Story

Boisen had just managed to secure Bryo in a transport.

"Hah! Little devil wont be getting out of there anytime soon!"

He jumped down from the step and began to make his way back towards headquarters.

They were doing surprisingly well, mostly due to the small amount of cleanup necessary after the prison outbreak. Most attributed it to a dark shadow that was now a legend among the troops, but Boisen didn't give that any credit, he just counted them lucky.

"Bring those powercells to the transports! Were going to need the extra," he called out to one of the soldiers in passing. The grunt ran off, looking for all the world like hell was on his heels.

The ground shook.

'Just another tremor' Boisen began to think, but he wasn't allowed the privilege of finishing that small though. One of the technicians nearby pointed towards the mines,"Look!"

Boisen turned around just in time to see the massive humanoid shape made of stone rising out of the mountainside. All throughout the city, shouts went up.

"Prepare your weapons! Open . . ."

"No." Athen was standing next to Biosen. "That is Stilts doing, and I assure you that if you attack it, there would be nothing left of this city."

"But . . ." Boisen was speechless.

And as if on cue, Stilts came jogging up to them.

"This is an incredible ally." He mentioned to them before continuing on towards the thing.

Boisen began to think. He picked out a nearby grunt.

"Go and get the armed forces together. Keep the citizens from panicking, lets try to keep this thing from causing too much chaos."

Eventually the city quieted down, but was uneasy under the shadow of the colossus. After a time, Stilts was seen standing at its base, communicating with it. Shortly thereafter, a voice as deep as the grinding of rock and gravel in the pits of the Earth shook the city.

"I understand now, Defender. There is conflict on the horizon."

Then the giant slowly turned to its right, to the west, and began to take one massive step after another.

A few minutes later, Stilts and Ripper met up with Boisen once more, but by this time the entire group was with them.

"We need to get going if we are going to keep up with it," Stilts was adamant.

Boisen looked at him. "I think we have a bigger problem. The city is under attack from that northern army we were watching from orbit. The Lady Warlord is back once more, and it seems her terrible beast is with her. The transmission has interference of a weird kind, so we were only just able to decode it.

My biggest concern is what happens when that thing gets there. We must move out now."

One transport was not enough. It took hours for them to ready the other one, its construction only partially complete. With the skills of Boisen and Taras, however, the schematics were not even needed. The transport was made ready, and all were loaded into it. Bryo was sequestered away in a third transport, in place to follow behind the others.

It was gloomy when the rode out. The sky was wild, the clouds twisting as the sun began to set. The miles flew by in silence, the tension mounting. Eventually they overtook the Ancient, and the city came into view.

The outer reaches were in ruins, the center mass of the ship filled with a few too many holes. Fires raged everywhere, the dark mass of the northern army encompassing the area.

"Were going to have to rush through and take them by surprise," Athen voiced over the intercom," I'm sure these transports can not take . . ."

"Agreed," said Boisen, ignoring the pause, as the speed of the transports increased further.

But Athen was stunned. His arm was causing him more pain then he had ever known, but that wasn't the worst part. There was a feeling in his gut, a feeling of despair, of death and defeat, that wreaked horribly with is mind.

The transport had just reached the outer edges of the northern army, when the world exploded.

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target ï¾d¹·
Distance >500

switch_Protocol_áJÎÎ΄DÎID„á

secondary #1-12 signal sent


secondary #1-12 signal received

switch_successful_launch

΂‚ÎBG signal sent

confirmation received

target acquired: ï¾d¹·

switch_status_change_assault

firing secondary armament

--------------------------------------------------------------

Athen pulled himself from the wreckage of the transport. It was now situated at the bottom of a massive crater. The smoke swirled think about him, the air stank of ozone. He pulled himself to his feet.

"Is anybody still alive?" He called out.

Then he saw movement at the edge of the crater. There stood a black humanoid, ten feet tall, made out of the black metal of nightmares.

Memories slammed into to Athen like a blow to the stomach, and he knew what it was.

"YOU!" He called out," You're the one responsible for all of this!"

He ripped off the wrapping of his left arm. Where there should have been the flesh of a human was only the dark V that the apparition was made of. Athen's arm looked as if it was carved from obsidian.

The Dark Culmination gazed upon him with its unseeing eyes.

Athen seemed to strain, sweat dripping from his brow, before he ignited first his right blade, and then with the sound of cracking crystal, his left tore into existence.

With a yell that has shaken the very core of demons themselves, Athen charged the thing. He brought his blades around. It deflected them easily. Athen just barely managed to counter its returning blow, falling to the ground.

It was on him in an instant, running him through.

Disbelief was his only emotion as he began to fade away, the crystal Infinity had given him glowing softly by his side, knocked loose by the blow.

Spoiler:

My vision was grey, dark. No. There's... there's something I had to do.

What was this? Such trivial matters. Explosives. Petty wars. I'm Torvald. I fought the aliens away the first time, but saved myself instead of the world. Now... I need to redeem myself. I hadn't allowed myself to be swallowed by power. I won't make the same mistake twice.

I reached deep into the world, pulling in æther. I used it to give myself energy. My mind was ablaze with awareness. Athen was in trouble. Bryo needed to be delivered. Everyone else is unconscious.

"Wake up! All of you!" I radiated power, burning my mind, and the process was wasteful, but everybody was awake.

Epimor.

Stilts and Ripper.

Kilf and Darryl.

Six.

A piece of rubble from the transport shifted; I lifted it up and the Hammer emerged, followed by Ha'el.

Bryo was looking around fearfully.

"Our goal is withing sight now. We cannot relent - there is one obstacle in our way!" I turned around to see the Culmination. "Nothing on this Earth can stop us now!"
__________

Suddenly awake. Torvald... changed.

Stilts twisted and turned, and made his way out from under a large rock that was lying on top of him. Ripper exhaled hard as Stilts pulled out from under him.

"We're alive?"
"So it seems."

Stilts heard Torvald, but felt the culmination. Ripper felt Stilts. He felt the surge of base emotion. Stilts flashed back to when he had lost himself before. He had all of his memories now, even those.

'Stilts, be calm.'
'This thing deserves every ounce of rage I can muster.'

Ripper smiled as he pulled himself, and Stilts free of the crater they were in.

'Where is everyone else?'
Ripper couldn't find the words he wanted in his panic.
'And you told me to be calm. Everyone else is alive, and stirring.'

Ripper caught A glimpse of Athen with an audible gasp.

'He's still with us too, just injured is all. He'll be back up. He's different now...His will won't let him die.'

'Then' "We should steel our own wills as we rise. This won't be an easy battle."
'Wait for everyone else Ripper. We'll need them.'

Stilts turned back toward the towering guardian.

'He's too far away to help us right now. We'll have to hold our own for a bit.'

'Calm Stilts. You might be telling me to hold, but your the one who's tense.'

Stilts' mind was a blaze with emotions, all dark, and grievous, and base. Stilts close his eyes. He closed his mind to anything unimportant. Systematically Stilts shut mental doors, and through this refinement he found the subtle details of the battle.

"There are...Templar here. A large group fighting the army of the North...One of them is powerful...He's fighting...The beast from before.."

Stilts was lost for a moment in the Gray Culmination. Lost in calculations, and decision trees, and the general non biological thought that went on within the beast. But he'd found something, some trails of emotion to follow.

'From the beast...No...Through the beast...
'"He is being controlled."

Stilts opened his eyes.

"We have more allies than we knew here, and if we could get the beast free of the lady our power will multiply ten fold, easily."

'I think you were a little too vague Stilts, what's going on?'

'I have a goal.'

Several Days Ago

The tactical officer prepared himself. This would be the most critical part of their plan, if it failed then everyone on the station could potentially die. That traitor Dagon sat on some crates, working on one of his infernal little machines he was using to sabotage the place. It had taken a while to get the resources together without his knowledge, but it was finally about to pay off.

The officer ducked around the corner and opened fire with his pistol, clipping Dagon in the arm.

'Well, I guess I couldn't have hoped for a headshot,"

Dagon rose, a needle extending from his hand as he raced after the officer.

'Damn, hes fast!'

He let off a few shots over his shoulder as he ran, none of them hitting.

He jumped over some spare metal spars as he entered one of the larger construction chambers, another thump signifying Dagon's proximity. He could almost feel his breath on the back of his neck.

'Closer . . . closer!'

"Now!" he shouted as he took a sharp dive to the right. Sealant foam went shooting by, slamming into Dagon. The man with the hose liked dispenser advanced, pouring it on. Dagon began to stand, but the foam hardened to its near-steel toughness. Before them stood a near-statue of Dagon, in all his glory.

"Alright, lets get this monster off of the station, it could break free any second now."

And so they loaded him into an airlock. One of the technicians was worried.

"Wont he die out there?"

The officer answered sharply,"That's the point, this abomination is a failed experiment and deserves to be terminated. The quick, cold death of space will be merciful to the pitiful existence it is living now."

With the he slammed down the cycling switch, and watched as Dagon was blasted out into space. It was curious, but for a second he thought he could hear the words "ill be back" emanating from the chamber.

Dagon did not die.

The foam shielded his already toughened constitution and he managed to survive, his body locking up into a rigor mortis, conserving resources. Eventually he drifted into the atmosphere once more, above the Legion City due to the geosynchronous orbit of the station. He plummeted earthwards, the foam burning off and Dagon reaching terminal velocity. As with all great falls, it ended with a rather loud crunch as Dagon landed.

Immediately, his nanobots set about restoring the health of his internal systems, the bleeding stymied and bone connected.

---------------

Death came for Athen, but it did not come swiftly. He felt the shadow descend, but it advanced anything but hurriedly. In the darkness, it poked at him like a weary animal, advancing and retreating in turn. It seemed scared off him. Then Athen realized that it was scared of him, and that it had a very good reason

---------------

Boisen looked watched as the Dark Culmination leaped to the top of Bryo's transport and tore the top off. HE immediately began running though the norther army, bullets bouncing off of his carapace as he ran from the monster.

