the first wave of Novas to fend of the Children of Atlas. However she had been aware of the Kirosian armada, waiting at their doorstep. Drones were placed close by, keeping tabs on their movements.

Since they had not set up a relay station in between Kiros and the Solar System, there was a significant communication delay of 30 mins. Making it difficult to know what was happening on the main front. People across the world waited patiently for the signal to come through. She hoped Syra was alright and that her sister would be saved soon, however she didn't want to be distracted from the task at hand.

The first minutes of Kiala's execution aired all over Earth, just as the children of Atlas attacked Montreal and Boston. The Federation was placed on Code Red, as cities across the world shut down and began anti-alien contingencies. Saphyra wondered, with what resources they had, if they would be able to push back both threats, before their main force returned.

In Boston City...

Carina was anxious. Since the Battle of Rennaya, she had opted out of all missions offered to her, even though Beyond's operations, had all but been suspended. Kayed's death, still weighed heavily on her mind, making it hard for her to summon the courage to fight. However as Kiala was taken, and preparations for war had begun, she knew she couldn't be selfish and stay away from her responsibilities.

"Everyone is placing their lives on the line, to protect our home. I have to, as well. It's why you protected us." She said to herself as he thought about him, while free falling with three of the Gen 3 Novas. The newest Novas to the batch. The Gen 3 were special, since their suits were made with Tobi's cells at the strength he was at, before the Battle of Rennaya. Making them stronger, than the first and second generation Novas.

She knew she was still their senior and had to lead them, but the thought of having other lives in her hands, fueled her anxiety even further. She looked at the Novas, each of them brimming with energy, confidence and eager to prove themselves.

"Focus on the soldiers and help the Boston Police, secure the streets!" She yelled, over the wind, as they fell, but they heard her through her comms.

"Roger!" Some of them replied, as they dove down, with fire, electricity and ice trailing them.

She focused her attention on the child of Atlas staring at her from below, as the Aeromach that dropped them along with another, took on the Cerian spaceships flying overhead. Carina switched into first gear, as she moltened the rocks, she carried with her, into an armour of magma. Then dove down faster, as the child of Atlas, reciprocated her charge, meeting her in the middle, with their fists colliding.

A shockwave resounded around them, as the prince followed up with a spinning kick at her head while manifesting a blade of ice along it. Which in turn, she blocked and pushed to the side before combusting the magma, covering her right hand into his chest, and sent him hurdling down. Taking her back to the lessons, Amaara had given her and Nur so that they could hold their own.

She landed down close to him, as she finally took in his appearance. The prince, had tan skin, brown hair and sinister red eyes. He was much taller than her, at around 6 feet and 8 inches, with a large mace, strapped to his back.

"I was hoping to see my little sister here and finally be able to take her life force. However I still don't sense her around. Do you have any idea where she might be?" The prince asked.

Carina had been briefed before embarking on the mission. Kaelin, the 99th prince was her objective, while Nur had to take out Kyrianna, the 102nd. The worst part of invasions on Earth, were the dense populations in which they would eventually have to fight in. Thankfully though, most of the countries by now had prepared for alien invasions and agreed to debut their Guardians in case of any attacks, while the main force was gone.

The United Guardians of Earth or UGE's for short, is a Union Defence Force resulting from the court case that Beyond lost. Countries had managed to produce their own Nova suits and with the help of Sarah representatives, they were able to pick those who would be able to wield it for them. Sonara and Dargan followed suit, after the establishment of proper governments, creating the Sonaran Vanguard and Dargan Brigade.

She noticed people, still stuck in buildings and running for their lives all around the city. Then felt a father and child, nearly picked up by a Bosryn, before one of the Gen 3 took it out.

Carina sighed in relief, but instinctively looked up as Kaelin struck the arm, she managed to raise up in time, as ice began creeping over it. "Don't ignore me, now." The prince, berated her.

"She doesn't have time to mess with the likes of you!" Carina replied, as she kicked him back, with the magma on her boots, heating up.

"Or she isn't in this Solar System, is she? Along with Kiala and the rest of your toughest warriors?" He asked curiously.

A resounding explosion interrupted them, as they noticed, the American and Polish Guardians of Earth, defeat several of the children of Atlas, in the 200's. Then began dashing towards them.

One of the Gen 3, a guy her age named Sebastian from Serbia, zipped towards them from the opposite side, clad in flames. Along with the Guardians, they each instantly knew, that if they took the prince out, the planet would be safe.

"No!" She yelled out, trying to stop them, but got out of the way as a large boulder of ice, crashed into Kaelin, pushing him away from her. Then the Polish Gaurdian, Lew Andrezej yelled out, "Frost: Letst Vigele!" As the boulder broke apart into a spiked iced tomb, enclosing him, as it clasped shut and sealed him in with spikes of ice, stabbing through holes it made for them.

