Bandit dissolved into shadow; the light reshaped his essence. He flowed across the sand like spilt ink, swirling to the Cabal outpost undetected.
The Imperial tank loomed ahead, its crew scattered in a loose perimeter. Five targets in predictable positions and heavy armour.
He patiently waited in the pool, a handspan from their detection range. The nearest Cabal spotted him immediately, massive head turning with mechanical precision. Weapons raised.
Voices muttered in their guttural language; they were tense, confused.
They began to approach.
Bandit's hand found his dagger's grip as they closed the distance, drawn by curiosity instead of calling for backup.
The lead Cabal leaned forward, trying to understand what he was seeing. The puddle of shadows lingering ahead was a trick of light to him. He couldn't make sense of it.
Bandit exploded upward.
His hand burst from the shadow like a striking viper, fingers locking around the Cabal's ankle with crushing force. Seven hundred pounds of armoured warrior toppled backwards, crashing into the sand.
He lunged, a dagger punched through the helmet's eye slit, and the Cabal's roar became a wet gurgle.
That instant, he tossed a smoke grenade and retreated into the shadows.
A plume of smoke erupted. In a panic, the Cabal squadron opened fire, and a storm of bullets rained on the sands above.
Bandit felt the tremors of the sand reverberating in the puddle he was submerged in, but it was too late; their attacks couldn't reach him. With their attention focused solely on him. They'd already made another fatal mistake.
A spectre streaked through the desert, like a bullet racing against the sands. The cabal squad felt the shockwaves shake their armour.
Levi flickered out from the raging sands, delivering a fatal sweeping scissor kick that crushed the head of one Legionnaire and slammed into the chest of another.
"So much for surprise," tendrils of shadow slithered from within the sands and wrapped around the remaining two soldiers. Cory pulled them underneath the sands and bound them indefinitely.
Bandit hopped out of the puddle and dusted his cloak. "This is Nightstalker squad. Tanks are taken care of on our side."
Levi's instincts flared; he looked to the south. Lightning trembled above the sands, and a storm surged in the distance. Shiro-4 zipped through the Cabal with ruthless finesse, his arc daggers slitting and slicing the Southern Tank Squadron.
"South is clear," Shiro-4's voice crackled through comms, breathless but triumphant. The last Cabal in his sector dropped, smoke rising from arc burns. "These bastards didn't even see me coming."
BOOM
The northern ridge erupted in thunder.
Pahanin and Kaviss emerged from their concealed positions like vengeful titans, hauling massive coil cannons that whined with barely contained fury. Capacitors screamed as energy built to lethal levels, the weapons' barrel assemblies rotating with mechanical precision.
"Time to paint the sky," Pahanin growled, his cannon's targeting array locking onto the lead tank below.
Twin beams of supercharged arc energy erupted from the ridge like lightning given form, carving brilliant scars across the Martian sky.
The first beam struck the northern tank's turret dead centre, vaporising armour plating in a shower of molten metal. The second punched through the engine block of its escort, sending cascading electrical failures through its systems.
Pahanin adjusted his aim with predatory satisfaction, watching smoke pour from the crippled vehicles. "Kaviss, take the one on the left. I've got something special for their command unit."
There was another thunderous discharge as Pahanin reloaded his cannon, flicking on a new switch that turned the lightning a murky red. He aimed and fired.
The command tank's ammunition bay erupted in a brilliant fireball that painted the desert crimson, debris raining down like metallic hail.
"Northern armour eliminated," Pahanin transmitted, shouldering the still-smoking weapon. "Ridge is clear."
AHAHAHA—HAHA
A menacing laughter echoed across the eastern battlefield.
Marcus rocketed over the dunes on his jetpack, Solar energy wreathing his form like wings of fire. He dove toward the eastern tank battalion, bombs clutched in both hands.
"INCOMING!" he roared, hurling shaped charges that punched through the reinforced platings and erupted into a tornado of fire that climbed to the horizon."Eastern tanks disabled. They're not going anywhere."
-
Void's jumpship orbited above Freehold.
His fingers tapped away at a screen only he could see.
