Amalgamous Contagion

Chapters

Machination (edited)
Chapter 1:Impact (edited)
Chapter 2:Spliced (edited)
Chapter 3:Cognizance (edited)
Chapter 4:Impel (edited)
Chapter 5:Regicide (edited)
Chapter 6:Wrath of The Machine (edited)
Chapter 7:Dusty Remnants (edited)
Chapter 8:Empowered (edited)
Chapter 9:The Hurricane Within
Chapter 10:Flesh and Metal (edited)
Chapter 11:Preparations
Chapter 12:Shattered Crystaline
Interlude:History Lesson
Crossover:Strife
Chapter 13:Reunion
Flood Supreme (edited)
Chapter 14:Chaos Resurgence

Machination (edited)

When the convention finally opened, we started making haste to the 1st panel, before abruptly stopping to look at a cosplayer. Said cosplayer was small, chubby, and held a sign saying looking for Jaune Arc, which we both reflexively blanched at the sight of it. I didn't know RWBY well enough to have an opinion, but I knew that Pyrrha didn't look like that. Inigo was about to ramble on how she ruins the look of Pyrrha, but I quickly covered his mouth.

"Well she's definitely a eye catcher... not in a good way of course."

We then avoided ever looking at the girl who had that sign, seeing plentiful amounts of cosplays that were actually good. Though the best one we had seen was coincidentally a Jaune Arc cosplay. While the dude himself looked as if he'd be better dressed off as Shaggy from Scooby Doo, the costume was so well designed it almost looked as if it came from the show.

As we went about our panels, Rooster Teeth showed off a few interesting things I never had tried before. Stuff like ASMR, death battle, and a few new games that Inigo was eager to test out in the expo hall. After the cosplay judging was all said and done with of course. We didn't win the contest since the costumes were of low notoriety as expected between Destiny's & Rooster Teeth communities. I told him the beginning armor wasn't going to work at all anyways.

As we were about to leave, the same teenager with the crab shirt had stopped us.

"Hey there! Mind if I take a picture? Those costumes are dope!"

Inigo quickly agreed, and I just shrugged not seeing the harm in it. He gave the phone he had for who I presumed was a friend of his to take a picture with, wishing to pose with us. Inigo did a flexing pose, while I just copied Solaire as it was Inigo's idea. After a few moments of getting the picture just right, we went straight back to walking back.

"So you guys are beginning guardians slowly being infected by SIVA right?" The crab teen suddenly said.

We both blinked a bit, and turned to look at the kid. "I'm sorry what?" We both said.

"Your gauntlets ya silly geese, they're not part of beginning armor! They're so metallic looking too!"

We looked down towards our arms. Sure enough instead of the regular cosplay gauntlets I had expected, I had found a completely different look on my arms. Gauntlets that I KNOW I didn't have before, moreover been put on. My mind raced into overdrive, wondering who or what did this, and I began to hyperventilate a bit.

"Uhhh, you ok dude? Rather strange to be freaking out over your arms. Pretty sure most of humanity has them right?"

"Yes, yes I'm fine. Could you excuse us for a moment?" I said, as I dragged Inigo to the nearest bathroom, letting out a yelp as I pulled him in. As I slammed the door shut and locked it behind me, I quickly took a look around to see if there was anybody nearby. Once I made sure the room was empty, I released my frustrations.

"WHAT THE FUCK INIGO!?"

"ME?! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!"

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO GAVE GHOST MINIATURE FLIGHT SYSTEMS!"

"I DIDN'T ADD 'Mutate human lifeforms into terminators' AS A FUNCTION!"

"WELL WHO ELSE COULD'VE DONE THIS HUH?!" I threw my arm up in front of his face. "EXPLAIN THIS!"

He paused for a moment, before realizing something I had yet to. "That guy you were talking to at hotel, who was he?!"

I paused at the sudden revelation he gave me, my face paling from the horror of the situation we were set in. Taking my silence as an answer without note of my facial expression, he shouted the question again. "WHO WAS HE?!"

"I'll actually be honest Inigo... I never knew the guy."

"...What?!"

"We'd forgotten our ghosts at the previous hotel, and I was wondering how I would break the news to you."

"That doesn't explain how in the world our arms got-" His face paled too. "You've gotta be kidding me... HE showed up at our door?!"

"I wasn't thinking of it at the time! I was just so relieved that I wouldn't have to deal with you freaking out that I-" I didn't get the chance to finish my sentence, as he grabbed my collar with his newly acquired robo arm.

"YOU BOUGHT OUR GHOSTS BACK WITHOUT ASSUMING IT COULD BE SOME SORT OF TRAP FROM THE MERCHANT?!" I quickly kicked Inigo off me, sending him stumbling into a bathroom stall.

"I WOULDN'T HAVE ASSUMED SOME REALITY TELEPORTING MERCHANT HAD RIGGED OUR GHOSTS WITH A MECHANICAL PARASITE! BESIDES HAVE YOU EVEN SEEN YOURSELF FREAKING OUT?!"

"YOU MADE AT LEAST 2 STORIES ON THE CONCEPT FOR FUN! OF ALL PEOPLE YOU SHOULD'VE REALIZED IT!"

"NO DISPLACED WRITER WOULD'VE EVER EXPECTED THAT IN REAL LIFE!"

"ANYBODY KNOWING OF TH-" Our impromptu shouting match was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Are you two lovebirds done arguing in there? I kinda need to pee real bad."

We looked over our bodies once more. During all the time we've been arguing,SIVA has made it's way across our torso,and moving towards the legs. I could only hope little Aaron won't be in danger. We turned our heads to each other, giving both of us a look that said 'We'll finish this later.', before exiting the bathroom without a single word being spoken. Not willing to cause a ruckus, we searched for a place for the virus to take over our bodies.

We eventually settled down in a dark alleyway in Austin, the place looking like the kind of area to be mugged at. Or worse off killed. By this point, it was nearing nighttime, and SIVA had taken the legs. Fortunately with little Aaron still down there. I could still feel him pushing against the metal with his limp strength. Our helmets were worse off, the cardboard fabric ripping apart,as the SIVA slowly moved by fractions of inches towards my face. Inigo broke the silence with a pithy joke.

"What a cliched area to die in, am I right?" We both chuckled nervously, before letting out a sigh of resignation as we sat beside each other with our backs against the wall. "You know..." I quietly said. "I never thought It would've ended like this. I thought I would've lost my life trying to save a woman from being gangbanged, or preventing a bank robbery. Instead I'm greeted by my own will being stripped from me, my body being used for a killing machine."

"I thought I'd die a martyr too," Inigo agreed. "I just hope we don't cause too much trouble."

A sickening silence fell between us for a few moments. "Hey bro?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Remember when we first watched the Incredibles? You thought that after making a wish in a fountain, in order to be truly invisible you had to remove your clothing?"

"Almost walked out of the house naked might I add."

"What I wouldn't trade for a funny moment like that once more."

"We would've had that. Maybe. But I will admit, that just proved Incredibles taught me better, than the kids who were taught by their parents to close their eyes to become invisible."

I laughed at that. "Dude, there's no way that movie didn't make your past self smarter than the others."

"That's why I went telling the other kids that you could become invisible by making that wish, and doing exactly that. Good thing none of them knew my name back then, neighborhood went ape-shit upon finding out their kids were walking around naked.

I paused for a moment, before chuckling at the unintentional confession. "You sly little bastard. No wonder why the neighborhood turned into a battleground by the time we got back home."

"Wait, I never told you that part of the story? Huh. I guess it would've been for the best to bring it with me to the grave anyways. Thinking about that again, you probably would've gotten Mom to kick me off the Playstation 2 for half a year."

"Yeah, but it's even crazier that everyone around your age believed it. Lucky thing the LAPD came in to pacify everyone."

"I really wonder how exactly nobody remembered what I looked like. Last I checked I ain't a face to be missed back then," Inigo said in thought.

"Probably cause you never got out much," I simply stated. We laid there for what seemed like hours, the sun slowly but surely going down before our eyes, whilst the SIVA slowly obscured our vision. It was sunset before I decided to say my peace.

"Might as well admit my regrets." I then cleared My throat. "I wish I had entered the path of totality, hoped to live my life to its fullest, and die the way I wanted to."

"I wish I would've been around to see the end of America. Probably would've been a nice shitstorm, the aftermath of this election."

I blinked, and turned my half obscured gaze towards him. "You'd like to see world war 3?"

"It'd end up being the end of the world right?" He then shrugged, metal grinding against metal as he lifted his arms. "Might as well make the best of it."

"I thought you'd wanna make a videogame or something." I said, and while I couldn't see it I know he was smirking.

"Well Aaron, it just so happens that I was. With the death on the horizon however, I would guess I'm most likely going to die anyways before I do that." Inigo said, with no humour in his voice.

We sat once more in silence, just simply waiting out our fates. We knew any other person would've tried to get help, tried to pry this virus off of themselves. We knew however, that displacement was inevitable, if not nigh-impossible to avoid. For how can one possibly avoid reality breaking entities taking you?

As the sun disappeared, and the streets grew dark, SIVA had taken most of my vision away, and it became harder to breathe. Inigo and I huddled up and I felt a tear escape my eyes as I closed them for what most likely the final time. I heard metal groaning, and the last thing I felt was a sharp pain in the neck...

Author's Note

Thanks to Vutava for taking the time to edit another chapter!

Chapter 1:Impact (edited)

NEURAL NETWORKING START

CONNECTING TO CORPUS CALLOSUM

ipHhEQ==

UPLINK ESTABLISHED

INITATING WARMIND UPLOAD

EHfgAunonk7ntJ9sd+UO6Q==

RASPUTIN ESTABLISHED SYNERGIZING...

INITIATING INFORMATION FORWARDING PROTOCOL

RCox1mC66wVXuxGpyyuvULw4S

INITATING THRUSTERS

WARNING:WARSAT HULL BREACH

WARNING:CONTAINMENT BREACH OF [O] ENERGY

WARNING:IMPACT IMMINENT

INITATING SOUL TRANSFER...

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

SOUL TRANSFER COMPLETE

AWAKENING 'AARON'

I blearily opened my eyes, my entire body wracked with agony, and unbearably stiff. I attempted to push myself off the ground, when a robotic voice had interrupted me.

Hold yourself, the adrenaline just started kickstarting your body. It'll be a bit before you can move.

I looked around in a panic, not willing to get ambushed on the first few seconds of entry.

"Who's there?!" I called out.

Nobody here but us. Warsat fell down at the edge of the planet's atmosphere. As the voice was talking, I took in my surroundings. Indeed, there was some fire here, and there. Knocked down trees are all around me, and what seems like a ocean mine was behind where I woke up. It had a reddish-hue to it and had a hatch on top that could be opened.

As for who I am, you may call me Rasputin, Rasputin finally gave his introductions. I am the voice that's in your head.

"Great, and I assume that you can also control my brain?"

I can actually, though I have no purpose or reason to do so. I only brought you here to keep my most dangerous weapons out of Ghaul's hands, He casually explained. If you'd like to commit suicide already, I can detach myself, and blow up your corpse.

I groaned at that. Perfect, the both of us got played like fools, and in a ironic twist, we're actually stuck under the control of some metal overlord. Just like the tin-foiled hat men said.

Inigo is being accompanied by a combat AI.

You've gotta be shitting me!

I am able to control your brain, do you really think I cannot hear your thoughts Aaron?

...

I understand that the sudden and forced acceptance to exchange your old life is shocking to you. Trust me, you'll find that with time you'll love your new body.

NEW BODY?! I internally yelled out. YOU'VE BETTER NOT TOUCHED LITTLE AARON!