Inside, Bryo looked up, his face filling with fear as he felt the aura of the being. It pulled it's arm back, preparing to strike.

"NO!"

The creature turned uncannily fast, meeting Athen. He was glowing with lines of power, flashing about him like liquid fire as the Dark Culmination absorbed his blow.

They were locked together for what seemed an eternity, Athen suspended in the air, the creature standing firm.

Then Athen let out another yell, power flooding into his single blade. He broke through the Culmination's arm, gouging a deep gash as he sent it sprawling twenty feet.

"Get Bryo out of here!" He shouted as he leaped high into the air, coming down of the Dark Culmination. It twisted away from underneath him, knocking him away with a blow like thunder, before righting itself and dashing after him before he hit the ground.

Around the crater, nine beings of shadow advanced. One was tall and thin, with a long cable trailing it. Next to it was a stocky mass that seemed to change forms as it walked. Further behind was a small thing, the air about ti distorted in a sphere. Positioned next to this was one that looked nearly human. Further behind was a massive shape with a huge protrusion over its left shoulder. Next to this was an even more massive shape, like a solid suit of armor wielding a massive hammer. Farther off to the side was a spindly figure which moved furtively, a small cloud of dark particles floating around it. At the front of them all stood two figures, their hands glowing in contrast with the darkness around them.

They all advanced towards the group, like unstoppable engines of destruction, the very ground turning black beneath their feet.

Death walked the battlefield. First it was a soldier’s death. Then it was a Templar’s death. It was swift, silent. Perfect.

Then, it was Torvald’s death. It came behind him. The blades came forward. It needed only one strike. And indeed, it would have been Torvald’s death, if death had not come for it.

Just as the silent death, a facsimile of a Knifeman, surged forward to make the kill, the Wraith appeared. He struck like lightning, placing two blades in the thing’s ribs and tumbling with it into the dust. The two combatants spun away, facing each other, each invisible to all others in this field of war. It took but one glance for The Wraith to see that this thing, this Darkness, was a copy. He could see it in its every movement, in its style, in the scrawling notes forever filling his vision. It moved like he did, flowed like he did. And on its face was a dull copy of The Mask.

The Wraith flicked his wrist, and so did the Darkness. In the Wraith’s hand appeared a knife, one of cold, shining steel. In the Darkness’s hand appeared a knife as well, forged of the very blackness itself. In the same instant, both lunged forward, sending their blades at the heart of the other. The blades contacted at their points and deflected away. Then they were a flurry of movement. The Darkness went into an older form, a blade in each hand, constantly on the attack. The Wraith reacted instinctively, shifting into the opposite aerobatic form. It was as though he was suddenly bereft of gravity, his feet hardly ever touching the ground. For blows to the legs, he rose up. Blows to the chest simply could not land. In all the chaos, he even managed to land a few blows on the Darkness itself.

It changed pace. It switched to the broad sweeping strokes designed to combat such defensive maneuvers. In response the Wraith switched to a solid duelist stance, actively blocking and turning each strike. In insult, he cut two crossing furrows in the mask of the Darkness, but as he watched, they sealed up.

Suddenly, the Darkness broke off, running towards the city. It was obvious: the Spider drawing in its prey. But, the Wraith had no choice. He could not let this thing, this corrupt copy escape. It was anathema to… life. For one charged with its preservation, he had to follow it. The Wraith shifted and was gone.
_____________

The factory had not fared too well in the siege. Perhaps it had been hit by a mortar, an old artillery piece, or even a furious attack from the Grey Culmination; either way, it was cold and dead. The east wall had collapsed, and a large portion of the ceiling had fallen in. The twisted skeletons of machinery were scattered all throughout the building among the grey dust and fallen masonry. Half completed works, mostly munitions, some still in their crates, some scattered about like confetti from a child’s party, glittering in the dust.

It was in this dreary patch of desolation that their fight would end. They each left their patch of darkness, mirror images, and collided in the air. The met for a second and flew apart, landing in crouches facing each other. In the left shoulder of each was stuck fast a dagger. In perfect synchrony they removed theirs, watching each other’s wounds seal up. The Wraith and the Darkness each cast away their inimical weapons. All styles had failed, and all that was left were instinct and techniques.

They met again, and locked. Their feet were unmoving, two masters fighting with their blades alone. Their arms became blurs and their blades invisible. The flash and clink of the knives became constant, and frantic to the point where only a dull buzz could be heard. There was a sharp clink as the first of the Wraith’s knives broke, only to immediately be replaced by one of the many in his robes. They were deadlocked, and it was only a matter of time. Oddly enough, in this state, the Wraith felt something tugging at him. Some call from within the banks of his mind.

Knowing the battle had long since left behind cognitive thought, the Wraith retreated, sifting the words of the Guild. He went through the history of man. He followed the tribes through the deserts, and watched them build their cities only to see them fall again. He read their works, their histories, their poetry, their philosophy. He no longer simply knew them, but assimilated them. He followed humanities steps, all across the world, all the knowledge of all its peoples gathered by the Guild. He read ancient works of a warrior, Alim Haddad, first of the Templar. He watched his rise, and guiding hand. He saw it throughout history for the first time. He now knew the error of the Guild in fighting him.

Another blade snapped. Then another. Soon they started breaking with almost feverish intensity.

He came across ancient records. The line of Ha’el. In 1532, there was a fire in a Church, and a very important artifact at that time was damaged. Soon after, a man claimed responsibility, saying that God had promised him redemption through his sons. Sadly, the old adage held true: When a man talks to God, he is religious, but should God speak back, he is counted insane. His obituary said that he was found beaten to death. He was survived by a son. Following this line, a series of bizarre tales told of a line of noblemen who could not die, until they had a son to continue their line. Finally, many generations later, Ha’el was born. His family believed that he would be the one to pay back their Lord. In the journals of Ha’el’s father, the man described it as a gut feeling. But he also combined this gut feeling with the medical information that Ha’el was infertile, and therefore was the last in the line.

Shining blades littered the ground at the combatants’ feet now.

The Wraith read the most obscure tales of mythical days. An iron behemoth was sighted all throughout history, a thing reeking of hell itself. From Arabia, Russia, ancient Asia, and even the Americas, he was sighted, most famously in one of the ‘World Wars’, though few actually heard the tale. The Wraith could connect the dots. It took a long time for The Hammer, once Vaniah Stoneheart, to finally find his place again.

He read everything. Then read it again. He read between the lines. Suddenly, he knew the purpose: that reason of the Guild, lost in the masses of information.

The last knife broke.

If an entity such as the Darkness could express triumph, it would have. It stood before the Wraith, dark blades in hand, poised for the death blow. It did not expect what came next. Faster than some believe reality could hold, the Wraith’s hand shot out striking the false mask of his opponent. It bowed inward for a moment, and then cracked. The Darkness started to stumble back, only for the Wraith to seemingly rise into the air, sending a devastating kick into the thing’s head. The air around them seemed to shift with the released force.

The Darkness recovered, striking out with its knives. Not a blow landed. The Wraith struck the thing’s hands in mid strike, knocking the dark knives away. The Wraith’s hands flew out, each blow precise. Perfect. Every joint was struck, every major point of balance disturbed. The Darkness stood for a moment after the onslaught. But only a moment. It then stumbled and fell.

The Wraith walked over to the fallen thing, crouching before it. He brought his mask right up to the mocking copy worn by the Darkness. The Wraith reached up towards his mask, The Mask, the holy mask of the Guild, made of purest silver, with its twin trails of obsidian tears, and gripped it. With purposeful slowness he removed The Mask, forcing the Darkness to look. And behind it was…
__________________
…nothing. It was the void. Infinite blackness in every direction. There was no sound. No light. No life.

It knew not how to react. Cut off. It floated in the darkness. For eternity. For a moment. An eternally long moment lost in one moment of all of eternity.

It tried to escape. There was none. It tried to warn the body. It could not.

Then, one great declarative rolled out across the darkness. One irresistible statement:
“There is no life in the void.”

It rolled on, unceasing, engulfing the thing that found itself in this place, this crack in existence. And in time, or no time at all, it yielded. It agreed, curled in upon itself, and ceased to be.
________________________

The Wraith rose up from his crouched position above the husk of the Darkness. He was already wearing his mask again. The V that the thing was composed of was crumbling now into whatever had formed it in the Nightmare. In his hand, he held something small, but so valuable. Something that had cost Dagon his mind what seemed like an eternity ago to other men. He put it in his robes, shifted, and was gone.

Spoiler:

‘They’re…us…’

‘It is not us. IT is a lifeless, heartless, mindless thing with no purpose in existence but to destroy. It’s an empty void in our existence that deserves nothing more than destruction.’

‘Can we destroy them?’

‘They can be destroyed.’

‘And if we fail?’

‘We fail. . . And everything dies. . . But we won’t fail.’

‘How do you know that?’

Stilts opened his eyes slowly.

‘I am an empath Ripper.’

‘You’re an empath, not a fortune teller.’

‘The battlefield is emotion Ripper. It speaks verses of the
conflict raging, and it knows the outcome the moment the battle begins.’

‘Well then who wins?’

‘No one wins in war Ripper, but humanity will survive.’

‘So we win?’

Stilts spit his words as he dropped his form low to the ground. A dark tendril ran the words through.

“We die”

Ripper crossed his arms in front of his chest, and was sent sprawling a fair distance. The black mass surged with him, and was on him before he hit the ground. Ripper pulled his arms apart, and flailed about with flashes of steel trying to tear through the darkness. It surged past him, and lashed out. A dark column drove into Ripper’s back, and pulled his heavy from the ground high into the air. The black mass came together and with the force of a cannon forced Ripper back down into the dirt.

