Chapter XV: The Duel

The two Slah'ke went out on the arena, they both growled at each other, Machinehr got down onto his knees and said a few simple words in the Slah'ke tongue "This day marks the day of my death, the Death for me, for I must now ascend into the Heavens" Church made a bow, and SPQR grabbed Narses and Phantom and flew down the Stadium to the arena floor. Soon followed by Tomglomerate, Cross, a few others, and a bandaged Adept. SPQR instructed the Terrans make a circle equal to theirs, Narses heard of the ceremony but never saw one happen. Narses inclined his head. "Is this right?" he asked Adept who stood in between Narses and Phantom. Adept responded in his strained voice of his "Yes, this is the time to do it for when we are done, much war will be fought at a much harder rate by us in the next few years. But that is the future, not the now, we need to focus on the Now." Narses nodded and then Phantom spoke "Adept after this we need to speak to you." He nodded slowly, now a battle hardened warrior. Adepts eyes, seemed darker now. Machinehr moved first with his Ka'Mak sword at Church, the friend responded with a blow to the knees and twirled in the air like a top riding the floor, as Machinehr blocked the maneuver with great precision. This is how Slah'ke fought to the Death. The flashes of the blades ignited the area blinding the humans, as Adept stood there unflinching watching the fight with great interest he stopped blinking and tasted the air with his forked tongue. "Blood" Machinehr had been wounded, but the Older Slah'ke still fought with a temper, Church got his let tail slashed in the process, they both went back and forth through the circle, and the hours blasted by. Then ten hours later. It finally finished. Machinehr conceded to defeat. "Church, my old friend. You are now Overlord. Please choose who sends me to the Heavens." Church noticed how Adept softened up as he witnessed his most trusted ruler kneel before another friend, and Church stated. "Your consciousness will show through the Station, as planned twelve years ago." Machinehr nodded. "Machinehr, I nominate Adept as your bearer." Adept went rigid. "Yes Overlord!" he roared in response. Machinehr smiled to see the fighter almost break down into tears, this truly was a sad moment for him. "Machinehr... I... don't want to..." Machinehr nodded slowly. "I know Adept but you must, this is your last service to me, honor my children and my family, as you honored me. You are now one of the true elite." Many Terrans said Slah'ke could not cry. Narses witnessed the myth busted. Adept switched his Ka'Mak around to the downward position and spoke with a unheard respect in his voice. "We all witness the greatest of our Overlord to ever live to truly ascend to the Heavens in Proxima! Long Live Machinehr! Fight for Him!" He switched the blade around and stabbed the Slah'ke in the stomach, Machinehr didn’t even budge, as Adept allowed Machinehr do something close to the Japanese Seppku, Adept then wiped the tears away from his eyes, he carved the word "Elite of the Elite" as an honor to him.

An hour later Narses caught up with Him "Adept, we need to speak to you." Adept looked up already healing from the combat wounds. Phantom spoke first "The Terran Empire wishes to know why you withdrew" Adept stayed silent for a moment and spoke. "Machinehr needed to perform the ritual of the Ascension sooner or later, so he thought it would be an ideal time to do so. But I believe we will resume the war with a greater ferocity than before. One that might lead to an all out war on most races unfortunately, we will contain our rage upon the Brood and Kolari beating them to their home worlds." that was a harsh statement on the Genus and Kolari' side. Narses then asked a question "So you will rejoin the fight?" Adept nodded and answered "Yes, me and SPQR will continue to support your efforts to eliminate the Genus and Kolari filth from the Galaxy, but this John A. Howard he seems to be planning to take over the Kolari regime, and possibly end the war in one step, if so... then the Genus will not last long against our Onslaught with or without support. We are all very angry right now. The Genus will not want to see me angry anymore since Halo is now fully upgraded and functioning properly after I fixed my Generator. "Narses looked up slowly already a witness of the ships massive firepower. Phantom looked at Adept strangely "Adept you've visibly changed after the battle" Adept nodded. "Its apart of our... history, after each battle a certain aspect of us grows. My eyes, and my claws were one, along with my tail, its very hard to explain but... it happened none the less.... I must now go and sleep for tomorrow." With that the two Terrans left Saurion to Utopia were the Battle for Sol was happening.

Phantom spoke softly to Narses "Adept... he's rather scary." Narses nodded. "He and SPQR are both very scary taking in the fact that they are extremely fast and easy to anger." Phantom thought for a moment, but she'd ask Narses when they got to Utopia...something rather personal she's wanted to ask for some time.