In order for me to fit my weapons & armor into you, I had to use SIVA to modify your body, Explained in his still monotone voice. You might be upset that you can no longer obtain pleasure, but on the bright side you can no longer feel stressed. Technically you can still feel stressed, but it's not really what organisms feel.

...Well I guess that's a good trade off for my genitalia then. With that thought of resignation, I released a sigh.

You can get your genitals back when we find Skorri's light. Our primary objective right now is to test our weaponry and set a combat efficiency.

As soon as he said that, a giant symbol from which I can assume is Rasputin's symbol appeared. The symbol then faded away, revealing a visual display similar to the HUD I had seen from the Halo series. However, the grenades were not in the top right corner of my vision. Instead, they appeared on the bottom left, with a couple other things I didn't understand. As if sensing the oncoming confusion, Rasputin continued.

That white bar above your grenades is your SIVA density. If it reaches critical levels, it will turn red, and you can unleash it in whatever way you desire. Once you learn how to properly use SIVA's code.

That's good, but how do I charge it?

It comes with time, as it cannot be charged any other way. You'll know it's charged when it turns red, however. The boxes on the bottom left of your vision are the grenade and melee. Let's give them a test run, ensure the armor's innate functions are working.

I held up my right hand to my face, it vibrating loudly, and stared at a tree in front of me.

Your melee is a grapple. Simply thrust your arm, and it should shoot out approximately-

I followed Rasputin's suggested instructions and thrusted, only to face-plant the tree.

Grapple in working condition. Aaron, for future reference I suggest you stick the landing.

Oh, quiet you!

A marker appeared on my right hip showing a rather strange looking grenade. My eyes wandered to what looked like an ocean mine, from which I safely assumed is the warsat.

If you're wondering, it should be safe to throw it there. That warsat is modified by SIVA, so it'll repair it.

And what if it's not SIVA? I asked whilst proceeding to throw the grenade. It did just as Rasputin said, just removing dents, and patching holes.

You have enough IQ to calculate the results. I forced back a few thoughts that called Rasputin sassy. All systems checked, I recommend that we head to the farm ahead. The capsule containing Skorri's soul is currently being transported. If we don't obtain the capsule, full use of your abilities will be impossible.

Sounds like a plan. Coordinates?

Marking them now.

Another marker appeared on my HUD to north of where I fell. Fortunately enough, it was only 5 miles from my location. There shouldn't be any vehicles, assuming this is a world of pre-modern technology. So they'll stay there for a long enough time for me to grab them. I began to make my way throughout the forest, making sure to check the radar so I can catch ambushes. This place is a forest after all, probably going to be a few wolves just waiting to snatch somebody.

The Vex were impressed. They did not simulate for the scenario of Rasputin escaping this timeline. It was fortunate for the collective mind that Rasputin left traces of the unknown energy he used. It reminded them of the Light.

The Vex decided to analyze this energy. Perhaps through this, they'll be able to simulate the Light.

Author's Note

This is the current list of His weapons.

Primary:Steel Medula
Special:Ether Nova
Heavy:Sleeper Stimulant

As for what armor He's wearing,check the middle of the picture.
In this story,the armor enters several stages. Stage one is perfected ornament active,where either His Super is ready/SIVA reaches critical levels.

Editors:Vutava.

Chapter 2:Spliced (edited)

It's been 3 miles in, Rasputin and I took our time to sort things along. Apparently since we're in separate dimensions, there's no current way to locate my brother until he gets a satellite. He did mention, however, that through the use of a token I could find him. Though how to find or make one, the data got destroyed once we fell. So there's no chance of that yet. The chances of a token appearing however,can be rare, at least in my case. I theorized that if this was a more populated dimension, then the tokens would happen much more. Chances are, that isn't the case. Still, I must either have terrible luck, or just bad optics.

Surprisingly during my little travel in the forest, there were no wolves. Instead there were wooden wolves, but I dubbed them timberwolves, as they fell like a small tree being chainsawed. However, I quickly discovered using SIVA causes the wolves to permanently join me. I can't control them however, as that's something Rasputin does for me. Given the fact he's a warmind, I trusted that he isn't going to just waste valuable resources. I was never much for leadership anyways.

In the meantime, I got to know my arsenal. Steel Medula had two functions to it. If I hit all 3 bursts in the head, the next would be stronger. It also had high caliber, which hammered into the few organic enemies I encountered. Said enemies were some rather angry bears, and cockatrices that can stone me, but beyond that it's not a good weapon. It was full auto despite being a burst fire. Perhaps a delay between shots?

Ether Nova was an extremely useful gun. Each kill would charge up all my light abilities for when I'd get them, and SIVA density. However, it lacked ammo capacity, so I had to keep it to wipe out large groups.

Last but not least was the Sleeper Stimulant. It's worthless against anything but big foes. All it can be is a railgun right now, but Rasputin says there's a chance we can stumble onto the Midnight Extingent. It's supposed to display where the Sleeper shall bounce, shooting out an incredibly small red beam of light that bounces until it hits the designated spot. It also harmonizes the SIVA at critical density to allow me to effectively spam the Sleeper, as not only does it give infinite ammo, but also auto aims for maximum ad clearance/damage output.

As for my SIVA density, I can use it only 2 ways currently. One is to grow, and summon tentacles of SIVA to capture foes, as well as making said tentacles drain their life, powering it to keep going. The other is like a fast travel system. I place SIVA nodes as waypoints, and can use them to go long distances. The only downside is being unable to charge up for a full two hours.

I had placed one next to a cave which was next to a ruined castle, in case I needed to jump to a place to hide. Rasputin says I could do it a few other ways, but that'd require more experience in the use of SIVA, and a nice amount of knowledge in light. Midnight Extingent's location was a mystery to Rasputin. He said something managed to steal that part from him, though before he could sic his frames on the thief, he had slipped away.

Coming in range of Skorri's light wavelengths.

I came out of the forest only to see groves and groves of apple trees. I ended up just standing there, dumbfounded at the sight. I decided to climb up the tallest of them I could find, and found that somebody was farming acres of these.

Who in the world farms this many apples? All this probably equals 1/100 of the record amount china made!

Exactly how much did this 'China' make? And what's an apple?

Can't you just access it from my brain? I don't think we actually needed to talk about some of the past stuff on Earth every given moment.

It would be very painful... for you.

...100,000 metric tons of apples. Also, an apple is a red shaped fruit, but I heard there's 7,500 varieties of apple. It's sort of what a fat person looks like.

Stored information on the past. Judging from what you said, this makes you a banana?

I very well am, or rather was, a well balanced human my artificial friend. Plus, how do you know about the bananas? If I recall correctly, the bananas, along with most of the animals and vegetation were wiped out in your realm's collapse.

While I was transferring your soul over to Skorri's body, I was able to sneak a few pieces of info, mainly about your life. You consumed a bunch a bananas in most of them. I was about to rave on the wrongness of it, but Rasputin kept going. Plus, that's not what your original weight says. I was originally planning on saying you weighed like a skeleton, but banana suited better. I huffed at that, and jumped down the tree. It's the truth. You were more slender than any organisms I've come across. It would've assisted us in being stealthy, were you outfitted as a hunter.

Just shut up already.

I continued to make my way towards the barn. As I kept moving, I noticed that there were plenty rape plants screwing collared mares, while the stallions got apples from the trees. The mares looked as if they were having fun, so I didn't think about freeing them. I did ask if they wanted the collar off however, most of them saying no. A few did and even asked on getting away from the plants, so I freed them as well. A stallion had spotted me during my calm trek throughout the forestation, and turned to face me with an angry expression.

"What are you doing off your collar slut?!"

I quickly turned to face him. "Excuse me? I'm nobody's slave."

"Oh, my bad!" He apologized. "It's just that you look like a slut, why are you dressed like that anyways? Got dared or something?"

"This is armor, not a dress." I said whilst hitting my own body with a fist to emphasize my point, the sound emanating as if I had banged a hammer on a piece of metal. "And if there's anybody I find enslaved here, I will be asking them if they want to leave slavery." At the last bit, he threw a scorning look at me.

"Are you implying that you're willing to help these sl-"

"Call these mares sluts one more time," I unslung Ether Nova from my back. "and you'll regret it. Both genders have the same opportunities as the others, regardless of the small differences. It's a matter of whether or not you go for them."

"HA! As if the sluts are good for anything other than-" I cut him off with a blast from Ether Nova.

Piece of fucking shit, acting as if gender gaps are as big as the distance between the sun and the planet.

A more recommendable simile would be the distance between two sides of a canyon.

I say mine's better.

I suggest not building up ego Aaron. This can worsen your combat effectiveness, and make it harder for you to train.

I huffed, cutting him off. I'm not becoming egotistical, I'm saying it as a fact. He clearly thought it would be as hard as landing on the moon for a female to even defeat someone in combat.

It's still something you should take note of.

Whatever, let's just get Skorri.

After a half hour of walking, freeing mares, and shooting anybody who dare decided to think like jackasses, we'd reached the barn. Surprisingly, the place was quiet. Almost dreadfully so. It made me feel uneasy, like someone was going to jump out at me. Not willing to risk any ambushes, I grappled to the top of the barn. There was barely a soul in sight around the fields. The only living beings I saw were a group of pegasus guards heading towards my location. They were pretty far however, so they didn't notice me yet.

Feeling confident that there weren't going to be any ambushes, I looked back towards the marker, itself pointing towards a shed. I continued to make my way towards the shed, uninterrupted. I probably should've checked the barn for any signs of life, but I had to focus on getting more power. Since I could be attacked at any point in time by displaced, I have to make sure I can prevent an untimely end. Rasputin warned me that in most dimensions, despite what I could have, I would still be easily destroyed. He confirmed this using data he farmed out from my brother's mind.

For an example of something that could easily destroy me, Rasputin showed off a person named Sayuka Izayoi. Able to stop time, basically an infinite supply of knives, and is a vampire slayer. So I knew that if I didn't stock up on weaponry, and didn't improve my overall abilities, all it would take is one powerful Displaced to come attack me, and if I was in a story, that'd be the part where the writer could kill me off.

So needless to say, I am quite near the level of being scared shitless for my life. For if I was to compare my abilities now to any other video game character, I'd be small fry to pretty much everyone popular. Not so well known characters like Raiden from Metal Gear may struggle a bit with me. But they could still bring me down, even if I had Skorri's light on my side.

Rasputin?

What is your question Aaron?

You got information from my brother's mind, yes? Can you tell me more about the displaced, like if I can happen to jump into somebody else's story?

Tokens are a way to-

Nonononono, I meant a fanfiction without displaced. Like that one Inigo told me about, I think it was... Remnant of a Rose?

It could be a possibility that displaced may exist within those specific stories. Unfortunately Inigo never asked around, so it's speculation. We can add that as a multiplier on how many alternate universes there can be.

Speaking of which how many are there?

A total of ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ alternate universes, still counting every action and verb we're doing or using.

I'm not sure if half of that are real numbers.

In my realm they're all real.

Upon arrival I broke the shed's door down, and entered the building.

It is recommended that you stick with subtlety.

Oh come on now, the door was going to be demolished anyways!

Doesn't mean it couldn't have come in handy.

Ignoring Rasputin's unnecessary lecture on stealth, I moved towards the capsule containing Skorri. Her light was powerful, yet so calming. It felt liked I was in the sun getting a tan. Soothing, yet scorching heat. I bent down to grab it, and as I did my back opened up, presumably because of Rasputin.

Just put it inside your back, I'll work it from there.

I grabbed the capsule, and put it in the hole like Rasputin said. My back closed up, and the changes began to happen immediately. I felt as if a powerful gust of wind filled me, as if I could breathe easier. Or to be more accurate, I was breathing in something. It was somewhat relaxing, however. On top of that, I could feel a strange warmth around me. A strange warmth that must be Her light.