Stilts twisted, and squirmed, and wove his way through tendrils of darkness. There was no opening, there was no time, and there was no escape. His arm was caught first, and he was levered into the air. Then a tendril wrapped his leg, and pulled him in toward the black mass. A loop fell about his waist, and arched him toward the ground. Stilts hit the ground, collapsed, and vaulted backwards away from the wiry black thing.

There was a tug at his ankle and suddenly he was in the air again. He dropped his own chain from his sleeve, and sent the massive weight at the black mass that hung beside him in the air. It forced its way through the liquid beast, and was pulled down to earth with Stilts as Ripper smashed the wiry beast in the chest and sent it spiraling away through the air. The liquid beast landed, surged, and was beside the wiry form as it came sliding to a halt.

Stilts looked back at the golem in the distance it time to see a flash tear through the still great distance, past Stilts, and slam into the liquid mass with a crash of thunder. The liquid form solidified, and a bird came low across the plain and took the form of a man just as it collided with the black mass. A man in flamboyant clothing flipped off of the black things chest, and came to rest in an archaic bow between Silts and Ripper.

“It seems you have other matters to attend. Gaia sent us to assist you until those deeds are done.”

A bolt of lightning crashed down on top of the wiry thing, and its rigid form was knocked away by the concussive thunder wave that followed. A man in a red tunic stood where the black thing was. The air around the man cracked, and was alive with sparks.

‘Other business?’

“Are you sure you can handle this.”

The man in Red spoke with a voice that was a deep and booming as the hammers.

“We are guardians too. If you could handle this situation I think we’ll be fine.”

The flamboyant man cackled wildly. Spotted fur took root on his cheeks, and neck and his face contorted to look something like a muzzle.

“Silence Loki! This is an important matter, and no time for laughter!”

The man in red spoke with the force of thunder in his tone. Loki whimpered as his features returned morphed to match his previous human form. He spoke with a much higher, cracking voice.

“Gaia is strained, and can’t keep us awake for long. If you hurry we can keep these stupid things busy for long enough.”

‘What are they talking about?’

‘We’re going after the beast from before.’

‘What beast from before?’

‘You’ve never seen it, but you will. We’re going to free it, and get it on our side.’

‘How do you intend to do that?’

‘All it needs is a little help. It will do most of the work.’

‘And you know this how?’

Stilts turned and ran off into the clashing soldiers about them, Ripper on his heels.

‘I’ve already told you Ripper, I am an empath.’

Spoiler:

Dagon emerged from the forest, tired, he wandered the battlefield moving from place to place in a daze, falling from orbit will do that to you.

"From the frying pan into the fire." He grumbles as he punches an army of the north soldier in the throat and takes his weapon.

Dagon continues this way for several minutes before he begins to hear a loud buzzing noise coming from the north east. He meanders toward the source of the noise only to find is is being emanated from a small cloud of dust that seemed to eat soldiers alive.

"Ohh, that's new." Dagon walks toward the cloud thoughtlessly.

Suddenly it lept forward. Almost past his perception range. It moved straight at him. Dagon overdrove to the side, but the cloud moved with him.

All Dagon's weariness left him as began to run. This thing was as fast, no faster than he was.

He caught glimpses of what was in the center of the cloud, dark shapes, an arm of darkness, a face, familiar.

Dagon darts out and grazes the out side edge of the cloud, PAIN, his arm came off bloody, little holes in his skin. His Nanobots compensated and removed the dust and healed his wounds. Curious.

For the first time since the Invasion, I remove my black mask to reveal pale white eyes. I recognized the aliens the moment they appeared, with their jet-black composition. I wanted them to know it was again me who was destroying them.

This time, though, I won't hold back when I am required to give it my all.

Ripper says they correspond to us. I see a connection, especially with the one with the whip.

I raise me hand and pull at the Earth. With the exertion I can feel the æther begin bleaching away my identity - the same fate befallen to the original wizards. Now, I was not important in the world's story.

The ground shifts as massive boulders, the size of cars, erupt from the dry sand. The pale rock is blinding in the sun. I propel the masses at great speed towards the new aliens to test them. One quickly dodges to the side and the other blasts it away with some power; judging by the dust it kicked up, it appeared to create a jet stream.

One of them leans forward and speeds towards me. The taller one. I lower my body and create metal, a mace, and jump over the newly created crater.

We meet in mid-air. I deal it an ineffective blow with the mace as one of its hands becomes coated in ice and hits me. It's unbelievably cold, but I quickly counter its effect with a spell of my own. The hit was still hard, though.

We land in opposite sides of the crater - which isn't that large - and it begins to glow with fire. I raise a wall of Earth between us before it explodes. I feel like I'm shining. There's a gust of wind - no, a tornado - a massive gust from my side, which comes from the smaller one. I force my way through the wind at it and grab it, force it to the ground with my power - pinning it, I raise the hammer and strike it against the abomination with all my augmentation.

It shatters, so I just create a force and hit it again. This time is cracks. The exertion is immense. I feel like I'm dissolving.

Burning. No, I can tell from my hands I am actually burning, and knocked on the ground. The other one got to me while I was distracted.
__________

Book. Book. Book.

Found. Possible.
__________

I try to gather myself. I'm too drained.

Epimor is on my left... and my right. There are five of him that I can see. They each begin creating a fireball.

The idiot doesn't even know fire's ineffective.

I drop into the æther.

From here I see two glowing dots and Epimor. I float between the dots. Such focused energy! I fall back to Earth. They have needles of ice that they're firing at the Epimors. Each one disappears when shot.

I release a shockwave that forces them away from me, but the earth itself grabs my leg in a vice. I stagger about with my leg caught in the ground as the cracked one comes at me with a fist hardened by rock.

Spoiler:

Darryl looked upon the creatures, knowing he could not fight them, then he noticed the struggling of Epimor and Torvald, and then decided Torvald was doing the most good, and began pouring energy into him, leaving nothing for himself. He harnessed every drop he could muster, and began flowing it into Torvald, noticing his shining growing brighter, as Darryl began growing weaker. Darryl then began walking towards a transport, thinking of their batteries.


The cloud was surrounding Dagon, who appeared from no-where. The fight was not fair, so Kilf decided to attempt to even the odds. He jumped into the fray, dodging the particles in the cloud, gathering them by using the but of his gun, and cloth from his jackett. He was reducing the cloud, and at the same time trying to trip the creature. Maybe he could do some good here.

Kairk heard voices, and more soldiers running in chaos, not worrying about her any longer, and thats when she saw a glowing figure, and remembered Athen. She ran towards the group, ran to save her husband, ran for redemption. She would help them at all cost.

Spoiler:

Dagon jumps back from the cloud as is magically starts to disappear. Fearing a devastating attack, Dagon turns and runs away only to run into another one of the creatures a few hundred yards away.

It was a strange one, he felt weak around it. No matter it would not stop him. That is, he was under that impression until he took a .50 caliber round to the chest. Dagon flew onto his back and quickly rolled away.

"What the hell was that?" Dagon muttered to himself as he looked down at his dented armor, the bullet had managed to re break a rib and cause a sizable bruise to instantly form.

"Six" He said as he saw it ignite. Dagon rolled back around and sprinted for the nearest boulder. The dark creature would come first, Six would have to wait.

Serveth walked among the ruins of the monastery that had once stood at the edge of the fissure. It showed recent signs of habitation, and even more recent signs of destruction. As he approached the doorway to the library with his entourage, he cursed the humans and their destructive compulsions. Serveth had seen the footprints; an army had been through the area recently, and he bet that it was the same one that large fool he had made a pact with was leading. Of course, that man still threatened their agreement with his every action, surrounding Serveth's people the entire length of their journey. He even had the gusto to come walking into their camp. Serveth met him personally and asked him about the ruins. When he claimed to lack knowledge, Serveth could sense he was hiding something. After his steadfast refusal, he had one of the Alimar "guide" him to the edge of camp. Then he tightened the watch schedule.

The door was set into the ground below the main building in the monastery. It lay flat against the surface like some patch of tile flooring, and perhaps that was all that the monastery's inhabitants thought it was. He reached down cast a simple spell of opening. The door slid to the side revealing a large ramp, big enough for ten elves abreast. The tunnel at the base led to an even larger door. This one an obelisk, standing firm in the reaches of time. Then Seren came running up to him.

"A guardian has been summoned!"

Serveth twisted around, "What? Impossible."

"No, Beleg Alimar can sense it. A deity of earth walks the surface once more!"

"We must see what else is involved."

They both ran off swiftly.

---------------

Illiad ran across to battlefield. He targeted the beast once more, and opened fire. With a roar a bolt of plasma shot out from the cannon mounted on his shoulder. Illiad was now more machine then man. He had been injured in more ways then he could remember, and with no time for him to recuperate, mechanical components were installed. But even that wasn't enough. The creature was to strong. Illiad now carried every experimental technology the Martian Legion had. Every ounce that he had gotten Artis to pack into him, and some Artis didn't even know about. He was running off of a generator that could explode any moment, shielded by metal with completely unknown properties, and soaking his body with so much radiation that even the absorbent chemicals soaked into his few biological components probabily wouldn't prevent cancerous growths.The creature took the plasma burst head on, lunging towards him as he closed. Illiad deployed his ionized gauntlet, sparks fling around him, and leaped into the air, only to be blown away by a wave of energy. The thing sent wave after wave of force crashing into him, pinning him to the ground. He charged is cannon and fired, the plasma tearing through the energy enveloping him. Just as it brought a blade down, he rolled from beneath it, a deep gouge cut where his head had been an instant before. He righted himself and lashed out with his gauntlet, his hydraulics whirring from the strain as the Grey Culmination went stumbled backwards. Then the crack in its armor was repaired and it was one him once more. It brought both of its blades down, but this time there was a halberd in the way. The ruins covering its entire haft glowed brightly, and it deflected the blades. Attached to the weapon was an ancient suit of armor containing an equally ancient man with a terrible aura of power.