There was silence, before the one of the two American Guardians deployed, a middle aged woman named Scarlet Ellis, unleashed a beam of blazing electricity towards the prince. Alongside Sebastian releasing the massive sphere of fire, he had gathered up and throwing it down with full force.

Carina retreated back a bit more, seeing their combined effort, create a devastating explosion. However, as the smoke dissipated, the trio didn't stop. As they continued to hurdle more volleys at the center, ice, shot up, from beneath the ground, like whips and grabbed the three of them and slammed them down. Before a gush of air, blew back the smoke, showing him completely unscathed.

"Unbelievable! Is this all this all this planet has to offer? How did Zaryon die in such a place?" He shook his head completely dissappointed, as Sebastian, Scarlett and Lew, struggled out of their restraints. "This may be over quicker than we thought. We may not longer need, his ship's black box."

He sighed, then looked up at the sky and yelled out. "Xyrisa! The coast is clear!"

Carina had just begun rushing in to help the trio out, when she saw a faint glimmer from her peripheral and instead, reacted on instinct. She didn't know what she had even done. She just knew her body needed to react faster than what was coming, and do what was most important at the moment. Survive.

A bright, glowing violet sphere of fire, touched down near them. The distance didn't matter for there was no chance to escape. Everything in a 3 km radius was incinerated, including houses, buildings, civilians and habitat.

The princess dropped down beside her brother, adorned, in casual style battlesuit, and ponytails highlighted to match her skirt. "Aww, two survived, I must be getting rusty."

"It's ok, you'll get them next time, my love." Kaelin replied.

"Tch, you're so sweet. Thanks for keeping them busy, boo." The princess walked over and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"It was nothing. I expected more from the ones, who killed Zaryon and Jeraton." He clenched his fists. "I've bullied those two, all my life. For them to perish her, is unbelievable."

Xyrisa gave him a genuine smile. "Don't worry! Once we take this planet, we'll wait for the ones that killed them!"

Just, as she finished speaking, they heard screaming from Lew. His body was half soldered and burnt away, as the left over half of the dome, Carina raised to try and protect the trio, began to fall apart.

The other two, laid lifeless. Mostly burnt away, as their domes, crumbled away, failing to protect them. Carina wasn't in the best shape either. She had crashed not too far, from the corpses, with burns all over her body, and her legs, completely burnt off till her knees.

Her left arm was singed to her elbow. She had given herself the least amount of defence. Yet she was completely unable to save them.

Tears began streaming down over her face, as she began talking herself down. "I couldn't save them. I can't do anything. Why didn't I just stay home?"

"Aww! She's crying!" Xyrisa exclaimed to her brother. She looked back at Carina and began walking towards her, as Kaelin did the same. "Are you sad because you couldn't join them?"

The Nova descended further into panic, as Kaelin stood on the opposite side of her, and began to crouch down. She thought of all of her regrets and what she ultimately failed to do. 'Amaara, Tobi... Kayed, save me...'

She cried, wishing they were with her, however a voice inside her head, shouted at the top of its lungs. "No! Enough is enough. You, when are you going to stand on your own feet?"

A woman with a deep voice, drawed her attention and snapped her out of reality, as the prince's descent, seemed to slow down, until it never happened. Then a void of darkness, dropped her into a vast, green valley, with a large tree and a woman sitting with a lamp lit seemingly on a pinic. However it was night time, yet the sky was bright with the light of the Northern Lights

She stared shocked to see the lights of her home, and not realizing the breeze of the grass against her legs. It brought back memories of the time her Father took her and her sister, to see the lights, when they were kids. One of the last memories she had of him before he passed from illness. Leaving their family distraught, before her stepfather stepped in and tore her world even further apart.

"Sit." The woman was impatient, yet seemed kind. She wore a red and gold Rennayan dress, with a matching headpiece. She was stunning, with eyes, that seemed to have seen their fair share of battle.

Carina did as she was told, as the woman gazed out and took in the beauty of the lights. "This is what your country is like?"

The Nova nodded, wondering who the woman in front of her might be. Then blushed, as the woman gave her a smile. "It's beautiful."

Carina smiled. "My parents used to take us here to watch the lights. I've always wondered, where they all lead to, or how they were made, but they still leave me breathless everytime."

The woman laughed. "All the more, for you to protect it, then."

The Nova looked down. "I know, but I don't know if I'm all too cut out for this."

"Sure you are." The woman replied, raising her eyebrows. "You wanna know why?"

"Why?" Carina asked.

"Because I'm you're number one fan."

"I'm not alone that much to look out for."