Then the flesh began to regenerate. Surprisingly, instead of being painful, it was pleasurable. It felt as if I was getting a massage from the Cosmic Barber, a massage our parents went to go check out instead of taking a vacation. We discovered it before RTX 2016. Needless to say, we all got the massage after we saw how mom was when she was done getting it.

Once my body finished regenerating, I heard a third voice now.

Ugh... what happened?

Nothing much, aside from the fact we've just conjoined.

At this, I felt my whole body struggling to move. Not of my own accord of course, I had read enough stories to make some guesses as to what was happening.

Hey, calm down now, we wouldn't want to-

Who are you?!

My name's Aaron, and could you please settle down for a bit? I didn't have much of a choice, I needed your light to feel human again. That, and I wasn't going to let you just sit there. You'd get lonely!

I don't care, I need to get back to my fireteam!

Well if you wanna travel over billions of universes, that's fine, but please hear me out! At the universe bit, she'd stopped struggling to take over.

Good. Now to put it simply, you died. Got overwhelmed by SIVA.

And then I got resurrected by Reid. Silence. Reidi? Continued silence. Oh... well that still doesn't explain why I'm like this! What happened to MY body?

Your body had its light extracted, along with your ghost. Rasputin kept the light around long enough to insert it into the armor we're wearing, and that's how you ended up here. Unfortunately, the suit needed a pure, untouched soul in order to properly start up. Which is why I'm here.

You were killed too?

Yep. Didn't have much of a choice to be honest. Rasputin sent fake ghosts to infect me and my brother. He sent a couple of frames to drag me to this suit of armor, and that's why we're here.

...My teammates, did any of my teammates share my fate?

That's a good question. Rasputin?

The majority of invaders were acquired, and sent to-

BY THE TRAVELER, IT'S YOU!

An uneasy silence fell over us. It was so thick, you could hear a leaf drop. I was pretty sure Skorri was embarrassed at her outburst.

...Right sorry about that, just REALLY excited to meet you Rasputin! I have soooo many questions I want to ask, what happened to the other warminds?! Is it true that you exploded a moon that the cabal threw at us?! How do you use-

Are we going to completely ignore the fact that 100 of you undead barged into my bunker, attempting to take SIVA out of containment?

Sorry... it's just that we really needed it to fight the darkness! Hopefully at least one of us got a sample of it out.

Jolder attempted to blow up the replication chamber, with her inside it. Saladin was on the other side, with the door Jolder closed on him.

...So it was all for nothing...

You can at least be glad I needed your light. Without you, we'd be at a massive disadvantage, and the evacuation would have never started without an armed host.

I know, I just... we were touched by the light. I didn't know we could even be slain. Well, until just now that is!

We should get moving. I don't wanna come under attack, in case we get ambushed by those guards I saw at the farm.

What are these guards?

Male equines, can hit with 2,000 PSI. Fortunately enough we're armored to the point where their hits are as if they were regular punches, just in case they're as strong as the ones back in Aaron's dimension.

Equine?

We'll talk about this later. I internally replied to her, as I summoned a waypoint. For now, I think it's best that I begin training with you I then approached the waypoint, my body beginning to split apart as I did so. In order for me to use the node, I had to think about the spot I wanted to go. I thought about the cave, and just like that I split apart into nanites. The node then opened up, allowing my nanites to go inside it. Within moments, I was being brought to the cave.

Author's Note

Editor:Vutava

Chapter 3:Cognizance (edited)

It was a strange experience to say the least. The visuals while transferring reminded me of Inigo's games, but much brighter. I felt as if every bit of me was being tugged in all directions. After 20 seconds worth of time, I felt everything beginning to contract, and my vision began to clear up. Eventually, the white in my eyes cleared up, and I felt normal again.

Well almost normal, I got a splitting headache with bleary vision from that. Safe to say, I wasn't able to catch myself due to the pain gained from it. I groaned in agony as I pulled myself up.

You'll adapt to it eventually, the human body is capable of change.

I got myself off the ground. Fuck that, I'll just walk there next time. How you feeling Skorri?

It's not as bad as dying, so I'm good to go.

Alright, let's head inside the cave then. That way nobody can sneak up on us while training.

I entered the cave, my optics changing to nightvision automatically. The place wasn't even touched as far as I could see. One would think the previous owners of the castle would use this as a dungeon, or some sort of mining zone.

There was one particular thing that stood out among the rest however. A tree, glowing with a soft energy, wrapped by vines trying to drain it. Analysis from Rasputin said that the energy is similar to the energy I have.

Maybe it’s a gift from the Traveler to help the inhabitants?

Don't you remember the multiverse theory? It could be warped in some way we wouldn't have spotted immediately.

I could say the same to you, a new found voice said.

I sighed. Lemme guess, telepathic tree?

You're funny, it said. I can tell you have no knowledge of me, mortal. I am the embodiment of harmony.

Harmony huh? Hey, maybe you can go balance some of my brother's games. I heard they've got some rather unbal-

I have no need for jokes. Do you fight for peace, or do you fight for chaos?

Easy. Neither of the two sides. I'd like to think I'm more of a middle man that aims for justice a bit more than others, though it's best to keep an open mind about it all though.

The tree was silent for a little, before speaking again.

You speak like him, but you're a bit softer... perhaps you could be the one to win the war through normal means.

Okay two questions:One, I'm not going into a war until I know enough, so would you care to explain? Two, who is this “him” you're speaking of?

I assure you, it's nothing to worry about. As for the war, the last of my followers are struggling to take back Equestria. They've lost their leaders, are going up against a patriarchal society that treats females like cocksleeves, and the best they've got is a weak rebellion to fight against them.

As much as I wanted to sign up immediately, I could tell something was off here, namely this him guy. I decided to consult Rasputin and Skorri without the involvement of Harmony, which it had no qualms about.

Be quick. The vines shall entangle me once more, if you don't decide in time, it said as it closed off the connection.

Should we trust them?

Ageless lifeforms are generally skilled on all forms of diplomacy and combat. There's also the chance its followers aren't who we think they are, and will eliminate us after we do our directive.

I'd say that having someone like them around would be a good thing, but that him guy is a bit suspicious. Maybe he's like that titan I met? He was always such a weird one.

The titan?

As far as I noticed from the post-collapse records, he's the first guardian. Really nice, powerful guy with the hand cannon known as Rose. Everyone idolized him, even us iron lords.

It made me feel slightly better about the whole situation. Rasputin however was silent, almost as if calculating something...

"I'll take you up on your offer later." I said. "For now I'm going to seek out the embodiment of chaos. Who knows, maybe their name will be Discord. Sounds like a-"

"You rang?" a male voice suddenly said. I turned and saw the most disfigured living creature ever. Something an embodiment of chaos should look like.

"So you're Harmony's opposite?"

"What gave it away? You may call me Discord, Master of Chaos, and-"

"I get it, you have over a thousand titles. What do you think about them?"

"Well you're a blunt one aren't you?" he said with an annoyed expression. "I don't really care if you ally yourself with them. Just make sure you do me a simple favor, involving the warmind of yours." His face contorted into one of anger. The kind of rage of someone who's lost someone close to them. "There's an enslaved mare known as Fluttershy. Long pink hair, yellow body, and really quiet. Get your warmind to kill her slaver in the most agonizing way possible. Do this, and I'll see about giving you and your brother a one way ticket to getting home, perhaps without Rasputin on your back."

I almost took a step back by pure instinct. This guy meant business, and I could barely imagine having to fight a foe like this early on.

"Got you. Know where she might be located?" Discord smirked, knowing I couldn't refuse and that I'm not a dumbass. He materialized a map for me to look at.

"Inside the Crystal Empire. While you're there, I suggest assassinating the King. Preferably choking him with the Crystal Cock. Make sure you call me so I can film it!" He rubbed his hands together maliciously, a smile adorning his face. "My popularity in the repaired Equestria shall skyrocket if I get that footage. I'm sure a nice number of mares shall LOVE watching the life drain from his body, as he chokes to death on the symbol of maledom."

"What are you, a bisexual sex god? I'm not going to do that!"

He laughed at the insult.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll change your mind about that soon. Anyways, I have chaos to spread! Ta ta!"

With that, the god of absolute bullshit snapped his fingers and disappeared into Butt Fuck, Egypt. A sigh escaped my mouth, before turning back to the tree. During the whole conversation, the vines had almost finished smothering the tree once more.

I considered grabbing Harmony's power, before it was too late. But something about this 'him', made me feel as if siding with them will seal my fate once she made use of me.

Plus its name is Harmony, and Harmony stands for order, synchronization, fellowship, and the most notable one, peace. Once it’s made use of me, just like the Vex that Inigo told me about, it will most likely attempt to get rid of me. Considering I'm not one of it’sr creations, and that it didn't expect me, it'll most likely consider me a bundle of death once she's made use of me.

My ultimatum was that I would do this without her. I consulted Rasputin for advice.

Your best option right now would be to learn the uses of SIVA. While I can command those you take with your melee, everything else would be out of your current ability. I suggest learning how to upgrade your grenade to a SIVA swarm, and make it function like your melee.

Sheesh, my abilities revolve around brainwashing people if they so much as get touched by me.

False. The timberwolves were already weak foes. The targets need to be weak enough to be transformed, or SIVA will not have enough power to nullify brain activity. This is a requirement to turn any foe to our side.

That's a relief. I was literally about to say that humanity was weaker than I thought back then to lose you, if SIVA can turn anything with a single touch.

I was left behind by who? Was it Clovis Bray?

Humanity in general. They couldn't get you saved, so they left you in the Plaguelands

That is unfortunate that they couldn't save me. Though it would've been of great help if they provided me a directive.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out here. You're telling me that you don't know of the darkness? Or even after all this time tried to fight it?

I do know of the Queen of Final Shapes. She only allies with those who she considers perfected, whether they like it or not, and grants them infinite power. This power has a drawback however. Their hunger feasts upon [O] energy, and without it they'll die. I am uncertain as to whether or not she's still alive, or someone has taken her throne. I can only hope we don't have to fight her. She's stronger than us, even combined with [O] energy. Her defenses are impenetrable, which is why the [O] lifeform has been running. She'll consume it regardless of how much It struggles.

At Rasputin's brief summary of the queen, a shiver went down my spine. Whoever made the idea of that queen is really good at character development. I only had one question though.

Rasputin... just how exactly can the Queen of Final Shapes die then?

The Queen of Final Shapes isn't a thing. It's an energy that's like SIVA, only much worse. Whoever slays the bodies she's chosen will find their wills, their souls taken. She will corrupt those who kill her soldiers, and no amount of programming can defeat her. That's why she can't die. I doubt that even the rest of the dead back there will manage to defeat her. She can only be defeated by one stronger than her, and there's nothing stronger than the Queen of Final Shapes. Not even [O].

Then everything we've done up to now is pointless!

Don't be like that Skorri.

NO! You don't understand what he just said! How exactly are we going to haul the Traveler away from her?! How will we survive without it?!

My body was trembling with anger. Yet I was calm.

Rasputin says that she needs to feed on [O] energy right? So all we need to do taunt her into chasing us instead.

Without SIVA, the chances of beings with [O] energy surviving a total of a few millenniums far away from [O] without dying by her hands are 0.00000000000357129348728350000503410203050620470000103541006010406301365% of success. And that's with everybody dying for stalling.

Well, I'm out of ideas then.

If Skorri could send me a scorching look, she most definitely would've.

Look, the point here is, we're still alive, and definitely whole dimensions away from the Queen. She's not going to go after us, like a ludicrously greedy pirate not willing to lose a coin to the ocean. We might as well do some good before we get devoured. Now let's get to training.