As the beast gathered itself, the two warrior's eyes met, and they achieved understanding.The armored form twisted the halberd and struck at the Grey Culmination.

It parried his attack as Illiad righted himself, but the warrior already had a cluster of runes floating about one of his hands. He cast the ruins out, chains forming around them as they bound the Culmination. Illiad ran forward as it struggled with its bonds, ducking low beneath it.

Firing his thrust pack, he sent his fist flying up into the mass of the Culmination. He fist was followed but he force of his overdrawn hydraulics and the power of his thrust.

There was a crack like thunder as his fist broke first the sound barrier, then the tablet on the things chest. In an instant, it was sent flying into the sky, tumbling upwards. Illiad watched as the other warrior primed his halberd, before they both ran after the Grey Culmination.


---------------

Athen landed on his feet, recovering just in time to get hit once more. The spike from the Dark Culmination impacted his chest, punching a hole through. Athen brought his blades down, severing the arm and twisting away. The wound was not normal. No longer was Athen flash and blood. The hole was like that made in broken glass, the edges cracked and glowing, a dim light spilling out from inside. Athen dodged to the side, only to take a blow to his head, the entire right half shattering and denting like so much brittle metal. He could feel his attention slipping and locked down on his mind, the wounds healing, his body reforming. He launched an attack, his blades flashing swiftly, but in an instant the Dark Culmination fired a bright beam of energy. Athen brought his cursed arm to bare in front of him, its form flattening to form a shield. Every time he tried to manipulate it, the sentience resisted him, but his focused mind now allowed to to beat it into submission, at least for short bursts. As the thing that was his arm absorbed the energy, the outline writhing and shifting, Athen became introspective.

He knew who he was. He also knew that there we things he should be able to do, but couldn't. Descending through the thick protective layers of mental energy he had established himself milennia ago, he eventually came upon the core of his being. It lay before him, a massive, shining construction of lines and shapes floating in darkness. At the very center dark shadows shifted and churned, debilitating the core. He attempted to cut them out, but every time he destroyed one, several more took its place. He gave up, his time in the place limited.

He looked around at the systems he had set in place, recognizing none of them. He was able to identify the systems associated with his blades as they were simple and overflowing with energy. But the other, more complex fabrications were beyond him. He began bypassing his complex setups, giving himself access to a few of the basic functions. But with his time and concentration running out, he knew that this wouldn't be enough. He had fought this enemy before and knew that he would need a weapon of incredible power to turn in back. His concentration continued to fade as he struggled to find anything he could use to his advantage. Then he remembered the sword. He had used a sword on several occasions. It was a weapon of undeniable offensive power. He flew through the construct until he found the systems. His hopes were dashed, the sword required the leverage that two hands provided to summon quickly, and he did not have enough time to construct another arm to use in place of the cursed one. As he began to fade, he realized something. The sword the Warith had given him. It was etched with the proper sigils and followed a similar form. He wondered at this, but wasted no time, creating a gap in the system for the summoning of the sword, wide enough for him to connect the blade he held outside.

Then he was back in the real world and time continued its horrible advance. He fired a beam back at the creature, surprising it momentarily with his new capabilities. He reached at with his right hand and drew the sword he had received from the Wraith. Suspending it in the air next to him, he began to reach out to the runes, touching them in sequence, each one lighting up in turn. The Dark Culmination had recovered and was already lunging at him.

The old sword was obliterated, and Vsartia, Blade of Dimensional Rift, came into existence with the force of an atomic detonation. The shock wave want out, digging a massive crater below Athen and rocking the entire battlefield. As the smoke cleared, two figures floated where the ground used to be. The Dark Culmination had its arm completely through Athen's head, his face smashed beyond recognition. Athen had his sword plunged hilt deep into the core of the beast, the entire mass of its torso being burnt away by the sword.

---------------

The golem arrived and the army of the north, seeing it, broke moral instantly. They fled for their lives, the Martian soldiers gunning them down as they ran, even though most escaped. The heavy shadow fired its cannon, it horrible, liquid projectile impacted near Dagon while the near human began to make its way towards the wizards. The small one ran to the beings with glowing hands and all the cracks in their surface disappeared, their lights shining brighter. Thor was prepared to attack, but an apparition flashed into existence beside him, striking with wicked blade. The tall one and the liquid shadow began to close in. Kilf was beginning to gather the particles from the cloud, before there was first one shard of V, then multiple, floating in front of his face, each one resembling a large caliber bullet.

Kilf stared at the shards of V, and then smiled for his job had just gotten easier. He took a few steps back, removed some incendiary grenades from his belt-loop, pulled the pin, and dropped them just in front of the bullet. He did this with 3 grenades, and then started running in the opposite direction, while ducking beneath the bullets. He then felt the heat roll onto his neck and back, he only hoped it helped disperse the cloud of particles as he ran away.
____________________________________________________________

Kairk finally reached the fight, and then looked around at the battle field. She noticed a one of the creatures acting similarly to her, and decided it best to avoid it. She then looked around to see who she could try and kill the best, and that's when she saw the black shapes tear through the air, then stop in front of a blur. She smiled, and decided to go after the one shooting, for how could a sniper hit something it couldn't see, as long as that object stayed away from the direction of the barrel.

Spoiler:

I was having a hard time countering these new aliens. They countered every attack I had - projectiles were countered with gusts of wind, any energy I sent they could dissipate - and they only seemed to be getting stronger.

I noticed that the one surrounded by the bubble had been in our vicinity for a while, but not fighting me. Could it be related? Darryl had the ability to provide us with energy. Perhaps these were all analogous to us?

"Epimor, get their attention!" I don't know what powers this alien has, but I can't fight the three at once. I do recognize the field around him - like a blackness in space, it's the boundary between two fields of æther. I can't affect it from outside, but I can from inside. After Epimor distracted both of them, I run into the field.
__________

As Torvald commanded, Epimor cast another spell from the book to get the Doppelgangers' attention. Fissures opened up and latched onto them, but the power was too weak; they easily escaped. Rocks erupted from the ground under Epimor and trapped his leg like a vice; things broke.

Pain. Bad.

His power was too insufficient to protect himself as he was struck with electricity from both entities and burst into flames. He crumpled to the ground, defeated.
__________

Inside the field, my eyes widened. I was wrong. It wasn't a membrane between fields - it was death. There is no æther here. My vision seemed to expand into the distance, everything terribly far away - breathing was difficult - was it fear or did I rely on my powers that much just to sustain myself? I was surrounded by death. It suddenly seemed quiet, the scenery bleak and colorless. I cannot access æther at all.

My body is so heavy. Slowly, I turn around - I see the two aliens. They're attacking me ... I raise my hand before realizing I can't do anything. It's hopeless. They've won.

The ice punctures my flesh too easily, the flesh of just a man.

Stilts and Athen - you hold the greatest capability now. Do not fail the Earth.

That was enough. He had had his fill of watching. The Hammer readied his weapon and strode toward the two shadows that were giving Torvald and Epimor such a hard time. He was somewhat surprised that he remembered their names, and not in the way he remembered things he liked to crush. Perhaps he had come to think of them as pets.

He quickened his pace, and the shadows noticed him. Then again, if they hadn’t noticed the fourteen foot tall metal monster descending upon them, they wouldn’t have been the caliber of warriors that could do away with Torvald and Epimor. Blasts of fire, ice, and other elemental energies rained down on The Hammer, breaking against him like a wave on the beach. He stepped over the fallen form of Epimor, and suddenly was within reach of the first of the wizardy things. In a flash, his hammer came around, smacking the thing with terrible force. It lost a bit of its coherency as it flew through the air.

“Weak creatures, fit for nothing more than-“ A massive groan of metal rang out across the battle field as something collided with The Hammer, taking him to the ground. They grappled and brawled, rolling away from Epimor and his foes. After a moment, The Hammer extricated himself from the brawl and rose, looking upon his opponent. It stood, easily two feet in height greater than The Hammer. It was a facsimile of The Hammer, but bigger. It took a step forward, the ground cracking under its feet. Whereas The Hammer was a hollow suit of armor, animated by the incarnation of malevolence that was his soul, this thing was a solid construct of V and incredibly dense.

“Alright, let’s test your mettle,” The Hammer rumbled, lowering his shoulder into a ramming position. He began to run towards the thing, swiftly reaching his maximum speed. For all the good it did him. He collided with the thing, his pauldron collapsing inward, and stumbled back from the thing. It hadn’t budged, and there was only a slight dent in the thing’s abdomen.

The thing, with slow precision, reached back and pulled a black hammer from its back. Without warning, it lunged forward, bringing its hammer around, and The Hammer was barely able to bring the haft of his weapon up to block the blow. There was another groan of metal as the weapon’s haft bowed.

The Hammer shoved the enemy’s weapon away, and brought his own around, striking it fully in the side of the head. It succeeded only in turning the thing’s head to the side. What little damage was done to the thing’s facsimile of a helm swiftly reformed as though new. Its arm came forward in a punch, the thing’s immense weight behind it. The blow caved in the side of The Hammer’s helm and knocked him stumbling backwards.

Everywhere in this mortal realm, The Hammer saw the mists. Sometimes he could see through it, when the winds of reality blew them aside, and other times it was impenetrable. But, through this mist, The Hammer saw the world. This thing he fought did not take shape from the mists. It was a sharp blackness in The Hammer’s world of shifting grey. He could see this thing clearly, saw how its contours were made to mock him, but he also saw that this thing was greater than he. He simply did not have the strength to break the wyrd material from which it was made. He refused to accept it.

He readied himself, picked up his hammer and charged. With a roar he met the thing, landing several blows all about it. The head, chest, arms… but the thing replied. Its hammer struck out with alarming speed. The first blow struck his thigh, crumpling it. As he fell another blow struck his already weakened pauldron, caving in that entire side of his body. The third and most terrible blow struck The Hammer fully in the chest, knocking him back and onto the ground. Spiderweb cracks went all throughout his armor.