"There you go, dropping yourself so low again. You are much more than that." The woman shook her head and crossed her legs in front of her. "Carina, you believe, you weren't chosen because you reached out to Sarah yourself, but I was looking for you the whole time."

"What? How-" She was caught off by an index finger, raised in front of her.

"You had the courage to step out first, if you didn't, call out to us, it would have taken me longer to find you." The woman started to tear up, as Carina, looked at her worriedly and unsure what to say. "I was nervous when I woke up here, knowing what happened to me, and remembering all that came before, with a huge new task I embarked on, without any experience."

She smiled as she wiped away a tear. "Just like the others, we all have our own story, of why we picked to be part of this, or why we were forced to be." She looked down and rubbed her palms, before closing her eyes. "This is mine."

The world around them, began to change until, it settled on a setting of a Rennayan cemetery, were major generals and people gathered, with a young girl crying and one of the generals holding her. He was big, with a stern look on his face and wore many scars, picked up from countless battles.

Carina didn't realize it, but they were standing up. The woman stepped forward, and raised her hand as if she was pressing play on a recording. The people began to move, as she watched the girl be taken away into a vehicle, along with the general.

"My parents died, when I had seen 10 cycles of the Twin Suns. My father's friend managed to gain custody of me, right after, as I had no immediate relatives alive." She started to shudder, thinking back to it.

Carina reached a hand out and touched her arm. She shook her head.

The woman smiled. "It's ok. I'm alright." She stepped forward, as things zoomed forward, into a bedroom, in a large fancy house. With a young version of the woman, drawing in a unique art style.

"The man took care of me for 2 years. During that time, he did things, I did not think wrong of that time as a child, but now..." She shook her head, horrid of the thought. Time, seemed to start again for the child, as the man barged in stumbling and mumbling. Scaring her.

Carina started to tremble, fearing for the kid, and seeing herself in the same spot. Time sped up again and this time the child was older and closer to what the woman was now today. She was being sworn into the military.

"He had his way with me for years, doing whatever horrifying act he wanted and I couldn't do anything about it. He was one of the most powerful people on the planet. Who would believe me?" She let out a small chuckle. "So I doubled down and set out a plan to get my own justice. I wasn't strong enough to beat him, but I am smart enough."

Time fast forwarded to point were she was now in a battlezone, with explosions being set off in the distance and screams of people were not too far off. They could see the young version of her, crouching and running along a group of tents, until she stopped at one that seemed to be active.

The woman peeked into the tent with a knife, ready to pounce, but quickly backed out, panicking from what she saw. Muffled screams we're coming from inside the tent, along with the sound of grunting. The woman stifled her voice, frozen in fear. She didn't know what to do. Then moments later, she decided to run.

"When I had finally gained the courage to kill him, I mustered my strength, and set out in the middle of our intervention with Haldwyn and the Cerian Empire. We failed their people in more ways than one." She gritted her teeth, remembering the scene. "I was too scared to stop him. He was supposed to be interrogating the refugees to make sure none of them were hidden children of Atlas, but instead what he did to her..."

Carina was quiet the whole time, she knew it was taking a lot out of her to recount the story, but she had a slight feeling where this was going. The woman fast forwarded time, as she blinked away her tears.

"I was too scared to act at that moment. Trauma and fear took over me then. However as I got back to my tent, anger, prevailed." She continued, as Carina noticed her expression change. "I grabbed several explosives, from the armory, small enough for him not to notice, then planted them under his bed. Then waited for him to go to sleep."

They were now floating above the tent with the woman, hiding far off, but watching him with Hi-Tech binoculars. He stepped in, then about 20 minutes later the lights, within turned off. Then the woman snapped her fingers.

The explosion lit up the night, with the smoke reaching them up in the air. People rushed to fires, as ice wielders and medics, treated people and helped put out the flames.

"I detotonated the bombs, by tunneling a golem under his bed, but I miscalculated the explosion. I didn't think a few people, would get caught in the crossfire." She smiled, thinking back to it. "Revenge was sweet, but I wasn't a winner in this game and justice only belongs to the winners."

Time fast forwarded, to point where the woman was now standing trial. The judge had given his verdict, yet she still remained smiling as she was taken away. "I have no regrets!" The woman shouted.

"But I did, I was robbed of my future, because I was so consumed by my hatred and he needed to go. Yet I had no options, clear to me at the time." The woman looked Carina in the eye, and shook her head. "Hahaha, that's when that crazy King, came to me with a crazy plan. One to launch me into the future to make a better one. He said, he sympathized, but couldn't pardon me, but that I might be able to help make a difference, to those who've faced my situation."