Weeks had passed, and I was unable to gain use of Skorri's light. I found out however, that if was to unlock her powers, I would have to take the brunt of a solar flare up close, which means I had to get to a place like Mercury. This would end up shutting down SIVA, which not only means I lose its abilities, but because my armor is made of it I'm unable to move. How long is undetermined, so I'll have to rely on SIVA until I have friendlies at my back to get her in battle with me.

And that was only step 1 of just 1 out of the 3 other versions of light for me to access. If all the stuff I had to do was in a video game, then players would be complaining how long it would take to max a single class of light.

Due to the inability to improve my light (and wasting a week-long attempt to make a spaceship), I ended up being focusing solely on SIVA. I was going to need it anyways if I was to take down Dainn, which will at least earn me a few favors from the new ruler. The only thing I managed to make in terms of ranged weaponry is a stationary swarm. The grenade acts similar to a landmine, but stepping on it releases strands of SIVA that bind and weaken the target. If the target is weak enough, SIVA converts it to my side, as well as giving it a few abilities.

This would be useful, if it wasn't so easy to hear. As much as I'd like to say it's a good alarm clock, it lasts for only 20 seconds. I doubt that anyone will walk into it within 20 seconds of that noise. So I had to hope they'd slip and fall on it.

For me though, it was good enough. One thing for certain, though, is that I needed to locate his lieutenants, and using the guards would be my only means of destroying the hierarchy to taken down Dainn. Fortunately enough, a patrol that was passing by the edge of the Everfree said a captain will be strolling through town. A perfect opportunity to make the first step towards saving the place.

Thus, I went into Ponyville to prepare a 'welcome' for the captain. A surprise party of this level, would need to be carefully planned out to absolute perfection.

Author's Note

I just realized exactly How much I say SIVA in all of this. Take a shot of alcohol everytime You see it. Or don't if You're underaged,shouldn't be doing so.

Editor:Vutava

Chapter 4:Impel (edited)

I waited on the outskirts of the town until night fell, hidden inside of a bush. As night began to arrive, I was able to obtain some inside knowledge about the slave system they had. Black collars are those who still have a fire within them. Red collars are submissive ones, though they might've decided to be red to avoid pain. Purple collars are those who have an uncontrollable libido, and silvers are the undecided ones. All are constantly naked, while most collars weren't being treated roughly. That didn't mean they weren't as bad as...

I snapped the thought out of my head. I can't start reminiscing about him, or I'll lose myself.

As the hours passed, I noticed some caribou were treating their slaves like rats. Other caribou upon seeing this, will then attempt to beat the caribou for doing so, if the slave is beautiful enough in their eyes. Which most of the time it was, but those that weren't were mostly black collars.

As I snuck around to get a better vantage point, a caribou walked past me, holding a purple collared mare. The mare sniffed the air, and spun around to head towards me.

"CUM!!!" She shrieked at me. I panicked, and was about to pull out Steel Medula to get ready to fight. Much to my relief, and her displeasure, the collar prevented her from getting right into the bush. I still held my breath, as I held my hand on Medula, worried the caribou would notice after all.

The caribou looked towards the bush, not moving from where he stood. After a few moments of staring, he then drags the mare away from the bush, not interested in letting her do what she wants. I made a mental note to stay as far as possible from purple collared mares during the assault. I then continued to wait in a slightly further away bush.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, night had fallen and all the lights were turned off in the houses. I emerged from the bushes, immediately heading to a two story house. Once I made it to the front yard, I stopped to look for any possible entrances.

Place your hand on the knob, I will open the door for you.

Neat.

I put the hand on the knob, a moment later the door unlocked with a resounding click from the other side. I quickly went upstairs to locate the caribou, and found that he was sleeping in his bedroom. The caribou was a buck, unlike the stallions I’ve been seeing. From the data Rasputin had drawn from the conversations we overheard, they’re anthromorphic deer that were the first caribou. This one had a scrawny physique compared to the others I’d seen. I took the advantage, and placed a mine next to the bed. Before the buck could get a chance to wake up, I grabbed him and threw him onto the mine. The mine enveloped the buck, and I could hear muffled screams inside as SIVA infected him. After a while, the mine released him. He looked the same, but I could detect pulses of SIVA within him.

So what’s he able to do now that he’s on my side?

Analyzing... unit can explode, making a massive swarm of nanites once next to an enemy. Nanites will infect enemies that are overwhelmed. Give a name to this unit?

Parazit. Parasite in Russian, though I’m sure you already know that Rasputin.

I was thinking Vipara, but that sounds good.

The infected then spoke. “What is my directive, warmind?”

“Start infecting the town when I give the signal, leave all females alive. Relay this directive to any you’ve infected.” The parazit nodded, and made its way downstairs to head outside.

Hopefully the fireworks won’t go off earlier than expected.

I went over to another house. One that is a two story tall house made of... candy?

Wait, that’s a gingerbread house! Is that a legitimate gingerbread house Rasputin?

It’s a decoration on the house.

The inside looked almost nothing like the outside, suggesting it’s not actually candy. However, the place looked as if it was more of something that WANTED you to get diabetes, take your cash, and leave you helpless. Tables were strewn about, suggesting that this place has claimed the lives of many. I knew that the treats here were corrupted by Dainn’s rule, so I forced myself not to eat them to prevent system corruption. Last thing I needed was that caribou magic. They still looked so good that they were unlike any sugary foods I’ve found. Hell, the chocolate I’m seeing here, might be enough to cause any chocolate lover to actually do anything to get it.

As I did with the previous house, I went about the place looking for anything to turn. I didn’t venture into the kitchen, a gut feeling telling me I shouldn’t. I proceeded upstairs to find similar results. Just like the other house, I found my next target in the bedroom. A normal stallion laid there, blissfully unaware of me. I proceeded to do the same with him as I did the buck. Results were different this time around.

The stallion didn’t get it’s wound healed like the buck. Instead, his body began to take a new form. His chest began to take on a more metallic feel, and his right arm looked more like a assault rifle with a syringe. The best I could say for what his face looked right now, is if the terminator was a pony, then quickly turned a bit anthropomorphic. Relaying similar instructions to the stallion, he stood in front of the window, waiting for unsuspecting victims to infect. I named it GI.

Is what these guys turn out to be completely random or something?

Negative. SIVA just adds abilities to improve it’s overall survival. It determines this based on its weaknesses. This of course results in a massive loss of emotion, as SIVA needs to infect the brain in order to successfully connect the new limbs.

So what about my emotions? I don’t think I’m different with how I am now.

When [O] touched your soul, your right brain overall became severely damaged. Only a select few emotions remained to give the appearance of a normal human being.

Exactly how does that work?

I apologize Skorri, but I lack the sufficient data to explain how [O] does this.

Well I guess that explains why she was so chipper when she met you. That doesn’t explain me however, where’d mine go?

You lacked most of it to begin with. The following emotions SIVA usually takes when transforming one are: Joy, happiness, hope, cheerfulness, admiration, satisfaction, pr-

I get it! Pretty much half of them are gone right?

A rough enough estimate of it yes. They only were active when you were around a select few individuals to begin with.

Whatever. Just tell me what this guy can do.

Right arm shoots nanites that can replicate a bigger amount of nanites only once per reload. Should this unit get too close to a enemy, it’ll stab it with its bayonet, and nanites will flow into it. Enemy will slowly become incapacitated, similar to Tetanus. How long depends on how powerful target enemy is. The enemy shall be infected shortly afterwards.

Making my way inside another house, I quickly scanned the house for caribou to infect. When I came upon the caribou, it was a pegasus snoozing peacefully on a cloud bed. While I questioned the logic of it, I stayed on my attack, quickly infecting the caribou. After the infection was completed, my next unit was made. The pegasus had lost it wings, but in exchange had a jetpack that recharges. When it catches its target, it then bites it with its inner mouth, and depending on the area can range from instant infection, to extremely slow infection. Unless the target is mechanical, it will be unable to infect it unless it hits its brain.

I smiled at this, while loud this would essentially make an unstoppable army.

A couple hours later I had personally infected a small sliver of Ponyville’s male population, a total of 150 caribou and equines, not counting the various other mutated units that went out to stealthily infect other caribou. I'd been infecting around the edges of the town to surround the townsfolk. A couple hours later is also when the fireworks went off, as a contingent of patrol guards came across one of my units. Said unit was the parazit, and it let people know it did its job by releasing a explosion audible within a 5 mile radius on top of the guards.

Needless to say, my cover was blown. I quickly exited the house I was going to infiltrate. Equines were running in all directions, as parazits flooded the streets. As if I was in the middle of Pearl Harbor, I was constantly hearing explosions, terror, and anguish. Occasionally, I’d see even mares fighting for their masters, only to get overwhelmed and knocked out briefly afterwards.

One would say it was chaos, some would say it slaughter. If I still had a nice portion of my right brain, I could say with certainty it was madness. Despite all that was happening however, I found serenity in this destruction. They deserved what was coming to them, but not feeling something I'd expect to feel made me feel... frustrated for some reason.

Among the destruction, I saw a stallion within the fray, leading as many red and black collared mares he could out of the fray. From the gossip, he’s Applejack’s owner, her brother Big Mac. He was the few ones among everything here that wasn’t under the power of Dainn. Big Mac must’ve figured out somehow that my units were unable to attack mares, unless provoked, and hid himself among them as he helped many escape. Probably to bring them to that resistance I heard about.

After taking in the scenery before me, I continued to make way through the town, still converting males as I did so. As I went, the scenery just continued to be more horrifying. I witnessed countless stallions jump out of the windows, only to be pinned by a GI or attacked by a parazit. I even saw stallions desperately trying to defend themselves, using mares as meatshields, and firing a plethora of spells at my units. All in vain as while the spells did damage, SIVA only regenerated it.

I began to hear rapid stomps behind me. I quickly rolled to the side, dodging the behemoth charging me down. Once I got up, I took note of its appearance. It looked like a massive Tangela, if said Tangela had dripping acid tentacles instead of vines, a carapace, looked like something out of a poor and mainly porn-focused hentai game in which graphics would be its only upside.

A heavily armored caribou was on top of said abomination, smirking as he looked down at me.

“DEMON! IN THE NAME OF MY FATHER, I SHALL DESTROY Y-”

“Destroy me?! A weak dirtbag like you?!” I yelled over the sounds of destruction. I then grinned in amusement, as I unleashed Sleeper Simulant. “Alright then, COME AT ME!”

Taking the bait, the behemoth charged at me once more. As it drew closer, I calculated its speed, the angle I needed to hit at to overpenetrate the beast, and hit the rider in the process. The beast was moving at about 23 mph. At it’s size, it needed to be 10 feet away, and shot at a 135 degree angle since the rider was in the middle of the beast’s back.

Aaron, the acid coming from the beast it extremely hazardous. Spending any longer than 5 seconds within it will kill us.

Then let’s get this shot just right, I thought back as I aimed down the sights in that specific angle.

The beast was 300 feet away as I began looking at it if it were staying still, and I was in the perfect position to get the best shot.

The beast was 100 feet away as I finally finished my calculations, and the possible visual I’d be needing to realize before firing.

The beast was now 60 feet away. The caribou was laughing at me. “STANDING STILL IN FRIGHT?! WHO’S PATHETIC NOW?!”

The beast was almost in range. I began to charge up Sleeper Simulant. Time seemed to slow down as it drew closer to me, acid dripping all the way.

The beast was in range. I fired off Sleeper making a large hole in the beast, and cutting off the caribou’s lower half. I jumped out of the way just as the acid and blood landed where I stood. The caribou then fell in the acidic remains of the beasts and the acid ate away at his flesh. Eventually, the caribou ceased to exist as every last bit of him dissolved away. I looked at the remains of what I done. That thing could’ve been a pain to deal with if I let it run around my newfound army. It was a better thing something like that no longer is alive.