The thing stepped back, watching, and The Hammer felt, mocking its broken opponent. Still, The Hammer struggled to his feet, ignoring the wrenching sound of metal as his warped leg struggled to hold him up. Otherworldly fire leapt and lapped from the cracks in The Hammer’s armor. The mighty energies encased in his form were escaping. On the other side of the battlefield, a sword was broken, and with it The Hammer’s chains.

He began to laugh, a great booming laugh, and for a moment, the heavens and the earth seemed to shake with his mirth. The Hammer lifted up his head and there was a new fire burning in his eyes, a red and unholy fire.

“I will shatter your soul.” It was no threat, but simply a declaration of fact. The Thing stepped forward, bringing its weapon around for another blow. It struck, once again doing horrific damage to The Hammer. His chest plate cracked wide open, and hell poured out. The Thing’s weapon simply seemed to melt away on contact with the unnatural energies.

The Hammer was not made of the stuff of reality. He was forged of the unknowable energies of the Hellscape itself, raw energy forced into a solid form. From energy into a strong and dark metal. The Hammer reached out, extending his ruined arm towards the thing. Suddenly, his arm was wreathed in the stuff of his creation, and he sent it out at the dark thing.

The mirror of The Hammer recoiled as layer by layer it was stripped away by the power of the Hellscape. This came at a high cost however. The metal of The Hammer’s construction was the source of this energy. From energy to metal and back again.

Soon there was not enough of the thing left to resist, and it fell to the ground, still whispering here and there out of existence. The Hammer limped over to the thing. It was still trying to rise. He reached down with his left hand and plucked from the thing a sphere of a different material. He could feel the intelligence within it. With infinite contempt, he placed the sphere on the dust, and crushed it under his heel, letting Hellscape energies cascade into it.

With a groan The Hammer fell to the ground. He was spent. No longer did the fires burn within him. His body was broken, and no longer having a body to contain him, he left the mortal plane.

Spoiler:

‘It’s starting. We need to hurry. If we don’t get this thing on our side soon I don’t think we’ll last very much longer.’


‘What happened to everything you said about reading the battlefield?’


‘The battlefield is changing.’


‘What does that mean?’


‘If we don’t hurry no one survives.’


‘So there is no guarantee?’


‘I don’t think such a thing can ever exist.’


Stilts’ eyes were closed. The battlefield was full of emotion and that was all he needed to see for the time being. Stilts and Ripper crested a small hill and saw a woman firing at soldiers of the north as they fled the battle. She was calling out," You cowards! Stand and fight!” As the last of the soldiers fled through the smoke, she turned and began to make her way towards the Grey Culmination.

“Your army has fallen, and now it’s your turn.”

Stilts had dropped his chain from his sleeve, and a mass of steel was creeping down Ripper’s arms.

“You will relinquish your control of that beast, peacefully or otherwise. We need its help to win this fight, and I don’t think it’ll have a problem helping us.”
-------------------------

The lady stopped, the crunching of her metal boots giving way to the sounds of conflict. Without warning, she turned about, letting loose shots from the revolvers, the bullets flying true. And, from somewhere not far off, the Wraith watched. Stilts watched the cylinder of the revolver in the woman’s right hand begin to rotate, the hammer edging backwards.

‘Double action’

He pulled his form out from in front of the barrel, and there was a sudden loud report as the first round fired. He glanced at the second revolver. It was aimed at Ripper. Back to the first as the cylinder began to move. Stilts timed his movements to match those of the weapon’s hammer. As it reached its back most position he dropped his form to the ground. Ripper caught a flash of steel, and only just had time to cross his arms in front of himself with a metallic ring as the round impacted. The lady looked at Ripper, " Perhaps I should deal with you later" and diverted her attention back to Stilts. She threw her revolvers up to head height, pulling two more from behind her back. She fired them and tossed them upwards, catching and reloading the previous ones as they fell. Her robotic limbs allowed her to do this all in one continuous motion, a wave of bullets directed by her whim. Stilts tracked the action of the first two revolvers as they fired.

‘Too close.’

He launched himself from his crouched form dodging the rounds. He carried his momentum into a roll as he landed, and only just caught site of all the revolvers, two in the air, two with their hammers drawn nearly to their end. Stilts leapt out of his roll, two more rounds impacting at his heels.

‘She’s fast!’

Ripper lowered his shoulder and charged the woman. The woman caught all four revolvers and flipped over Ripper's back, rolling to the side and firing all four at once towards Stilts before taking off running, reloading each as she went. Ripper slid to a stop, and turned, and began sprinting after the woman.

‘You weren’t kidding when you said she was fast!’
-----------------------

‘I can’t track them all!’

Stilts watched the first two revolvers as their hammers came back. He twisted his form about as the hammers struck home, and heard four reports from behind him. He dropped his form to the ground again, a bullet grazing his shoulder as he fell. Stilts brought his form to his feet quickly, and began running after the woman.

‘I have no time to attack, and if I take any of my attention away from those guns I die. Ripper can you do anything?’

‘Trying!’

Ripper pulled both of his arms in front of himself launching two metal spikes at the woman. The lady twisted around, firing all four shots at Ripper as she slid past the metal spikes. Ripper brought an arm in front of himself as the lady turned. Two shots slammed into the metal shield, one slid just past his side, and the final slammed into his leg. Ripper stumbled, and Stilts vaulted over him pushing off his shoulder launching his chain toward the woman. Ripper fell into a clumsy roll, and stumbled back to his feet heavily as he pushed the round from his leg, and poured more metal into his arms. The Lady rolled to the side, returning her guns from whence they came and lunged at Stilts, two small blades gripped tightly in her hands. Ripper’s hands were heavy at his sides. He brought one up and fired a spray of steel akin to a shotgun at the lady.

‘Move!’

Stilts dodged left of Rippers spray carrying his momentum into his chain, bringing about in a fast arc at waist height. The blast of metal impacted upon the Lady, knocking her over as the chain passed overhead. There were now several holes in her armor and she was leaking hydraulic fluid. She regained her feet, backing off. She dropped her knives. "Enough toys," Stilts thought he heard her say as she brought her hands around, clipping two revolvers together. They fused, the components aligning. She aimed the weapon two-handed at Ripper, her finger over the trigger, the barrel beginning to glow red.
--------------------------

Stilts carried the weight around, and sent the chain out in a lower arc this time, aiming to knock the lady off her feet. Ripper lugged his heavy arm up in front of himself, as a red mass built at the wrist of his other. The lady pulled the trigger as the chain looped around her ankles. There was a flash of light, and a heated hiss, and Ripper dropped to a knee. His arm dropped heavily at his side. A red ichor poured from what was left of his face, neck, and torso. He pushed off with his supporting arm, firing a spray of ruby into the air far above the lady before falling heavily to the ground.

‘I missed.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Is this it?’

‘You’ll be back.’

Death was constant on the battlefield. Stilts had blocked out all those dark emotions to keep him sane, but Ripper was special. Stilts shared a bond with him that he couldn’t sever. Ripper’s death tore through that connection, and washed into stilts. He wasn’t just feeling death, he was dying. He had to remind himself to breathe for a moment. He acted in the emotion’s ebb, and levered heavily on the chain pulling him toward the lady as much as pulling her from her feet. He slammed his hand down on the woman’s head, and cut the beast free of his leash.
-------------------------

A roar broke out across the battlefield. It started as a simple human scream, and then shifted upwards into the horrible range of a suffering computer. Finally it ended. The Dark Culmination paused in its charge, and then began to move towards the transport containing Bryo. Stilts was blown back, and as the dust settled, the Grey Culmination stood before him. It held the lady in its hand, suspending her above the ground. She struggled and twisted in its grasp, but failed to gain any purchase. She pulled out her two remaining revolvers and let loose into the things face. The bullets impacted upon its metal mask to avail. Its voice rang out across the battlefield and could be heard for miles.

"You have drained me of my life and stolen what was
precious to me. Now you shall feel you own self drain away!"

It raised its other arm and bisected her cleanly at the waist, hydraulic fluid and blood mixing in even measure before plashing to the ground. It tossed her at its feet and reached up, pulling out the weapon embedded in its skull, the wound healing instantly. In the distance, Stilts could see Illiad and another armored figure wielding a halberd closing the distance quickly. Stilts brought himself between the two men and the Grey Culmination. The dark emotions in his mind broke their ebb, and poured in again. He fumbled about with words in his mind for a moment trying to find some way to properly speak to the being before him. He couldn’t find proper words. He spoke simply, loudly, and desperately.

“We need your help! This battle is going to decide the fate of this world, and everything that calls it home. You don’t owe us anything, and you have no real reason to help us, but we’re losing, and we need something to help us turn this battle.”

‘I’m rambling.’

Stilts forced a stop, looked up at the grey culmination, his features
reading of great fear and desperate hope. The Grey Culmination remained
stolid, but Stilts could feel it examining him.

"It appears I owe you for my salvation. Which enemy
shall I smite for you?"

The ground shook a little beneath Stilts feet in time to its speaking.

Stilts spoke with less fear now, and with more respect. His mind was clearing, and the Grey Culmination’s emotions were coming into view. “The enemies are dark creatures, aliens made of a foreign material. We need to eliminate them, but they are persistent beings. A more important goal is to protect a small child by the name of Byro who is in a transport not too far from here. If he makes it to where he needs to be then we’ll win this fight, but the enemy is without a doubt going to try and kill him.”

"I see."

It walked over to Ripper.

"You share a bond with this one. A shame to let it fade."

