[i][b][h1][center]BATTLE FINALE[/center][/h1][/b][/i]

At Endian's command the Contender launched a payload towards the angel's fleet. Seeing the Contender fire at them, the Angels quickly began to engage in defensive maneuvers. Grafdakka's throne landed into the side of one of the Angel's ships, where he quickly began to spread destruction and force one of the ship's into dealing with him alone. Endian and Shizuka, on boardand transports and skimmers, quickly moved in to deal with the nets the Angel ships had used to try and capture Hibiki.

All the while Dora and Tartys had to figure out a battle plan. They could face off against the Machinas and defeat them, being the last ones standing in this battle. However time was against them; they had barely ten minutes before the demons won by resource accumulations, and once that happened it wouldn't matter who was left standing. But if the angels could just capture one more area, they could potentially catch up to the demons in resources, and win since none of the demons had their leaders left to organize their forces. The only question was which sector they could take. That's when one of the scouts had returned from his mission, finally, and gave Dora some important news: Theta was still unclaimed, and the Contender was on it's way into Gamma. That means if Dora and Tartys could make it to Theta, they could capture it uncontested. And Dora had an idea how to get there literally as fast as as the wind.

All the while, Machina soldiers began to board the Angel fleets. While one ship was able to hold on it's own against their common soldiers, the ship that Grafdakka had landed in was starting to fall. Overwhelmed by sheer numbers and their weapons, Grafdakka had lost one of his arms and foot due to their attacks, but despite his gimped state he continued to fight to the bitter end. His final death roar did not occur until he punched his way into the ship's core, where a Casimir Tree was rooted. This was the tree that allowed the Angel's ships to fly, and it's power could grant it and anything else it touched flight as well. Anything, that is, that wasn't a soulless machine like Grafdakka. As his body was getting tore apart piece by piece, he grabbed the tree in his hand, laughing like a mad man as he fell out of a whole he crashed through, falling to his death alongside one of the angel's ships.

At the same time Endian and her troops provided cover to save Hibiki, and once they picked her up they quickly retreated back to the Contender. While Endian had no doubts that the Contender could stand up against anything the Angels had to offer, this battle was lost. Too much time was wasted fighting and not claiming resources as they should have done in the first place. Even if they could eliminate all the angel's importance soldiers, they would not win by resources, which was the only thing that actually mattered. Thus once Bastion was safely in the Machina's hands, Endian called for a retreat. There would certainly be some punishments in store for failing this battle.

All the while, Dora and Tartys flew far and fast. Using her powers to control the storm, Dora had her own ship set full sail towards the Theta sector, using powerful winds to quickly move through Gamma, over Eta, and into Theta. Cauterizing her wound and eating some seaweed Dora jumped off the ship to reach the Altar, followed by Tartys. Together they claimed the Theta altar before the Contender could arrive, and by that point the rest of the Angel's fleet had arrived to Theta to fight for it. While they continued to skirmish briefly, eventually the Contender left, leaving the Angel's forces as the only ones left on the battlefield.

The battle was hard fought. Victory rang hollow. But today, the Angels of Heaven were the winners of this battle in the Nexus. How it would affect it's future was unknown, what the consequences for defeat a mystery, but today was just yet another skirmish among the thousands more to come.