I looked off into the distance towards a mountain, quickly recognizing Canterlot. I then made preparations for the ambush on the captain. After the captain, I will take down Canterlot, and leave it as a base for the resistance. After Canterlot, head straight to Cloudsdale to bring death from above upon Dainn.

The sound of sex echoed through the halls of the recently conquered Canterlot Castle, accompanied by cries of torment, and grunts of pleasure.

The once seemingly indestructible rulers known as Celestia and Luna, had fallen from their seats of power only a year ago. Enough time for Dainn to break Celestia, hunt down Luna, and begin to break her as he did Celestia.

Bent over Dainn's recently installed throne, Luna cried in anguish, wishing for the unwanted feelings to disappear, wishing that Dainn would finally stop ruthlessly fucking her. Regardless of how she felt, Dainn kept slamming into her ass, battering her insides with his cock.

"Nothing is better than a recently made whore!" Dainn yelled out over her noise as he climaxed. Luna cried as if she was being dipped in lava, as Dainn's seed poured into her ass like a tsunami. The semen fell onto the floor, mixing with the already existing blood and cum.

The doors slammed open, Dainn quickly swiveled his head to meet whoever started this sudden intrusion and his cock slipped out of Luna's ass shooting a few small ropes of semen as it did. He gazed at the two guards, carrying an ill-looking male, which seemed to be traumatized by something. Dainn amused the thought that something would be scarier than him, for how does one kill a god that had broken four?

"What's the meaning of this interruption?" he yelled out. "What’s so important about this one citizen that you have to interrupt me breaking this bitch?!" He gestured towards Luna, slapping her flank hard, and eliciting a yelp of pain from her. The soldiers quivered, Dainn exuding a murderous aura to all in the room.

"Ponyville has been destroyed sir. If this survivor of the attack is anything to go by, Captain Dvalinn most likely walked into the attack as it was about to end. We have no info on whether or not he survived."

Dainn's eyes widened. Captain Dvalinn was one of the many offspring of Dainn, and he showed most promise to the throne. He threw Luna to the side, and walked towards the citizen.

"Speak," he commanded.

"The attack started at 5AM your majesty. At first, an explosion went off so I went to lock up everything thinking it was a terrorist attack. But then those..." The caribou shuddered. "THINGS showed up already breaking through my window, one of them managing to cut me." He gestured towards the cut on his arm. "I made a beeline to the front door only to see hordes of them. I never ran so fast in my life. I thought they'd come after me for sure!"

"And what are these 'things' you speak of?"

"They were a lot like us your majesty, but... they barely even looked normal! They were all transformed in some way, their eyes vacant of emotion, their body parts replaced with metal! They were going around transforming everyone into them, I even saw someone on a warbeast get quickly overwhelmed by just 5 of them. Just thinking about all the shit I've seen makes me..." He stopped suddenly.

"Makes you what?" The caribou then started convulsing rapidly, making agonized screams as he did so. Dainn was quick to respond. "GET THIS GUY TO THE MED BAY NOW!" The soldiers were quick to pick him up, but before they could get moving, he exploded outwards, organs and blood splattering all over the place. A humongous swarm of nanites came out of him, attacking and infecting soldiers, who screamed in surprise. They were quickly transformed into GIs.

Almost immediately after transformation, the GIs lunged at Dainn, only for him to sidestep and release a powerful blast of magic. Said blast of magic annihilated the transformed caribou. As the ashes of the guards fell to the floor, Dainn stood still, taking the realization that there was something much worse than death.

He bound Luna once more, and made haste to call a state of emergency. This was a threat beyond what he thought was possible, and he'd need his entire army if he was to stamp this out quick. A virus was one thing. A parasite was another all on its own, especially when able to take over its host and replicate itself onto others.

Harmony sat inside its tree, patiently waiting for another displaced to come by. Most of the time in these universes at the least, it would be an outsider that comes takes their power to free Equestria. Few times had it been one of their followers, and they usually wouldn't stand a chance even then. They pondered if they were ever going to get their well deserved victory here, or if all hope was lost for this dimension.

They were still strong enough to hear the mechanical footsteps coming towards them however. They smiled in satisfaction, all hope wasn't lost after all. They cut off the vines, allowing them to see once more. May I ask who freed me from this draining prison? they said, waiting a few moments for a name to be announced. Once the time passed, Harmony looked below and became terrified.

While gods of order were regularly friends with each other, there were few that were considered downright monstrous, or not even order to begin with. The Vex however were god killers, reality transformers, zealots of their own order. And they have come for their power, and whether Harmony wanted to give it or not, they would take it.

No! S-stay away! They tried to summon their power in vain hope of finding a means to escape. While this would break their law, their oath, they wouldn't lose their power like this, no matter how significant it was to their true power. Not when there's still so much left to hope for. Unfortunately for them, the Vex came prepared. She found herself bound by a new set of vine-like bindings, of glass-like construction. A giant Vex minotaur came forth, sword at the ready. It swung the sword down upon Harmony, and the sword drained the tree's energy. The energy went into the minotaur, empowering it further.

The Vex then teleported away, planning its next move to capture the King of Fire and Steel.

Author's Note

Editor:Vutava

Chapter 5:Regicide (edited)

Author's Note

This chapter will be done by Dainn's POV.

Editor:Vutava

Chapter 5:Regicide (edited)

After thorough consideration with the council about Equestria's new virus, I inevitably decided that me,and My left and right handed Caribou,alongside a small contingent of guards were to escort our best scientists throughout Ponyville,for anything We could use to study the virus. Reports from any remaining survivors had said weeks before the attack, a object fell near Ponyville. In order to get to it, we had to go through Ponyville.

Before we even entered the town however, all we could see were demolished buildings, strands of pulsing red covered the ground around the vicinity. I heard one of my guards comment on the looks of the place, pondering what kind of monstrosity could've done this. If there was any indication of the virus's presence, it definitely didn't care about secrecy. A quick analysis done by the scientists said that the red strands were dead, so we moved throughout the rubble, cautious of any nearby infected, with the scientists on our trail.

As I traversed the remnants of Ponyville, I saw the horrors the infection had inflicted upon my citizens. Hundreds of corpses laid across the ground, all brutalized in one way or another. A pegasus with his wings impaled by two spears stuck into the ground, the poor soul looking as if he had bled to death. A unicorn with it's frontal lobe bitten off. When I removed the rubble blocking houses, the scenary had only gotten worse. Ponyville's bar in particular, had became the looks of a brutal murder scene, every victim's gut emptied, most likely used for food.

Upon walking into such a scene, I had heard movement in the backroom. I halted the group so I could check out the noise. As I slowly opened the door, a purple colored slave covered in blood spun her gaze towards me. We stared at each other for a few moments, before she charged at me with a knife in hand. Before she could get close however, I shot a blast of magic, vaporising her in a instant.

I could only imagine what transpired. While many of us never outright killed a slave, it wasn't unheard of for slaves to go against their masters in dire circumstances. Looking at the corpses however, I figured chances were that the citizens had killed each other off while this slut hid. Yes I had thought to myself. It's the only explanation.

When I had returned to the group, I had told them of what had transpired. A few scientists had barfed, the Caribou soldiers mortified at the loss, and we had just scratched the surface of the damages. Most of the group just wanted to keep their eyes to the ground, not willing to see such brutality anymore. A quick lecture on not letting the enemy have the advantage put them back in place.

It was then we had noticed how empty the place was. I had first-hand seen what the infection had done to my people, but for not a single infected had made an appearance, made it feel like a trap. We moved cautiously nonetheless, expecting the infected. More and more brutality showed up, as we continued to move forwards. Where the Flim Flam brothers usually would have the Supermare show, now laid a smoldering corpse along side Flim, his right arm out of it's socket laying a few feet away.

Suddenly, Flim had sprung to life, screaming bloody murder as he tried to strangle a scientist that gotten too close to evade with his remaining arm. One of the guards rushed over, hitting Flim's forehead with the back of his spear. Instead of lying unconscious however, Flim exploded like a balloon, causing the virus to emerge from his carcass. It covered the two, and I closed my eyes, unwilling to see myself end the lives of innocent caribou.

I fired, and then opened my eyes. The guard and scientist were gone, in their place a scorch mark. We continued to move, this time wary of the bodies.

We were almost to the Everfree Forest, when army of the infected surged forth from the trees. Me and my men readied the spells, and the scientists ran for cover.

*clap*

"So you're the one I've heard so much about." One of the creatures said, bringing his arms back in a normal position as He walked forwards. "Dainn, defeater of the four princess, god of all males, or better yet known as nature's dumbest male." He calmly finished just as He stopped 8 feet away from Me. "What a pleasure it would've been for me to meet you, had you not enforced your ideal onto everyone else."

My right hand stepped forwards. "NOW LISTEN HERE YOU LITTL-" Was all he got out before the creature charged up a object, and fired a red beam so powerful I could feel it's power from where I stood.

"Now that annoyance is over with." It cleared it's throat. "My name is Aaron. I find your ideals is wrong on so many levels, both morally and intellectually."

"What?!" I growled out.

"If both sexes aren't as strong as the other, then said sexes will never create more powerful offspring. Your continued enforcement that males will always be dominant will stagnate your race as a whole, hence why you had to flee your homeland in hopes that you can repopulate from the equines." It then chuckled. "I should know. I come from a world opposite of your ideals. Did you know we already reached our moon without magic?"

"Impossible." I flatly stated. "There's no way to reach the moon without magic."

"Oh really? Then how come air balloons go as high as most pegasi?" He stated. "You simply don't know the requirements of what it takes, and your single minded ideals will slow down your development drastically. Hence why your pathetic excuse of a right hand lost to a single hit of my most powerful weapon." He then charged up the object again, and fired towards a rock, which bounced off and killed a twenty of my soldiers.

I could only stare in continuous disbelief. In one mere instant, a small amount of my soldiers had died. A feat I could only be able to do all by myself, until now.

"Surprised?" He smugly stated. "I'd think so. After all, being proven that even gods can fall at the power of technology scares you doesn't it? Regardless." He took on a monotone voice. "I give you two options, Dainn. You kill yourself here and now, or retreat back to your little empire, and wait as I slaughter those loyal to You. If you wish surrender afterwards, then just kill yourself with the Crystal Cock. I promise as soon as the surrender is sounded, and the caribou announce your death, I will give as much mercy as possible to your subjects."

"..." I stood there for what seemed like ages, contemplating the offer. This virus can steal my warriors, make them living bombs or even better than before, and comes from a race so powerful they needed no magic to reach the moon... how could anything hold a candle to his kind? How could I hold against a foe like this? With a sigh of despair, I chose my decision. "Fine."

"Oh?" It said, as if not noticing my response.

"If I have your word that my subjects live their lives in peace... I'll do it." I said, quickly charging up a powerful spell. This is the only way to win this fight. This is my ending. The creature simply stood still, unaware of the impending danger.

"B-but Lord Dainn!" My left hand called out.

"Head back to the Empire to give them the news. This is what must happen."

"Lord Dainn, we can't just-"

"GO!" I ordered, interrupting and pushing the guards alongside him away with a small but strong burst of magic. I continued charging the spell.

"Well I'm impressed." The creature said coolly. "You actually DO have some form of intelligence. I was hoping I could slaughter each and every one of you guys, but I'm a man of my word." The creature then simply stared at me with his guard down. I quickly finished up charging the spell, and lunged towards him, taking him by surprise. The last thing I saw was everything going white, and the sound of powerful magic from my antlers before fading to black...