It then inserted one of its blades carefully into the corpse, energy flowing along it. Then there was a loud boom and it was gone, flying through the air towards the transport, Athen, and the Dark Culmination. Illiad ran up behind Stilts.
---------------------

"You again. Doing things I can't possibly understand. What is this mess? What did you do to that monster? And what is THAT?"

Illiad extends an arm towards the golem. The other figure remains silent. Stilts watched the Grey Culmination fade quickly into the distance. First he glanced at Ripper. The feeling of death had receded. Then he turned toward Illiad.

“I’m sorry for doing so much without permission, but this fight is rather desperate. That monster isn’t much of a monster. The woman controlling it…”

‘The woman.’

Stilts turned and took a step towards the lady’s upper half. Even now he kept a fair amount of distance between the two of them.

“She was the real monster. Every life is valuable, tainted or otherwise. I wish this could have ended peacefully, but your fate was sealed the moment you tampered with that being. Still…I’m sorry.”

Stilts turned and looked past Illiad to the golem.

“That beast as you called it is going to help us. It’s going to protect Bryo, who happens to be the last piece we need to fix the Earth. If we get him to where he needs to go we win. The big thing is a golem, an ancient guardian of the Earth. We summoned it to help fight the aliens.”

Stilts turned to Ripper.

“We are rather pressed for time Ripper, pull yourself
together.”

“That’s easy to say when you have your whole head.”

Ripper had stopped bleeding, and was beginning to regenerate. Stilts helped pull him to his feet. Ripper lifted his severed arm to his shoulder. A metal plate washed over the seam and held his arm in place while it began repairing itself.

“What do we do now?”

“We fight the aliens for as long as possible, and hope that Bryo makes it.”

Stilt’s turned to Illiad and the metal man.

“We need everyone we can get.”
_________________________

The Lady Warlord lay there, bleeding out into the dust. The sounds of battle had left her; she was alone in this, her final moments in this world. Suddenly a shadow stood over her, a robed and cowled figure wearing a silver mask.

“You…” the lady managed to gurgle, blood bubbling up from her lips.

Two dark pits stared out of the mask, chilling her just as they had the first time they had met. Then she heard that same eerily clear voice, even though she was sure that she had gone deaf from shock a while ago.

“When I first met you,” he had said, “I had asked you: What do you truly know? At the time, the answer was: Nothing. Now I ask you another, what have you learned?”

He knelt down next to her bisected form, and placed his hands, almost tenderly on either side of her face. She couldn’t respond; she was too weak. “I will tell you: Nothing. And that, my dear, is your greatest sin of all.” The Wraith made a deft movement with his hands, and rose, leaving the corpse of the Lady Warlord behind.

He glanced at the almost empty battlefield. The soldiers of the North had fled, leaving a cratered landscape in their passing. Off in the distance he caught a glimpse of the desperate battle against the Aliens. It was not his place to intervene in their tests; at least, not yet. The Wraith shifted, and was gone.

The energy released from the hammer was like nothing Darryl had felt before, and his body didn't seem to know how to deal with it, although it stopped it from killing him. Darryl realised the hammer had died, and ran to his body, although he didn't know why. He felt a throb of energy, and then looked down, and noticed he was standing on a shard, a sliver of crystal, and bent to pick it up. As soon as he picked it up, two things happened. First he felt a sudden flux of power as he had never known; second, he went flying through the air. As he was flying he saw two shapes, each in a different motion, then then he was hit with a jet of flame form ones hands, and a rock pillar from beneath his feet. He stood up, and shot a blast of energy from his hands, but this time it didn't affect him at all, he held to much power. The energy was diverted by a sphere of water held by one of the shadows, while the other threw him back with another gust of wind. He smacked into something odd, something he couldn't explain. As he looked up, he saw Thor, and smiled.

"I don't know how much this will help, but here." Darryl said as he flooded energy into Thor, at the same time he remembered Bryo and ran for the crater, getting thrown around by various magical attacks, but his shielding taking the impact, leaving only concussion to affect him. He finally reached the crater, and by this time, felt like a druken man. He was dizzy from flying about, and everything was seen with a tunnel vision. He felt something, and suddenly turned around.

As he turned, he witnessed a large shape coming for him and ducked, barley escaping the mountain hurdling towards him. He then began forming a sphere of energy, and started feeling weak while doing so. He released the sphere at the wizard, and then all he saw was blackness, with a white light at the distance, hearing the remmenant of a scream.

____________________________________________________________

Kairk stood upon the hill, and watched the two figures firing upon the battle-field. She decided to project herself between the two, and her vision apeared between the two. The one with a cannon fired, but Kairk's projection rolled to the side, and the large hunk of V tore through the ground. Kairk then ran towars the sniper, and tore at the spot of light that showed her where the I was, that glow of darkness that created shadows upon life. She charged it with the projection, and tried ripping it apart, when she felt the connection with it fade. A third figure had waled up, one that looked quite like Kilf. She could no longer access her powers, so she shot at the figure, the bullets did nothing. As then figure got closer, she felt weaker. She smiled at the target, but he did not smile back, and instead cut her head from her neck in one fell swoop. If he thought anything, it would only be that it had been far to easy.

Spoiler:

He couldn’t move. He stood there in a crater, surrounded by destruction, and watching demigods do battle. Every fiber of his being screamed at him to move, run, flee, but something kept him from doing so. He couldn’t put his finger on it, or he was too stricken with panic to think about it. Either way, Ha’el felt that he could not simply run from the battle.

A thought occurred to him. Perhaps I could flee with purpose. The moment thought passed through him, he surged into motion, no longer caught in inner turmoil. He wasn’t sure where was he was going, in all truth. He just ran.

Scrambling through wreckage and dust, Ha’el suddenly found himself at the remains of one of the transports. Guided by what, he had no idea; he lashed out with his sword, cutting his way in. Inside cowered the disgusting zombie-child, Bryo, who seemed to be in almost a state of shock. For a moment Bryo seemed to recoil from Ha’el, before Bryo recognized him.

Ha’el wondered at this for a moment, until he caught sight of himself in the mirror. Oh, dear- would be a close approximation of his thoughts. He looked like a savage. His hair was wild, and smeared like the rest of his body with the bodily fluids of other creatures. His coat and shirt had not really survived the destruction of the transport. He shrugged off their remains, thanking his God that his trousers and boots were still intact.

He realized only now that his antique pistol had gone missing. He felt a vague sense of loss. It had been a gift from his father. Shaking the thoughts from his head, Ha’el tried to make himself less threatening as he reached out towards Bryo.

Still, the childthing recoiled. Exasperated, he grabbed Bryo and threw him over his shoulder. Disgusting creature, he thought, wishing he hadn’t discarded what remained of his coat. “Defend us,” he called out to Bryo’s guardians, the behemoth and lanky thing. He didn’t watch to see if they followed. He just ran. He didn’t even know where he was going, but he had a feeling it was in the right direction.

It felt like being pulled from a dark abyss. I felt coated in thick darkness, being pulled quickly through a stagnant stream.

Then I was alive, in the bleached battlefield. Some sort of beast was my savior - a man, genetically modified, augmented with armor and technology, and even some magic protection and powers - which had already left to Epimor.

This battle...

At the alien's previous attack, the spellweavers had given their all and died as a result. They had sacrificed themselves.

Why am I not willing to do the same?

I felt the Earth. Its anguish. Its weakness. Its resolve.

Why did it take me this long to realize?

This goal is not just to save the Earth, but all of humanity in the most complete way possible. If Earth dies, Mars will follow, and the aliens will have won.

After all this time - and I will have lost.

This is something I will not tolerate.

I see the world.

So much despair, but there is hope. I trace the power to the core of the Earth. So much energy here... if I open myself to it... will it be enough?
__________

The Grey Culmination revives Epimor as well. To get his bearings, Epimor looks around briefly and sees Torvald.

He is exploding with power.

Sheets of æther - in this plane, even! - fan out behind him, like wings, the pale purple substance immaterial but still perceivable. Small undulations disturb its surface as more æther flows from Torvald's crown, drifting up and dissipating like a flame. Torvald looked at Epimor. Epimor's eyes opened imperceptibly as he noticed Torvald's eyes were now softly glowing and apparently atrophied, the irises and pupils white.

Wordlessly, the æther harshened and Torvald turned away.
__________

There are ten remaining enemies. The two with ranged attacks are firing upon our allies. The three I fought earlier - the elementalists and the shielded one - are focusing their attention on Darryl and near Bryophyta.

The remainder were heading towards this last group. If they, too, were to fight Darryl, he and Bryophyta would fall - impermissible.

"Beast. If you are on our side, your priority now should be to aid them," I say, pointing to the crater with Bryophyta. Without waiting for a response, I leave.

I am suddenly among the third group. There is the one with the whip, the shapeshifter, and the one surrounded by the cloud.

The whip struck out at me; I grabbed the end. The shapeshifter leapt at me. I struck it to stop it. The cloud, like an amorphous lifeform, approached me, and I raised a barrier to stop it.

They surprised me, though. The remainder of the whip seemed to bend around to reach me, so I was forced to grab an ever-increasing number of points on it. The shapeshifter molded around my strike and kept coming, so I raised another barrier. The amorphous cloud was seeping around my wall, so I had to create another, larger one.

There seemed to be no way to protect oneself except by complete isolation.

At this rate, I would lack the necessary focus to actually strike out unless I was working with others.

The Grey Culmination surveyed the battlefield from on high. There were many dead and far too many enemies. It simply did not have enough processing power to micromanage that many conflicts at once, so it revived all of the fallen. It moved around the field, pulling them back from the shadows, child's play. It ended with the wizards, one of which it remembered having tried killing it before. It listened to the message one of them had to say, before he filled with raw power. It was almost enough to spark a small amount of concern for self preservation. It began lashing out with force, scattering the beings of shadow, moving towards the strange child and the unknown man carrying it. These things were so strange, they absorbed energy almost completely and were quite durable, as the tall one said. Then two things happened simultaneously.