-
{Legendary Guardian System}
[ISSUE QUEST]
[Quest Name: The Heart of Darkness]
[Location: Freehold, Mars]
[Objective: Deploy to Freehold ruins. Eliminate Vex resistance. Hold the perimeter and traverse the Vex Space to crush the Heart of Darkness.]
[Rewards: Legendary Gear, Vex Technology Fragments]
-
With the quest issued to the players, they'd be here soon. With everything settled, Void listened to the transmission from Freehold with perked ears.
"All teams, tanks have been neutralised. We've got a five-minute window, starting now!" Zavala's voice resounded in the channel.
"All teams, this is Void," he instantly transmitted back. "Tuyet fireteam, begin final approach."
Seven ships descended like falling stars toward Freehold's ancient crater. The Crucible Squads flanked them in formation.
"Transmat in thirty seconds," Gallida called out, her voice cutting through.
Taeko-3 checked her fusion rifle's charge levels. "Any vex resistance down there?"
"No, kill anything that glows," Alemyr answered.
Uzoma was already weaving Solar Light between his fingers, as a dagger danced in his hand.
Their ships pierced the crimson sky, rushing towards the crater's centre. The ships touched down at Freehold's heart, a circular plaza surrounded by broken spires of human architecture.
The transmat sequences started with whines of displaced energy. Light erupted across the plaza as both the crucible and the Tuyet fireteams materialised.
Alemyr and the Stoic controlled the Gatelord's corpse, rushing towards the centre as they gently placed it down. The special engram they'd made to contain its energy flared and broke.
The Stoic focused his energy, magic answered to him, creating a translucent cage around the Gatelord and the fireteam.
"We're in position." Alemyr barked.
Gallida immediately took point, scout rifle sweeping for threats. Taeko-3 flanked left, fusion rifle charging, while Uzoma scouted for approaching threats.
The Crucible Squads positioned themselves in concentric rings from the Tuyet fireteam, ensuring no threat could encroach on the ritual.
"Perimeter established," Shaxx bellowed. "We own this ground."
Void transmatted down and flickered next to the corpse. "Gallida, what are we looking at?"
"We're maintaining the cage around the Gatelord, ETA two minutes till the cage is stable enough to begin." Her eyes darted from side to side.
"All teams, we've got eyes on Cabal reinforcements inbound. Two battleships are already launching Cabal drop pods your way." Ikorra cautioned the channel.
"We'll take it from here." Wei Ning and the Praxic Fire moved in sync, taking positions to prepare for the drop pods to crash on site.
A shadow blotted out the sun. The sky darkened.
"Son of a—" Void looked up and clutched his sword.
Ten Cabal drop pods were hurtling straight down overhead.
Wei Ning growled, a thunderstorm spilt out of her figure, it wrapped around her fists, and she shot upwards like a comet.
She coiled back her fist and punched at the Cabal pod, shattering it into pieces. The remaining pods struck the ground, and Sai Mota streaked across, a lightning staff conjured in her grip. She hurled the staff forward, summoning a thunderbolt that struck and cleared the fallen Cabal.
But more were coming.
The ground shook as Cabal Phalanxes emerged from the smoking craters, their shields locked together in formation. Behind them, Centurions raised their slug rifles, scanning for targets.
"We're almost there!" Gallida shouted over the chaos. "Hold them back!"
Void drew his sword, lightning energy crackling along its edge. "Maintain formation! Don't let them break through!"
A War Beast burst from smoking debris, all fangs and fury.
Wei Ning snatched it from the air one-handed. Her grip tightened. Lightning coursed through her fingers.
CRACK.
The beast went limp.
"Sixty seconds!" Gallida screamed
The Cabal line advanced, shields interlocked, pushing toward the Gatelord's position.
Void blitzed ahead, storm coursing through his veins. He looked to the side, spotting Sai Mota in the corner of his eyes. One glance was enough.
They struck simultaneously.
Lightning and shadow danced together, carving through Cabal ranks in a deadly ballet. Void's blade phased through shields like they were paper. Sai Mota's arc energy jumped from target to target.
By this time, the Nightsalkers, Pahnin, Kaviss, Marcus and Shiro-4 had made their way to the craters, descending from the ridges.
Pahanin chucked the empty coil cannon to Kaviss, flickering to the battle akin to a silver spectre. His form split, a dozen clones flooded the battlefield.