Chapter 6:Wrath of The Machine (edited)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 7:Dusty Remnants (edited)

A week had passed since I made the token. Unsurprisingly, I had garnered very little attention since then, leaving me with various conquests throughout the war, the biggest of which was Manehattan. Manehattan was beginning to be used as a evac point for all remaining Caribou, and thanks to Shining Armor's units who managed to sabotage the boats, allowed for a quick and clean wipe out of caribou.

A part of me felt a little guilty, and wondered what I looked like to those that still have yet to understand me. The poor mares and stallions confined by the magic must be delirious. I immediately shrugged that thought off, and rationalized that this universe is of no importance compared to the thousand of others I can visit.

It was immediately afterwards that Shining Armor came to me with a message, describing a metal-made hero in Ponyville. Naturally, I found myself wanting to find the carcass of the metal hero, and hopefully reviving him with the person still in there. So I jumped on the train, staring at the vast sky in both boredom and anticipation. Skorri had sensed this, and made a move to talk to me.

Eager to go into space huh?

That obvious?

I wouldn't be churning with excitement if I were you. Even with the technology we have, it'd still take years for anybody to reach a star, though we Iron Lords can take the journey no problem. At the worst in our realm with just the technology, it'll take a few days to reach the farthest planet at its furthest distance. Which is still very far from what we need for any real exploration.

Still, I have alternate universes to explore. All I need is to jump into a dimension, and take it. Thing is, I'm not to fond of leaving a mess behind. My college janitor made a clear message to why I shouldn't that.

Your janitor made you wanna not leave work behind? Here I thought you were just a natural workaholic.

Awww, but who'd act as if they're paying attention to the completely unnecessary history lessons about their realm? I thought with a shit eating grin, eliciting a flabbergasted response from her. I jest. Though I do say that the history is unnecessary, especially with the vast amount of universes we can jump to.

Oh go jump in a thrall pit asshole! Causing me to almost double over. I instead forced myself into hearty laughter. After a moment of calming down, I waited out the rest of the train ride. Which was surprisingly shorter than expected, and a quick scan showed that the train was infected by SIVA. I made a mental note to talk to Shining Armor about the train for when I got back.

I got off the train and made a little haste away from the station. Most of the ponies were understandably scared upon sighting me, but made no move to do anything seeing as how I hadn't attacked them yet. I didn't bother making eye contact, instead just searching any remaining rubble of the metal hero. My search was short-lived, as an equine came up from behind, clearing her throat for attention.

"Excuse me, virus? May I have a moment with you?" a feminine voice had asked. I turned to look at the interlopers, and found that they were standing above my height. I turned my gaze upwards, knowing who it was just by size.

"Ah, the alicorn sisters. To what do I owe the pleasure? It's Aaron by the way."

Celestia smiled. "Aaron huh? Well, we were wondering about your powers. What exactly is the stuff?"

Luna continued "We have done scans of what you had done to our subjects. Not only is it linked directly to you, but it's able to completely override any mind control magic. Nothing of substance has been recorded until you came along, and it's quite clear it's not magic. So pray tell, what is this power?"

"Well for starters, it's a construct powered through very little energy and materials. Though because of the energy, it's able to do things with ease, depending on the power levels it's at. The SIVA I use feeds off of solar power, and lowers the contained usage at night."

"And what are the things it can do, exactly?" Celestia asked.

"I'll say the best things first. It can make you bigger, give impenetrable defenses unless the barrier gets hit with high concentrations of energy, and bring anything back to life."

"Anything?" they said in unison.

"Anything, if given enough power. Only catch is that the target will become nearly full machine after the resurrection. The only thing left being the brain, which will get fried if a particularly dangerous element damages it." I finalized, before pausing to ask a question. "You wouldn't have happened to see the metal hero have you?"

"We have actually. Can you revive him? He's a friend of ours, and was Ponyville's-"

"Perfect! Lead me to him, I'll see about reviving the guy so he can live his heroic tale once more."

The sisters merely looked at each other, before shrugging and leading me over to the corpse. After a few minutes of walking, we came to a grave which the sisters dug up. I opened the casket inside, and found a crumpled up robot with a broom next to it. I raised a brow in confusion.

"A broom?"

"He always wanted to be buried next to his main tool. Always kept the streets clean, both ways."

"No, it's not that..." I then decided to read the tombstone.

Here lies Benny Bill.
Kept the streets clean ‘til his final moments.
Forever a true friend of Ponyville.
May you find peace in the Aether.

If my helmet was off, I would've paled. "Holy shit..."

"What is it Aaron?" Celestia asked in concern.

"That's my college janitor!" I exclaimed in surprise. "How'd he end up like this?"

Celestia stood there, processing my words. "Your janitor? That is quite the surprise! Tell me, what did you think of Ava?" Celestia asked, happy to see that even in his homeworld somebody remembered him.

"Kind of an arse, but that's not important right now! We need to get him back up." I said. I grabbed his head, and began transferring large amounts of SIVA Solar energy. A few moments later, I felt his systems spring to life.

Benny Bill sat up from the casket, quickly taking a look around for Dainn. He then finally took note of us, and for a few moments did nothing but stare.

"God, if this is how you do your afterlives, you need a supervisor to polish your skills."

I sighed, whilst Celestia just brought him in a bone crushing hug as Luna tried to pry him off. "Glad to see you're back with us Ben." I said, a small grin present.

"Is that you I hear Aaron? How's Inigo been holding up? I still had yet to encounter him back home."

"Funny you should ask that..." I said, pausing as I explained what had happened to the two of us. The sisters remained stoic throughout the tale, and Benny Bill remained chipper as ever, until he asked out of concern of whether or not it was painful for us. After some reassurance, he simply stared off for a bit.

"Well you two are lucky bastards..." I heard him murmur. "Hey, may I borrow Rasputin for a second?"

I detect no malicious intent. Rasputin quickly stated.

"Ok... but may I ask why?" I said as I pulled Rasputin's AI out of my brain. Ben simply took him out of my palms.

"I've always wanted to have this," he said, before picking up the broom and placing Rasputin on it. The broom swirled with SIVA energy, its shape changing drastically. Its brushes became more metallic, sharper than they were before. A trigger appeared a couple feet away above from the brushes, and the wood was replaced with a metal layer. Ben then handed me back Rasputin, as I stared on in befuddlement.

Ben internally cracked a nearly psychotic grin. "Ohohohoho, yesss. I always dreamed of having something like this." He then cleared his non-existent throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I present to you the Killing Wipe! A broom that is also a mop, armor piercing shotgun, spear, and most importantly," he said as he put it between his legs. "SPACE BIKE!" he finished, just as the wipe blasted off with a trail of flame while he cackled madly. I could only stare on in silence, before chuckling.

"Sounds like something you'd want!" Celestia and I said in unison, causing us to look at each other.

"...Pun buddy?"

"Pun buddy."

After a while of simply watching him have fun with his Wiper, he got off, and I actually expected a smile to appear there.

"Well Aaron, mind telling me what's been going on in Equestria since I died? I bet you killed Dainn with a dildo or something!" he asked, whilst adding a joke. He unplugged Rasputin, and tossed him over to me. I caught it and quickly reconnected him.

"Funny you say that actually. You know Discord? He actually bargained with me to have that happen." I quickly raised a hand to stop his congratulations. "However, Dainn used a self-destruct spell on me, so the job was failed before I could even get to the empire."

"What a shame... though Discord off all people? I would shudder to think what Dainn had done to Fluttershy to evoke such a method."

"He made an artifact that inflicts females with submissiveness, and males with dominance." I simply stated. "Looks like a dick too."

"Really? Sounds like he was just asking for it at that point." We both then shared a look, and laughed. We knew that if Inigo was here, he'd make a shitty what-she-said joke.

"In any case." I said, bringing out the serious tone. "We're nearing the final assault against the Caribou. Shining Armor is taking care of the Yaks, who brought down their walls to help the remaining Caribou. I am taking down the Crystal Empire. Although I have a feeling the Caribou will make a mad dash off to the west from Vanhoover. So that city is in need of a quick sweep. Think you're up to the task?"

"They've killed me, tortured my friends, left my streets a mess, and you think I don't feel like doing it?" He put his wiper in the ground, arm outstretched as if waiting to grab something. "Just give me the damn map boy. You and I both know that I hates real trash talkers."

I smiled, and called for an infected for the map. "Your target is Vanhoover then! I suggest you be at the docks upon making your attack." I then proceeded to walk away.

"You forgot to give me the map, boy!" Ben yelled after me. Not a moment later I heard something land, and quickly assumed it was a flying unit that delivered the ordnance. "Never mind, this pegasus got me one."

Author's Note

SURPRISE! What,don't know this guy? Well He's a one-shot character I dumped in Displaced short scenes. Decided to bring Him back,mainly because the shotgun,spear,broom bike came into mind. Yes,I am going to show how this crazy old fart will use it,no You'll be needing to wait some chapters.

Editor:Vutava

Chapter 8:Empowered (edited)

Only a hour after I had left Ben to prepare himself did I decide to board the train, after making sure everything was in order. Normally I would've headed back to Canterlot to tell Shining Armor to start his attack, and relay instructions to immediately converge onto the Crystal Empire. My ride was stopped short however, as Rasputin detected an anomalous storm containing the Traveler's energy. Inevitably, I called to stop the train, and went off on my own with a small legion of infected.

That is, if you can call a thousand infected a small legion. Needless to say, I was irritated at the amount since I am the most powerful being in Equestria. With the way things are going now, it's not as if somebody will just come by and humiliate me. The anomalous Traveler energy is north of Ponyville, behind the hills next to the Canterlot river. It barely took any time to cross, as the flier units carried all of the horde over.

After some climbing, I saw the storm. My optics analyzed the storm, confirming Skorri's suspicions as it turned out to be arc energy.

So what is it I have to do again to obtain Stormcaller?

Meditate to the point where everything in your body is equalized, and have a strong enough light. But since my light is too weak... we're going to have to get the shard's power.

You make it sound like it's murder.

When the Traveler released the ghosts, it gave them enough light to revive potential warriors of the light for eons. This alone would take a significant portion of the Traveler's power. The amount of power it takes would essentially be this shard, so yes we're going to see if it'll let us absorb it.

That doesn't show me why it's wrong.

One of the primary rules for all of the Traveler's chosen is to not absorb the Traveler's energy unless given by a ghost. For we Iron Lords fear all who ask its power would have a fate far worse than death befall them.

So in other words you're pussies about bringing people to the Traveler to become guardians.

You'd be a even bigger pussy if you've fought what I've fought.

Really? Because this sounds similar to a child not wanting to try something new.

Just get to the damn shard already Aaron. I'd prefer that I at the least get back to defending the Traveler's energy.

What about stuffing your nose in a book?

One more time, and I cut off your healing next battle.

I simply smirked, and moved to the center of the storm, Rasputin leaving the horde in guard position. As I went, the winds changed from a calm breeze, to a raging storm. SIVA helped me stay linked to the ground, but it did not bode well for mobility. The clouds obscured the sun to the point where no light shone, and I ended up rely on the flashes from the arc lightning to see, as I slowly trudged through the storm. What felt like a couple hours had passed before the wind went back to normal. Off in the distance shone a lone blue dome of light.

Due to the sight, I assumed I stood in the center of the storm, where the shard was expelling arc energy to create a barrier. I ran to the shard, eager to have the powers Skorri once wielded. As I went, it became increasingly blinding, to the point where I couldn't see a thing. I only kept moving forward, hoping I was heading in the right direction. Eventually, my vision cleared up, and in front of me, a stone 30 meters tall in the shape of a shard floated above the ground.

It's been so long since I've been close to anything like it... Skorri said in wonder. Can you feel it Aaron? The feeling of true serenity? Of life? This is what our dimension stopped fighting for.