Spoiler:

It noticed that the one who had spoken to it was already under heavy assault.
-----
It noticed one of the beings of darkness, rather small in stature was standing in front of it.
-----
It noticed the one it had killed previously was locked in some kind of combat with an extremely powerful shadow.


It pulled the shape shifter assaulting the wizard towards itself.
-----
It lashed out with force at the small thing in front of it, only to find it could not access power in its direction.
-----
The being engaged with Athen had broken off and was moving fast towards the child it was supposed to protect.
-----
It noticed a shard on the ground. It consisted of the same energy it had acquired from the strange woman that had beaten it so easily


It compressed the shapeshifter into a small ball, suspending it in the air. This grows increasingly difficult as it moves towards the small shadow.
-----
It extends its blade, flashing with energy, and stabs at the source of power it percieves within the small shadow. It drops to the ground, inert.
-----
The shadow moves closer to the child, Athen is not fast enough to catch it.
-----
It takes the shard of energy, integrating it next to the source of magic on its chest.
-----
It realizes that the wizard is outmatched, but sees others moving to help him.


It resumes its compression of the shapeshifter now that it has full access to its power again, but cannot seem to crush it.
-----
The shadow has almost reached the child, Athen lags behind.
-----
The shard has fulling integrated and it taps into its power. It is as unique as it remembers.


It continues to contain the shapeshifter, but devotes more power to movement.
-----
It boosts towards the child attempting to intercept the intense shadow.

----------------

Athen and the Dark Culmination floated for a still eternity, deifying gravity as if it simply didn't exist, Athen struggling against creatures presence, the Dark Culmination unable to advance due to the proximity of the sword to its core.

Then both registered the change in the Grey Culmination. Instantly, the shadow blew Athen back with a wall of force, then took off towards Bryo.

'No!'

Athen followed in its wake, but he was not fast enough. He desperately launched projectiles of burning energy at it, but it deflected them without effort. It closed on Bryo, its blade extended, the man carrying him about to become an oblivious causality.

Then the shadow was gone. It had attempted to block the Grey Culmination's charge, but the Grey had used energy from the shard, which tore through the shadow's defenses as if they did not exist. The shadow recovered and sent a wave of energy at the Grey Culmination. It attempted to block, but the force was too much, the resulting explosion scattering it across the battlefield. It charged at the man holding Bryo once more, but Athen deflected it with his blade, the two titans locking inches away from Ha'el.

"Get away from here!" Athen shouted,"Run!"

Ha'el took off without a word, the two undead guardians following behind.

The golem was looming over the two of them now, and let loose a blast of energy at the pair, straight from the Earth's core, its torso like a volcano. Athen was sent flying, but the force was diverted around the shadow. It turned and let loose a blast of its own energy, the beam a shimmer blackness that tore through the heat and impacted upon the golem, reducing its entire upper torso to nothing. The titan fell over backwards, the impact like an earthquake, incapacitated.

Athen swung his sword at the creature, but it teleported away. He managed to get his sword the the distortion, however, following it through the twist in reality it had created.

All of the dopplegangers diverted their attention, and began moving towards Ha'el and Bryo, like the shadow of death itself.

Spoiler:

Thor surveyed the battlefield and noticed the dust shadow accelerate toward Bryo. He aims and calls down a lightning bolt to slow it down. The lightning scatters and is absorbed by the cloud, overloading and destroying the particles, leaving the creature in the middle stunned as electricity coursed through its core, it then utilized the power to move its body once again.

Dagon had kept to the shadows, watching his foe, keeping out of 6's range. When the lightning came from the heavens and scattered the dust, Dagon saw his opportunity and began to collect nano bots around his hands again. The shadow started to accelerate again, and then Dagon made his move. He burst from the west, over-driving nimbly around soldiers and debris. The shadow obviously saw him, but ignored him, its main objective the child ahead, nothing mattered but killing this child. It only made a halfhearted effort to grab Dagon by the neck and drag him behind it as it ran.

Dagon wasn't helpless, not yet. He grabbed the shadows arm and caught himself on a boulder, stopping the shadow's advancement. Dagon then used his leverage to throw the shadow over his shoulder, hitting it's back against the rock. Dagon brought his armored hand back and smashed it full on into the darkest part of the being. His nanobots released from his hand by the thousands, they were instantly attacked by the blackness. For every hundred nanobots that he released into the beast, one particle of the darkness was destroyed. The odds were against him, but he had numbers on his side. Dagon released all the nanobots from his hand in an effort to turn the tide. The nanobots would prevail, Dagon trusted their construction and design, HE WOULD WIN.

Spoiler:

I was between the aliens and my allies. My role in this was not a key figure - I was a distraction. The ultimate goal was Bryophyta.

I must distract them.

Feeling the space around me - the fabric or reality itself - I noted the weak points and rent them.

Instantly, a huge volume of space - about an airplane hangar - was enveloped in absolute darkness as the material realm was torn from its bearings. The fault extended to the æther, so I could not see outside by any means.

But I did not need light to see inside. I had snared four of the aliens: the two ranged attackers and the two elementalists.

That left the protective alien and the one with the whip outside, as well as the shapeshifter, contained by the beast, and the one with the destructive aura, fighting with Dagon.

I was weightless as the gravity disappeared: there was no more source. This was, effectively, a new, finite universe.

This trap will last only a few minutes. Until then...

Some light appeared and grew as one of the elementalists began creating fire. I could feel the other using energy as well.

I had too much power to fear them. I created a mass of metal, bonded and sharpened, to form a broadsword. Both elementalists unleashed their powers at me. I swept my sword around to unleash a blast of wind; both the chain of fire and a hailstone were deflected. I raised my hand and caught a shard of V the smaller ranged alien shot at me.

I closed my hand around it.

We held together the mass of the Earth to stop them.

I clenched my fist and the V broke.

You will not be permitted to destroy our success!

I was next to the larger ranged alien and used arcs of electricity to disable it. I remember. Electricity inhibits their power. It flailed. I drove the point of my broadsword into it, but it did not break. It was still too strong.

The other one fired another round and struck me in the arm, nearly removing it. I don't need it.

One elementalist fires rocks at me while the other creates a cyclone.

They still don't understand the futility of their actions.

I wave the blade again, with my good arm, and a wave of force sweeps across the elementalists and the larger ranged unit. The cyclone is weakened. I rush the smaller sniper at inhuman speed. With my bad arm I collect energy and release it before impact to freeze it, then impale it with my sword. It sinks some half an inch and I cause the point to explode.

The sword is useless now. Shards of V are in the air from the explosion. I generate a barrel-sized mass of steel and smash it into the damaged alien. It impacts against the wall.

Meanwhile, a pillar of fire is approaching me. Two blasts of wind negate the column and cause it too dissipate. The remaining projectiles are blocked easily. It underestimates my finesse.

Against the wall, the alien is still struggling. The I - and the N - is tantalizingly close to the surface. I pin it down and pierce the surface - the N shines through.

I place my palm over it and inflict the most pain I have ever attempted. First I tried to apply just pure heat, but then I took the molecular structure and disassembled it. It was a cloud of darkness as a result of the warped reality, and a small explosion leaked out of the barriers.

When I cooled down and focused on the present, I realized I had been shot many times and took heavy damage from the elementalists. It was exceedingly bright - I realize my barrier had fallen and the aliens were pursuing their main objective.

This body is nothing to me. It was merely a means to sustain the consciousness, but I no longer rely on the tissue in my skull.

I still need a brief rest.

The sun was setting. Red sand blew gently throughout the city, swirling in little eddies, caught in corners, kicked away by shifting feet. The population of Mars went to and fro throughout the city, listlessly, purposefully, doing their assignments with a group dispassion. The rationing was getting to them. They were hungry, most of them, and losing their drive for life, so thorough was their resignation to the coming doom.

Yet, for all this resignation, they still had the capacity to know fear. This was an insidious fear, the kind that can only be birthed through rumors and tall tales. The tales told of a war in the night, in the deep dark. It was fortunate that most counted them only as stories, and knew not the extent of the war being raged in the city’s lengthening shadows.

Two fought in a dwelling. It was empty, save them. It had been so for a long time. Mars no longer had the population to fill all such places. One wore half a mask; the right side of his face was human and seemed to fight a battle for dominance with the mask on the left side of his face, so devoid of any humanity. The other wore a full mask, shining silver, flecked with the blood of his corrupted brethren.

The half-mask lunged at the Knifeman, swinging his blades with reckless abandon, an almost frenetic passion. The look on the left side of his face was almost manic. The half-soul’s movements may have been unplanned and undefended, but he was fast. Incredibly fast, even for a knifeman. The Knifeman responded with the calculating nature of his kind. He flipped backwards over an age deformed couch. The sound of ripping fabric was heard as the half-soul tore into it.

The Knifeman threw a blade at the half-soul, who automatically deflected it with a sweep of its own. The Knifeman jerked his arm, and the blade whipped back, slashing across the human face of the Martian Knifeman. It had been attached to a cord.

The Knifeman became the center of an elegant storm. From his left hand came the wire, and around him was death. Around him a table, the couch, several chairs, and other paraphernalia of life were destroyed. The half-soul tried to defend itself, but was being worn down, nick by nick. Seeing no other option, the half-soul charged the Knifeman, entering the eye of the storm.

He came at the Knifeman, a manic grin on his face, and perhaps even a bit of foam at the corner of his mouth. He was dead before he knew it. The Half-soul had been so preoccupied with the wire in the Knifeman’s left hand that he hadn’t noticed the blade in his right. It is argued whether or not he would have noticed when he entered his brainpan, but either way, he hadn’t seen it coming. His death was a gasp and a gurgle on the floor of an abandoned home on a dying world.

So died the last of the Martian Knifemen, the half-souls, the corrupted. The Guild was pure again. Change was on the wind; they could feel it. It was time to return to Earth, and so they did. Or, most of them anyway. Even on a doomed world, the Guild’s hand must be felt.