They were now at an executioner room. Where, a blue and black, styled cryomed, stood at an angle, completely empty. There was a small table and chair, where a Rennayan man in a labcoat, stood with an open, black box that contained a syringe, laid out on the table. King Zenu, and two guards, sat in audience seat, along with a few other diplomats, eager to see justice for their friend. It was being livestreamed throughout Rennaya, as many people had known the war hero she had killed.

The woman walked up to the chair and sat down, while the scientist, took the syring, prepared it and extracted a large amount of blood, from her. He looked at her and smiled. "You are now part of history, as one with the billion."

She glared back and rolled her eyes. "Whatever, better not mess it up."

She got up and walked to the cryomed and stepped in, while an executioner came to prepare it. "Do you have any last words."

"Yes, you morbid android. Of course I do." She looked at the audience, as her words were being recorded. "I don't regret killing him. In fact he should have died sooner. However what I do regret, is supporting the system, that protected him in the first place."

She gripped her fists to her side, shaking the restraints holding her arms and legs. "If the miracles of iko are true, then I hope one day I'll start the change, that keeps these people from walking free." She stopped speaking and dropped her hands and legs. "That's all."

The executioner nodded, while the audience took in her words. The cryomed was closed, as fluids, began to fill in, slowly. Giving her an anesthesia then an advanced euthanasia shot, that promised a painless death.

Carina was shivering seeing her be killed, but that's when the version that was with her, placed her hands on her shoulders. "You, are my first champion. Tobi doesn't count." She laughed, making the Nova smile a bit.

"But... But, what if I'm not the right person, to pick for this. I've let so many people die." Carina replied back.

The woman shook her head. "There will never be a right person. You will always doubt yourself to the end, but what matters, is you believing you are the right person and acting accordingly, as in standing back up, when the odds are against you, or retreating when you need to. Because in the end, the only ones who can decide, what is right or what is wrong, in this world are the winners."

She looked down and let go of her, then walked back before turning around. "I will always stand by you, but right now. Carina, you have to be a winner"

Carina pondered a bit, as the world around them began to collapse. Then she made up her mind. "What's your name?"

The woman smiled. "Ashunde."

"Ashunde." She smiled back. "What do I have to do?"

"Come here." She walked Carina over to the double doors in the executioner room. Everyone else in the room, were paused like NPC's.

She opened the double doors outwards, revealing an abyss of darkness, spiralling and flowing with a myriad of lights, shimmering every colour. "Take my hand and on my word, we jump." They both looked at each other nodded, then seconds later, she said, "Jump." Then they jumped in together.

She woke up, with Kaelin crouched above her and she quickly, covered her face with her arm. Molting a glove of magma onto her hand without him noticing.

"Aww, you poor thing, let's send you to them right away." She heard Xyrisa's voice getting closer.

With quick instincts, the Nova swung her arm around catching Kaelin at the top of his dome, and sending his head crashing into the ground, as the ground below him gave way and sunk. Swallowing him whole.

Then Carina her body in a ready position and performed a kip up, to dodge a strike incoming from the princess. New legs formed from the ground, attaching as prosthetics when she raised her knees up.

Tremors began to shake the very environment around them. Xyrisa watched the Nova, draw her sword with a left arm forming out of diamonds and gems, to match her in an exchange of strikes. While pushing her further into the air.

A skull made with blood, tribal marks, half formed over her face, as her hair began to glow full silver. Strength unlike any they had seen from her, exploded outwards causing fear, to race through the children of Atlas' minds for the first time.

Kaelin erupted into the air, as an instant volcano, formed and shot him upwards into the sky. Trapped, in a boulder of magma, constantly burning him, with only his head and hands sticking out. Then the volcano, prepared a second eruption, but this time it seemed as if it was charging it up, as the ground pumped, as if it wanted to release but it couldn't.

The prince's eyes, grew wide, realizing the position he was in. He directed his fingers above him, and began creating a rotating sphere of ice and condensed it over and over. Then shattered it open revealing, an unrelenting beam of ice and wind, freezing up the volcano. He was still burning up in pain, but the volcano was the bigger priority.

Xyrisa yelled, striking back harder with violet fire blazing around them. "What changed!"

"It just became clear to me, that justice was in my hands." Leaving her stunned as Carina's mask shattered and she finally broke the deadlock between them. Then spun to kick her flying towards her brother.

"Erupt: Mini Vulkan!" The Nova said clutching her right fist as Xyrisa, crashed into Kaelin, disrupting his beam, and freeing the volcano to crack up.

An eruption, small yet concentrated beamed into the sky, taking the children of Atlas along with it. She willed the lava to fall safely around the Earth. Then sighed as she felt the life signature of one more child of Atlas still remaining above her.

"She's a tough one, right? Ashunde?"