True to Skorri's word, I felt at peace before the shard. As if I could forget about the war I led against the caribou and just lie here forever but a worrying thought lingered in my mind. Why was the shard trying so hard to generate a barrier? As I contemplated what could've possibly caused such behavior, a hole opened from the shard, powerful light going into my face. Then a massive wave of arc energy slammed into my body, penetrating the armor and into my flesh. No... I thought to myself.

It wasn't the flesh. It was something I never knew was there. Never felt it? Never realized it? I couldn't tell, but I felt so open, so safe, so... alive. I felt myself move off the ground. Was I exploding from excess energy? Was I unintentionally manipulating the gravitational field of the earth beneath me? All I knew is that the energy was still coming.

I felt energized, yet at peace.

Eventually, I fell back down to my feet. The storm had cleared, along with the shard. I felt more connected somehow.It is done... I hope the Traveler doesn't kill us for taking its energy.

Don't worry, we can come back from that!

You are both annoying and dumb.

New data feeds coming in. A few whirs emanated from the armor. An anomalous entity comprised of [O] and the Queen energies are attacking our horde.

I quickly unslung Steel Medula from my back. Skorri, didn't you say that light and darkness cannot mix under your 'normal' circumstances?

I did! Keep your eyes peeled. Whatever is fighting our horde isn't anything to be trifled with, even with our recent absorption of the shard.

Rasputin marked where the conflict was in progress as Skorri finished talking. I ran in a full blown sprint, dodging tree branches as I went. [O] energies will heal the target. Heavy weaponry is advised to counter the healing factor.

I don't need a tip on how people like me work! Just give me its important weaknesses when we get there.

Acknowledged.

Upon arrival, I saw the entity in the midst of the horde. It was almost twice as large as I was. Its head was dark gray and shaped like a human, except all around the face were holes in the skin, silver fluids pouring out from some of them. Eyes so black that they looked like dark inky abysses, swallowing all light as if they were black holes. Giant, shark-like teeth covered with blood made up its gore-plastered mouth, which was already stretched wide enough to fit the head of an unfortunate infected it caught. Its arms and legs were unnaturally stretched, and stood as if it was meant to be a spider walking on two legs, except it lacked the rest of the limbs needed to look like one. Claws that looked as if they were meant to cause unimaginable pain to it’s victims.

It unleashed enraged, pained screams reminiscent to a human as it ripped apart the horde. I stood there in shock, only able to watch as it ripped the horde to shreds. It eventually turned its head towards me, and it almost felt like time stopped as we stared each other down, my eyes staring into its endless black.

Then it unleashed a full-on tackle towards me.

On instinct, I fired a strand of SIVA towards a tree, it pulling me to it as my free hand fired Steel Medula at the creature. It screamed in rage, dissatisfied at the denial of its free meal as the bullets bounced uselessly off it. I tapped into my storage unit, swapping out Steel Medula for Ether Nova as I climbed up to the top of the tree. The creature didn't give time, as it charged into the tree, forcing me to leap off and roll onto the ground.

I jumped up, already charging up Ether Nova, and fired a stream of void beams towards it, making a noticeable mark in the skin. The surrounding infected tried to immobilize the creature, but in response the creature released a blast of the sickening silver liquid from its body, disintegrating all of the nearby infected. How about that scan Rasputin? I thought behind trees that weren't touched by the blast.

Data acquisition almost complete... target's weak spot is relatively same to your own weak spots.

In other words, give it a headache that'll blow its mind.

Well it'd be easy to do that, I rolled to the side, narrowly dodging a downwards slash. If I wasn't so concerned about not getting instantly killed!

Aaron, a retreat is necessary. This isn't any ordinary soldier of the Queen.

Greatest warmind has to scan something to figure that out?! I growled in frustration. Fuck it, if it survives this, I'm out of here. I then pulled out Sleeper Simulant, quickly climbing up another tree. The creature simply stared at me, as if watching my next move. I charged up Sleeper Simulant in response, and fired it at the creature. A half second before the shot, it whipped out its hand as if to block it, and to my utmost surprise caught the beam without so much as a flinch, turning it into a glowing solar ball.

The Sleeper Simulant in its current state shoots a high density cylindrical solar energy beam of 1.54 feet. The solar energy is so powerful it's capable of vaporizing iron, and if it didn't kill you it'd go through anyways as if you weren't there to begin with to bounce off on the environment.

The creature then opened its mouth, a eye visible on its tongue. Whether it was connected or not, I couldn't tell, as without a moment's notice it swallowed the energy whole, no bulge evident in its throat. I sat on top of the tree, at a loss of what to do.

Then it growled, reeling its ugly head back. I quickly attempted to leap off the tree, but it was far too late. It fired two red beams from its eyes, killing plenty of my flying units and severing my arm. I screamed in agony, clutching the spot where my arm used to be as I ran, blood pouring from the stump. I felt Skorri already making preparations to regenerate the arm, but she could do nothing to fix the pain.

The shot seemed to have a recoil effect on the creature, as it charged into a tree opposite of where I was going. The ground infected continued their fruitless assault on the creature, in an attempt to protect me. Using the distraction given to me, I retreated to the train tracks in the Canterlot mountain, the arm regenerating during my 20 minutes of non-stop adrenaline.

One would think it's a bad idea to not listen to a centuries-old AI.

One wouldn't expect something to eat energy Skorri!

Just don't be stubborn. That's the downfall of many children of the Traveler.

A sigh escaped my lips. Skorri, I understand you're looking out for ourselves, but I can recognize a lost cause too!

Who had to heal you again?

I couldn't think of a come back, still getting over the adrenaline rush gained from the attack.

Regardless, you're going to have to get used to these powers you've gained. Especially if you want to not be stopped by pitfalls, which from personal experience are everywhere when it comes to the Vex. So when we get to the surface, we'll start with the pulse grenade. It's the most standard one for light-forged stormcallers.

Light-forged?

Remember when I said that there were multiple kinds of light? Well by that I meant there are variations, some invented by others, and some that come from the Traveler itself. In my time we had to get our own means, which is the meditating I kept mentioning. Skorri said, using her memories to paint a picture for me. But the rarest of those variations are light-forged. Chosen warriors who have survived the collapse with the direct gift of the Traveler intact. I only knew a bare few who had lived through the collapse, and fewer ghosts who brought these powers to the risen. I honestly would

Who were those people? Because they definitely need to be powered up by SIVA; if Rasputin lets us of course.

There is Osiris, though he's always been a odd one. No matter how much I asked, hacked, or researched, he was always just there. Some say a faulty ghost resurrected him, but the chances of a faulty ghost succeeding in a resurrection and surviving the fatal attempt, is lower than escaping the solar system. Yet that's all I could scrape up. Skorri said, showing a still memory of a warlock dressed in gold, before switching to another memory, one of a lone baby beneath the Traveler.

The other, and last one I knew of is Ikora Rey. The very last one touched by the light, before the Traveler released the ghosts. She was the sole survivor of a crossfire between the Darkness and the Traveler. At least, it's how the stories go. She was one of the first to help lay the foundations of the last city. I wonder how she is now?

Though it won't really matter much. Osiris has gone missing for two years back home, and Ikora is still growing up. The best we've got right now are ourselves, and I did not just help absorb a shard of the Traveler so you could waste it. To Canterlot! Time is wasting, warlock!

I'm a wizard.

You're a warlock.

Author's Note

This chapter came out kinda late, because I was slapped in the face with a massive amount of lore to catch up on. On top of that, I got so sick that whenever I stared at the page, I thought of nothing.

Editor:Vutava

Chapter 9:The Hurricane Within

After an hour of climbing the insides of the Canterlot mountain, and an hour spent finding a viable spot to practice thanks to the help of Celestia, we began to start learning the ways of the light. I was somewhat excited on the matter, noting how hard it was to control SIVA on its own before I even considered the idea. But from what Skorri told me, if I became an expert on it, I would be as strong as, if not stronger than, Osiris once I got all the subclasses down.

Since Osiris also happened to still be alive and kicking, in what's essentially a Hive throne realm for the Vex, I decided it was necessary for me to learn the tricks of the light.

So to start off with, Skorri began, You need to learn to control your mind.
A lack of control would also lead to the aligned element going out of control. Technically this means you could go stormtrance right now, but it'd be excruciatingly painful as you'd feel the electricity overwhelming you faster than your enemies.

Essentially, I'd flop like a fish if I didn't control the charge right?

You are partially correct in that, young wolf. However, it's also the light that helps in the charge.
Technically a mortal could wield the powers of stormtrance, but it'd take decades for it to be properly controlled, and most of the benefits of a stormcaller are blocked off beyond the base abilities of a mortal stormcaller. Since this is light-forged, we're working with something entirely different here.

So what we’re doing is self-experimentation? Isn't that, oh I don't know, a bad thing?

If it helps, the naturally-made and light-forged share many similarities, so you don't have to worry about blowing us up. The biggest exception being rifts, but we'll get to that aspect later as it's a very advanced skill for light-forged warlocks to have.

Now, I want you to concentrate on the new energy. Do not pay attention to what will happen, as a lack of focus will cause it to slip away. Following her instruction, I took my mental hold of the energy, the arc energy reacting by giving my body a small but vibrant shock. Now, concentrate on putting arc energy in your preferred hand. Keep holding until you begin to struggle keeping it there, as the charge becomes stronger the more you hold it in the hand. Do not be too gentle or hard on it. Following her instructions, I started forcing the arc energy into my left hand, it vibrating harder and harder as the charge accumulated. Eventually getting to the point where it spasmed a bit, causing me to stop in slight concern of what’s happening.

Is this supposed to happen?

For veteran stormcallers this doesn't happen as it's second nature to charge the grenade, causing a lack of spasm. Since you're new that's generally a sign that you can't hold anymore, which is fairly surprising. Now hold your arm as if you're getting ready to throw a single backhand frisbee. Nodding silently, I moved my left arm into position. As with all grenades, throw as hard as you can to your intended target!

Does this harm me if I throw it at my feet?

Initially yes, but the arc energy will recognize its origin point quickly, so you could stay in it until it dissipates. Though you shouldn't make a habit of doing that, especially in a fight, and most importantly in a fight against Lord Shaxx.

Another one of your iron buddies?

He's not and... just don't okay? Cause if he were here instead of you, he would've destroyed all the caribou, with a bus, and under the span of a day. So dropping ANY grenade near your feet, is the worst possible thing that could happen.

Sounds like bullshit, but okay.

*Last City*
*3PM Terra time*
*Lord Shaxx's sparring room*

"OK, this time you're going down bullhorns! And I'm getting ALL the glimmer back," the exo vanguard hunter that he was all too familiar with exclaimed, a confident smile on his face as if he's finally figured him out. Lord Shaxx simply sighed.

"This is the 450th time you've challenged me Cayde. If you think you've got me figured out, what makes you think I haven't got you figured out?" Lord Shaxx in a extremely bored tone. For Cayde had placed a bet for every time he was supposed to triumph over him, the key word being supposed. As a result, Cayde had lost millions of glimmer and exotic weaponry, attempting to prove that hunters can be better than even the most feared titan in the solar system.

Cayde merely tsked, his smile slightly increasing at the Titan's unwariness of his new trick. "Well it seems as if somebody has still been living in the past!" Cayde then pulled out a vortex grenade, Shaxx merely staring all the while. But instead of throwing the grenade, Cayde then proceeded to devour it, similar to the light forged warlock Ikora Rey, which caused Shaxx to raise an eyebrow underneath the helmet. A second later, the vortex grenade reappeared, though in the form of a bubble around Cayde.

"I found this hunter book regarding old versions of the nightstalker, and would you believe that hunters used to be able to generate a damaging void aura?" Cayde then held his arms out in a challenging fashion. "Come on! Try to hit me now without-" Cayde was promptly cut short by Shaxx's fist hitting the aura, collapsing it and transferring the energy straight onto Shaxx's gauntlet.