The shadow looks at Dagon, it emanated power as it grabbed onto Dagon's arm and pulled Dagon closer into it's chest. Dagon immediately saw the danger and pulled away just before the shadow closed it's chest around where his had was. He could have lost it had he stayed in. The shadow stands back up and starts to walk toward him. Dagon holds his ground and watches the creature approach, a thin smoke appeared around it's body. It was already regenerating its cloud of death, this was not good. Dagon reviewed his options. He could run away, he had no more attachment to these people, He could keep this creature occupied until one of the others came to help, He could Kill it, or he could stop it.

He would kill it, failing that he would stop it until reinforcements came, and, failing either of those he would flee to his waiting team.

Dagon took his stance, Armored his hands, and charged.

The first blow ripped off the creatures left arm, it still writhed as he gripped it, so he infected it with his nanobots to destroy it's power source.

The second strike removed the creatures right leg from the knee down, Dagon also laced it with nano bots.

The creature stumbled and fell, Dagon backed away and studied it some more.

The Wraith moved swiftly,the air warping around his movements. All of the shadows were moving towards Ha'el and Bryo. Even as he watched, the annotations flashing in and out of existence frantically, Illiad fired repeatedly, continually breaking down the clawed shadows as they arose around the child and his protector. As he approached striking distance, a wall appeared in front of him with a burst of static. He slammed into it, unable to alter his course, and was seized about the throat by the Dark Culmination. All he could do was stare at burning eyes, the annotations changing as it began to apply pressure to his neck. He had thought himself beneath its notice.

With an incredible burst of sound, Athen flashed into reality, severing the arm with a swing of his blade, knocking the master of darkness back with a wave of energy, temporarily inside its defenses. But the creature responded quickly, reforming its defensive barriers around Athen, holding him back. He swung his sword, breaking free in time to be sent flying by waves of darkness. The Dark Culmination blasted off after him, the Wraith no longer a threat.

As the Wraith struggled with the hardened remains of the dark beasts arm, he watched as Thor gave out a yell. A shining hammer appeared in his hand as he charged the shorter of the elementalists, the thunder about him a fierce maelstrom. As he passed by Ha'el, the shockwave reached the shapeless shadow, locking its core into place, allowing the Grey Culmination to crush it from existence. It died before it realized what happened.

The Wraith managed to focus, mustering his inhuman strength as he first pried, then broke apart the dark hand gripping his throat. He slid out from beneath it. There was a scar around his neck, one he would carry forever. If he had had a soul, it would have been scarred too. He regained focus on his target and lunged forward towards his invisible target, the forbidden language dancing on his lips.

Farther behind, the taller elementalist pinned Torvald and Darryl in a bed of rock before moving towards the corpse of the sniping shadow. It bent down and absorbed its remains, loosing form before finally righting itself. Its appearance was unchanged, except for a long spike several feet long emerging from one of its hands. It pulsed with energy as Torvald broke himself and Darryl free, streaks of fire and ice shooting out with incredible velocity towards the pair. Then they vanished without a trace. The elemental sniper looked confused before tracking their location.
Kilf had grabbed them with his time stop engaged. He dropped them and continued on, charging the smaller of the elementalists currently engaged with Thor, pulsing his timestop in and out to conserve energy. Behind him massive detonations of fire and wind tore through the air, and Torvald was engaging the hybrid with the aid of Darryl. As he approached the small shadow with glowing hands, it turned from its conflict to tear a hole in the ground between them. As it began to open Kilf activated his device, halting its growth. He leaped over the gap before coming back to reality. He began to fire on the creature with his weapon, disrupting it. First one, then a few, then the entire swarm of dark particles began to close around them, the shady source of them having regenerated. Thor sent out shockwaves of thunder in an attempt to clear them, but they were directed into the ground by the childlike shadow, allowing the elementalist the chance to escape next to it. The three of them stood together: The small elementalist with glowing hands, the childlike shadow, and the core of the dark cloud. Thor began hurling bolts of lightning, only to be denied as the shadow child directed them harmlessly away. The elementalist returned fire, forcing Kilf to use the last of his charge to doge away.
"Damn" he cursed, tapping the display. Then suddenly there was a wall of rock in front of him, Ripper bracing himself behind it, fire blazing on the other side. Behind them, Stilts and Loki grappled with the tank-like shadow cannon. Thor moved up beside him, waving his hand over the device before jumping over the wall. The display now read fully charged.
Kilf smiled before noticing Ha'el stumble as he rolled out of the way of a particularly vehement shadow. He rushed to his side instantly, picking him up.

"Let's move!" He shouted as Illiad laid down fire upon the shadows. "We’re almost there." A look of thanks flashed on Ha'el's face, before it returned to his typical mask disgust and brushed off Kilf.
"Out of my way." He continued running, the tower only a few hundred yards away. The sniper elementalist turned from its battle briefly and fired on them, but the Grey Culmination was between them deflecting the shots. Beside it stood the reincarnations of Drakar, Synton, and an unknown soldier. They flickered in and out of existence, dancing with the dark shadows surrounding Ha'el.

On the other side of that wall, Thor charged the doppelgangers, which held him at bay whilst the small one moved towards the corpse of the armored shadow behind them. It bent down and almost seemed to pull the remains of the armor on. With a flash, it righted itself, now cloaked in dark armor, a shield buzzing around it. Thor broke through the defenses set up by the small elementalist and charged at it, practically becoming lighting. The dark armor caught him and slammed him into the ground, placing its armored foot on his head. As it brought its weight down, crushing Thor's head, runes began to float in the air around him. Suddenly, the runes exploded with incredible force, knocking the armored shadow back. Haddad stood over Thor as his head regenerated in a flurry of sparks, and helped the fallen warrior to his feet. The two incredibly ancient warriors eyed each other for a moment with a look of almost familiarity before rushing towards the swiftly recovering armored from.

As Haddad and Thor dealt with the new hybrid, Ripper charged through the cloud. The biting particles wore away at him, but his regeneration stunted the effects of their assault on his exterior. He deflected blast after elemental blast from the elementalist shadow, closing the distance steadily. Different kinds if shadows materialized around him as Kiark moved up behind. Finally, he reached striking distance, though his constitution beginning to waver. He reached out with metal and earth, readying a crushing blow.

Then, without warning, all of the shadows turned and began sprinting towards Ha'el.

Athen and the master of shadows flew high above the battlefield. It was fast, much faster than Athen, but he had the sword. It was forced to evade whenever he attacked with it, its form breaking apart and retreating, its only strategy to attempt to strike between his defenses. Gravity meant nothing to Athen anymore, and it surprised him how easily he had slipped into this role. One moment, he had bothered to breathe, but now he should have been dead several times over. Each time the darkness of that dull void came closer, and each time he pushed it away with a will he did not understand. The fight with the Dark Culmination had evolved beyond simple attacks; it was now a battle of strategy.
Athen had the advantage, all he had to do was hold it at bay long enough, and he had the proper tool . . .

The shadow blasted past him, rushing towards Ha'el, who was finally getting close to the facility.

Athen was shocked for an instant. It had never moved this fast before, it was almost beyond comprehension. His newfound feeling of hope gave way to panic as he rushed after it.

He felt himself break the sound barrier as he closed with it. He swung his sword, the strike filled with a terrifying power. The shadow turned suddenly and caught the sword in its hand, which was glowing a fierce red. As the two connected, the fabric of space and time split for an instant. Athen slammed into the ground and watched as the Dark Culmination began zooming towards Ha'el once more. He caught sight of the remains of the Hammer's armor and rushed over. He picked up the chestplate and made an incision with his sword. He used it as a handgrip. Wielding this unearthly metal as a shield, he tore off towards Ha'el, hoping to get to him before it was too late.

The situation is too close, Torvald thought. Ha'el can't defend himself from any of the aliens while defending Bryophyta.

He had no choice. He did not think it would have come to this option.

There was no room for error.

He took everything - all æther - all of it that he could see. His eyes burned brightly, and the æther emanating from his body boiled away in the air as a white-hot blue.

He teleported so that he was between Ha'el and the aliens. They did not notice him.

He only needed to stall them, but damaging them served two purposes.

There were five of them near him: the one with the whip-like structure, the dark cloud, the armored and shielded one, the elementalist, and the combination elementalist and sharpshooter. There were others - another he could not see and, a distance away, the alien's harbinger, pursued by Athen. He would have to handle it. The Wraith was heading towards the invisible one.

Torvald gathered the aliens near him, and they immediately protested. The whip struck out at him, but he immobilized it. He sent out a storm of electricity, but it was deflected by the smaller one - bolts of electricity, not Torvald's, flashed in his direction, but curved away before reaching him.

Perhaps, he thought, they do not know the extent of their own futility. The armored one dug into the ground, but he ripped it away. All of the abominations were gathered in one mass, and their useless attacks all failed to hit long before they reached Torvald.

This is the extent of the humans' power!

An incredible force pressed down on them, crushing them together. The friction held them motionless for a moment before a terrific crack resounded from within. The elementalist had a fracture in his chest!

Torvald waved his hand, and a massive explosion originated from the elementalist. The crack was deepened - shards of V flew throughout the air - and Torvald rushed to it. Placing his hands in its chest, he pulled the alien open and reached its heart, the alien consciousness. You cannot begin to stand against my power!

With an errant thought, the being within the I and the N were destroyed - such power in such destructive hands.

The others were running. They would not escape, and they were already further behind Ha'el. Torvald sent a blast of electricity and guided it, despite the small one's interference, so that it struck the alien with the whip. It grew sluggish for a moment, which was long enough to Torvald to capture it and bury it under a mound of earth, which he exerted pressure on and heated to harden it to dense rock.

None would escape, he thought, as he grappled with the core of the dark cloud.