Where had ite from? She wasn''t exactly a magic savvy person, but one thing she knew was that Xzavier definitely had no magic. So what the hell did he do? How could he summon something like this?


    And more importantly; WHAT EXACTLY WAS IT?


    All Babara had were questions upon questions. But it didn''t look like she was going to get any answers. Suddenly, she felt Xzavier had grab hers. She quickly jolted back to consciousness, and turned to face him only to find him ring at her angrily.


    "What are you doing? Come on! Let''s go! Move it!"


    Babara was only half conscious. She still felt like she was in a dream or something. Any moment now, she would wake up in her apartment and forget about this nightmare. As Xzavier pulled her up from where she had been crouched low, she wondered to herself; ''How did he get here so fast?''


    Babara didn''t realize that she had beenpletely mesmerized by the tank that she had spaced out for a moment. Xzavier had been signaling her toe over, but she hadn''t seen or heard him. So, Xzavier had toe over to her and jerk her up. Leading her, Xzavier got into the tank and hurled her in as well. Just as Xzavier was about to close the lid of the tank and settle infortably, he heard a very familiar voice call out his name;


    "Baron Xzavier Mace!!"


    Xzavier recognized the speaker immediately. There was no way he could ever forget the high handed voice of the Silver Knight Dale. He had been so off the gridtely that Xzavier hadpletely forgotten about him. He had often wondered about the role he yed in the governor''s life. But now, judging from the scenario, it was evident that he was just a glorified henchman. Quaid obviously used him and his army as his own personal thugs.


    Of course he was the governor, and it was well within his rights to order his army whenever or wherever he liked. But that was just a convenient arrangement which he took advantage of to cover up the truth. Dale was just another one of Quaid''s instruments. The Silver Knight continued to talk;


    "I hereby order you toe out with your weapons and step out of the room THIS INSTANT!!"


    The authority in his voice was so prominent that even inanimate, nonliving things would have reacted if they had life in them. When he received no feedback at all, he pressed on;


    "Don''t make this any difficult for yourself Xzavier! You are surrounded! If youply without any resistance, rest assured, I will reciprocate the courtesy!"


    Xzavier almostughed aloud. If would be a cold day in hell before he could believe anything that Dale or his master had to say. As far as Xzavier was concerned, they were all a bunch of liars who would say anything to achieve their goals. There wasn''t the tiniest shred of honor in either of them. Xzavier decided that he had heard enough, so,ughing to himself, Xzavier he entered the tank and shut the lid. The time for negotiating was over. It was now time to get the hell out of this abode that was infested with lies.


    Xzavier''s hand reached for the ignition, and just as he was about to move along with his destructive ns, a thought crossed Xzavier''s mind, and he decided to act on it. Instead of the ignition, he diverted his hand towards the loudspeaker system in the tank. He adjusted the settings to full st, and addressed his enemies in a horrifyingly acidic tone, saying;


    "Listen to me the lot of you, I aming out, if anyone dares to stand in my way, I will not hesitate to kill that person."


    Having passed his message across, he switched off the microphone and gave those who wanted to run a chance. Xzavier wasn''t unreasonable. Even in his rage, he recognized the fact that a lot of them were simply following orders. He acknowledged this fact, and was thus giving them a way out. So, at least, when he began to unleash terror, he would have no second thoughts.


    Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Xzavier''s voice thundered in the ears of his enemies. The loudspeaker had created a simtion of a demigod speaking. He had articted his words, singling each one out, creating the atmosphere of one who was damn serious. The mages were stunned. Here was a man that was practically cornered, and yet, he was speaking with so much confidence like he had their lives in his hands.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Of course his message was loud and clear, but they just couldn''t see how he could deliver on his threat. But they were about to find out just how serious Xzavier was. He wasn''t threatening them at all. He was simply stating what he was going to do, only the poor mages didn''t take his words seriously at all.


    Through the scope of his infra-red disy, Xzavier was able to see that Quaid had actually overdone himself. There were scores and scores of mages that were camped right outside of his door. It seemed like the governor actually took him seriously. At least that was one thing he had gotten right. Xzavier turned on the tank, and its powerful engine roared, causing the earth underneath it to tremble, sending reverberations across the entire grounds.


    The mages, felt this awesome power and braced themselves. But no amount of bracing could have possibly prepared them for what was toe. Instinctively, they backed away from the entrance and retreated a couple of feet away, thinking that that would be enough to save them from what was toe. Holding their breaths, they kept their eyes fixed on the door, then suddenly, Xzavier''s tank burst through. It brought down the door like it was nothing, also brought down the walls on both sides of the door as well.


    Dale looked upon the magnificent iron d monster and his breath seized for a minutes. It was not out of fear, but more out of wonder and astonishment. This was truly beyond anything he had ever seen. Now he hadn''t the slightest clue of what exactly he was looking at, but one thing was for sure; this definitely wasn''t going to be an easy one.


    Dale shook off his curiosity and turned fully to concentrate on the battle at hand. Xzavier had made the first call and he was clearly out for blood. The Silver Knight was a bit excited. On a subconscious level, some part of him had always known that this day was going toe. Though he had never imagined that it would be this soon. Nevertheless, the time was at hand. And he had to respond appropriately. After all, Xzavier was one man wasn''t he?


    Dale assumedmand. The ginormous metallic beast had shaken up the spirit of his own forces, but as a seasonedmander, he knew that the tide of battle lied in the chain ofmand. So, tightening his face in a grimace, he called aloud to his men in his best authoritative voice;


    "MAGES OF THE MARSHI EMPIRE! TO ME! Hut! Hut!"


    Dale''smand did the trick. His voice seemed to have shaken them out of their slumber. The mages gathered themselves together at themand of their general, and braced themselves as they waited for the nextmand.


    "Assume formation seven five seven, fox tail! Engage!"


    The reassuringmand of their leader wafted through the air, lifting their already dampening spirits. They all roared in unison; "hut! hut!"


    They didn''t know exactly what the metallic contraption was, in fact none of them had ever seen or dreamt of anything like it before. It was an anomaly of the greatest proportions and they were frankly unprepared for it. But at this moment, they relied on their training to get them through. They were the elite of the elite. The top brass in the military of Victoria City, and they had been called upon to serve.


    So, assuming the formation that Dale had called for, they moved quickly on their feet, doing their best to encircle the ck beast that their enemy was riding. The tank wasn''t really fast. It moved at a rtively slow pace because of its size. The terrain wasn''tpletely in its favor. Xzavier had to mow down several structures in his bid to get out in the open. But he was still very far from getting outpletely. And that was what encouraged the mages.


    They quickly surrounded Xzavier in loose concentric circles, advancing along with Xzavier as he moved. Dale watched from behind as his men ced themselves in formation. It was a conspicuous sight. The light bearers held up their ming torches in strategic positions, lighting up the area like a runway in the night. Watching to make sure every angle was secured, he finally issued the attack all his men had been waiting for.


    "ATTAAAAACK!!! FULL BLAST!!!"


    In an instant, scores upon scores of numerous sparks of lighting lit up the grounds. It was an electrifying sight. It looked like dozens of power grids connecting to each other in one gigantic ball of sizzling lighting. Powerful bluish-white streaks of lighting flew out at once from over a hundred magic staffs, all rushing towards one target- Xzavier''s tank!


    The sparks were glorious, but what came next was thunderous. Much like the same way lighting graces the sky before the thunderes, it was the same way the deafening st came after the fireworks. Thebined power of over a hundred powerful mages surged together at Xzavier, creating a colossal wave of destruction.