CLICK.
Pahanin's blade sang from its sheath.
The world flashed white, not lightning this time, but the pure light of a blade moving faster than sight.
When vision returned, six Legionnaires toppled in perfect synchronisation, bisected at the waist.
Pahanin materialised beside Wei Ning, sword already sheathed.
"Forty seconds," he said calmly, as if he'd been standing there the whole time.
Shadows gathered around the two; the Nighstalker squad appeared, armed and ready.
But the Cabal weren't finished. A deep, mechanical roar echoed across the battlefield; something far larger than drop pods was descending.
"Contact!" Shaxx's voice boomed across comms. "Cabal Harvester inbound! They're deploying heavy armour!"
The massive ship's shadow fell across them like a shroud. Its belly opened, and a Goliath Tank dropped to the crater, a walking fortress of Cabal engineering, its main cannon already tracking toward the Gatelord's cage.
A barrage of Gatling gun fire covered every inch of the crater.
Titans from the Crucible squad rushed into action, raising a barrier dome that covered all sides. The barrier hummed as it came to life, but constant gunfire had already weakened its hold.
"Twenty seconds!" Gallida's voice cracked with strain. "The cage is destabilising under weapons fire!"
Void's eyes met Wei Ning's. She grinned, the expression of someone who'd found a worthy challenge.
"I'll handle the tank," she growled, electricity already building around her.
"Good luck." He nodded. His own task was too burdensome to go and assist her, for now, without Zamyr, he had to focus only on the mission at hand.
"Nightstalkers, with me!"
Wei Ning rocketed skyward, but not alone. Four shadows moved beneath the failing dome.
Levi drew breath, his hand steady despite the chaos. "Draw."
Bows of lilac light shimmered in the dim barrier-glow. Four arrows of living darkness pointed skyward, hungry light trembling at their tips.
The tank's cannon swivelled. Its targeting laser pointed towards the Gatelord.
"Hold." Levi's voice cut through the Gatling fire.
The dome flickered again—massive chunks of light peeling away like burning paper.
"Hold."
Levi's bowstring screamed under tension. Void energy writhed along the arrow's shaft, eager to devour light itself.
A crack split the dome. Cabal fire punched through.
"FIRE!"
Four Shadowshots pierced their own barrier from within, trailing violet death. They drilled through the air, hungrily seeking anything in their path.
The arrows struck the tank's joints simultaneously.
CRACK.
Light erupted in a symphony of destruction. The tank's leg servos seized. Its cannon drooped. Purple energy crawled across its hull like hungry flame, eating through Cabal engineering piece by piece.
But the tank wasn't dead, just crippled. Its emergency thrusters fired, trying to compensate for the destroyed leg.
And Wei Ning was already there.
She dropped from the sky like a meteor, both fists wreathed in arc energy. Her impact drove the tank's front end into the crater floor with a thundering crash.
"Ten seconds!" Gallida screamed.
The tank's backup systems whined to life. Its point-defence turrets swivelled toward Wei Ning.
She smiled with a fanged grin.
Lightning erupted.
Bullets sprayed around her as she waltzed, weaving through the maelstrom with her life on the line. Moving at unfathomable speeds, Wei Ning felt a sudden heat scorch her back.
Her eyes darted over her shoulder.
A ball of fire descended towards her, consuming everything in its path. At the centre of it was a single hammer, hurling forward.
Instinctively, she stretched out her hand and grabbed the weapon. But the momentum proved too much for her; she was flung along its trajectory and came crashing down onto the Cabal.
Shaxx raised his hand, fire flared, and the hammer slinked back to his grip. "Guardians! Take your positions. Don't let them advance any further!"
He bellowed, commanding the Crucible Squads.
"We're ready!" Taeko-3 shouted.
Void took one last look at the battlefield, with the Crucible teams also holding the line against increasing Cabal resistance, and he was sure they could maintain this position no matter what happened.
'The first part of the plan is complete."
"All teams, this is Void. Beginning Gatelord revival and restraint protocol. Hold that perimeter at all costs."
'But the real battle is just beginning.' His eyes narrowed.
-
A/N: Throw stones, or I throw you. Leave a review, or I will leave you hanging for the next chapter.
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