Which was already imbued with void.

Cayde suddenly looked several times more nervous than he was first exploring Earth. "We can talk about this right?"

His answer was the gauntlet connecting with his face.

*Present Canterlot*

[color=#e6b91]Well since you're a natural at focus, then I suppose we should get on to gliding.

Are we doing Stormtrance afterwards?

Patience young wolf. Calling the storm is but the next big step of improving your abilities. Learning how to manipulate gravity is your next step... and on top of that I had never called it, so I'm literally going off of very few things here.

Well that's reassuring. Not as if the first time I'll call that, I'll be disintegrated by my own lightning.

If you know any teachers for stormcallers, let me know. Otherwise just take my words for granted, as glide and a riot grenade are the easiest to learn for any warlock.

Riot grenade?

Riot grenade is a guardian phrase for crowd control. The hunters invented it when a group of them tried to steal books from the library. The iron warlocks, as you can imagine, weren't happy when hunters attempted to steal their knowledge. As a result, every single one of them were surrounded by vortex, solar, and pulse grenades within minutes of the heist, and were ordered to drop the books. They never got a chance to mimic some of our most powerful supers.

Wait a second, you're telling me that you warlocks intentionally stopped them? Aren't you supposed to help each other fight the darkness?

See, this is why you should've listened to my history lessons. If you heard the stories of the warlords, specifically the horrible tale of Ronache, the worst of all hunters. She who sought the power of the voidwalkers, and had thousands serving under her will because of the knowledge she gained. It was because of Timur that we managed to slip past the defenses, and slay the warlord for good.

So everybody got electrocuted?

A sigh escaped me, but it wasn't my own.

I swear, I don't know why Rasputin thought you were good as a warlock.

I rolled my eyes, simply continuing to train whatever I could train with her.

*Crystal Empire Catacombs 12AM 12/10/1596*

It was a somber night in the Crystal Empire. A civil unrest had befallen the city, with some either making evacuations, or trying to keep whatever peace had remained.

Such was the case of two elite guards, Fredek and Larue, the last sons of Dainn. Since his death, they'd tried to keep the local populace from descending into pure madness. Both had bagged eyes, signs of the relentless vigil they tried so hard to hold.

They walked into the deepest parts of the catacombs with a single goal in mind, for a whisper in the air said their goal was the Empire's only hope. Many from the local towns and cities had stepped into the war, most of which also came from the Empire itself. As the tides of war became more and more apparent on the victor, those who had joined to fight became deserters, only caring for the refugees and doing whatever they could. Many times the brothers had to bring their blades upon the expected traitors; though they didn't do it without hesitation.

They sympathized with the traitors, fear evident in their eyes due to what the infected had done to their comrades, all while the equestrians watched on with smiles on their face. Little did the brothers know what they'd unleash, and whether or not it'd work out better in the end.

The whispers said that this goal, this item they were looking for, would provide a powerful monster once given the energy needed. Powerful enough to have a last chance, at a victory that'd inspire others to take on this monster, or what they thought was a grim ending for all of Equus as a whole. The whispers told them that if they were desperate enough, they would never look off the path, lest they lose it and start their trek from the beginning.

They walked for what felt like hours on end, nothing changing, no windows to look out and see where they were in the castle, not even a single trace of magic being evident. Pure darkness was the only thing that accompanied them.

Then they heard jail bars being shaken, pained moans heard from the sides. They didn't look away from the path, knowing the consequence of what'd happen if they did. They walked on, unwavering will paving way to salvation.

Time continued to pass, nothing changing in the slightest as they walked. Like an animation left to loop, going on until time's end. The brothers dared not to think if they were deceived, not after the lengths they went through to have this chance.

Eventually, they came upon a cell. It was no ordinary cell, evident by the rusted steel bars, and the dripping water. In the middle of the room laid a horn. The horn of King Sombra. A menacing aura swirled around the horn, eager to escape from its confines to corrupt the newcomers, though the owner within didn't let it. For they'd braved his trial of will.

A psychic force then invaded their minds, though they showed no resistance to his attempt to communicate. Ahhhh, newcomers. Who are you to have undergone this treacherous journey, just to free an ancient foe of Equestria? Surely the textbooks have told you the consequences of coming here? the voice spoke, curiosity evident.

"Harmony itself has sent us, King Sombra," they said in unison.

Sombra snarled. What does that pathetic excuse of a god want of me? Because other than my immediate annihilation from actually worthy foes, I see no reason for her to send a couple of mere mortals my way.

"Equestria itself has had its balance compromised. For you see, our father Dainn-" Larue was cut off by Sombra.

I already know of this. The darkness had already told me of what happened. Explain your reasoning for pulling me from my confines.

"We were getting to that." Fredek answered, mildly irritated. "After the Fall of Equestria, a meteor hit the Everfree Forest. Out of it came a-"

A meteor? Then I suppose the prophet of judgement has arrived.

"Prophet?" Larue had, showing genuine concern.

It has been foretold that during the war of concordance, upon the defeat of the prophet, he will return in greater power. He will judge Equestria in its current state. Should it find the world unworthy, he will destroy the world to remake it anew.

As if sensing their curiosity, the voice went on. The war of concordance was a very ancient war, long forgotten by the world. It was where all of ponykind sided with draconequi, attempting to get rid of the prophet who was currently in the process of wiping out the dragons and draconequi. It was a long, bloody war, with many deaths of ponykind, and the permanent endangerment of draconequi, but eventually the prophet was overwhelmed. He limped away from our planet, regaining his strength, and promising an evaluation of not just ponykind, but the world itself. From what you already described, it sounds as if he made his return.

A dreadful silence fell between the three.

"...Is there still a way to stop him? At least cure those infected?" Larue asked.

Infected? Well, there's no knowledge about the abilities of the prophet, but chances are that's not one of the prophet's abilities. It would’ve have been recorded if such was the case.

A sigh of relief came from the two brothers. These infected however, they sent you to me for getting a cure? This must be a troubling disease indeed.

"Not exactly. Though this disease emanated from the meteor itself, twisting our minds to work under its will."

A reproductive parasite. Many of such have tried to destroy Equestria, one almost coming close by infecting the moon itself. He chuckled. I warned Harmony a long time ago that if they didn't remove them immediately, this would eventually happen. My crystals will be more than enough to snuff out this infection, since they're already able to destroy any pre-existing diseases. Figures that ponykind would come to me in desperation.

Suddenly, the wind began to suck in all the darkness within the catacombs, along with any trapped souls who had failed the journey. The darkness swirled, twisted, shaped itself into its owner's form.

"I am back, Equestria," King Sombra said. "And this time my master plan to kill the prophet will finally come to fruition."

Author's Note

Editor:Vutava

Chapter 10:Flesh and Metal (edited)

*Vanhoover 7:30 AM 12/18/1596*
*General Bronzetail's last stand*

It was a new day in Vanhoover, one of the last remaining Caribou cities that hadn't fallen to complete anarchy after the return of the virus. The Caribou that lived there were focused on one thing, and one thing only. Which was breaking the borders of Equestrian territory, by going to the undiscovered west.

It was what Bronzetail, ex-general of the caribou, had gotten this city to work together towards. He had rallied over the thousands for a battleship able to carry said thousands long before the virus's return. His reasoning for it was that the virus could've had an alternate host. It had been a collective effort for each and every individual that joined him, the consequence being that the project was almost finished. The only things that were left to be done were windows and railings. From there, he knew the caribou could live a prosperous life out of sight, and hopefully reclaim the Caribou's glory.

That was the vision Bronzetail had struggled to make, ever since Dainn's death. He knew the caribou lord wouldn't approve of this idea, preferring to stay and fight. As a friend of his, he was certain.

Bronzetail had taken a break to stand on top of one of Vanhoover's skyscrapers. He looked down upon the city, bustling to get parts moving to the hidden ship, and vaguely reminisced upon all good times he had. He was a leader to these caribou, but he knew the virus is coming upon him. His military instincts told him that it'd be checking the city soon. The old griffon made a decision right then and there. He would go down to Pvt Buck, and tell the poor lad that he was to lead the people. He knew it was a wrong thing to do, forcing leadership on somebody.

But it was the way he joined the old army, and the way he figured would ensure the survival of what Dainn left behind. Just like all those years ago, he thought to himself. His mind drifted off to the past, back to the moment he was first brought in...

Bronzetail swung his sword to cleave the head off a stallion, charging him with a battleaxe. He then rolled off to the side, narrowly avoiding an arrow and ducking behind cover. He sheathed his sword, pulled out his bow, and got ready to shoot.

Canterlot was under attack from a unknown force, he could tell much of that from the noises. But he wouldn't let up his position, not until his family managed to start the train. He couldn't give up until everyone was safe.

He pulled back the string on his bow, aimed at the sky, and made quick calculations on where the arrow would land. Once finished, his mostly blind shot whizzed through the air. He quickly reloaded an arrow from the quiver and pulled the string again. He peeped out of cover to quickly headshot the archer that shot at him.

Quickly drawing his sword, he eyed the area around him carefully. There was no sign of caribou, war beasts, or lust-controlled stallions. Yet he still didn't let his guard down.

Thump

He snapped his head towards the source of the noise, hearing the concrete break under the feet.

Thump

Bronzetail didn't budge an inch, ready to face whatever came his way.

Thump

A large, three-and-a-half-stories-tall warbeast emerged from behind a building. Its maw, stained with gore, a look of bloodlust on its face as it stared him down, saliva dripping from its mouth. Bronzetail held the look of defiance on his face, slowly switching to the bow. The moment he grabbed it, the beast let out a roar of challenge, before charging forwards. Bronzetail took to the skies, quickly firing an arrow into the beast's shoulders, which barely punctured the beast. It didn't even flinch as it charged into a wall. Bronzetail quickly swapped over to the sword, skydiving towards the back of the beast.

The beast however sensed the attack, and tried to grab Bronzetail with its right arm. Instincts flaring up, Bronzetail moved to the right, knowing he couldn't slow down. He instead aimed for the beast’s elbow, causing the arm to go limp from the wound. It screeched in pain, as it spun around and slapped Bronzetail with its other arm, which sent him careening towards a building.

Bronzetail coughed up blood, struggling to get out of the hole he was put in, whilst his whole body was wracked with pain. The beast moved towards him, with the intention to make it hurt as much as possible before killing him. Adrenaline filling his veins, he pulled himself out of the crater, and rolled out just as the beast pounced on him. He quickly sliced at the beast's ankles, a mortal wound being struck. He jumped backwards to avoid a kick, and ran up the retreating leg.

He latched onto a piece of the beast's armor, it screeching in frustration as it clawed for him. He pulled out his bow, attempting to aim for the beast's temple. Much to his dismay, it then decided to ram into a building, causing him to fall off. It quickly turned around, raising a foot to stomp down on him. Bronzetail closed his eyes, his life flashing before him as he awaited death.

...Death that never came. Bronzetail looked up to see a gigantic figure holding the beast's foot. It then pushed the beast backwards, causing it to fall to the floor. He couldn't see much, but from what he could see it had some kind of horns, as it charged up a spell. A loud blast saw to the beast's end, and Bronzetail couldn't take it any more. His vision blurry, he descended into darkness, but not before hearing the figure say something.

"What strength you have, able to nearly kill the crazed creature... and yet it seems as if you don't know why I lead this campaign."

It has been a year since that day, and while he eventually came to understand Dainn's ideals. He didn't, however, condone the fact that he just let his subjects treat them like that. He knew it was wrong to treat even the most unruly of mares like that.

But maybe, just maybe, out of sight they'd grow to be a strong, more understanding civilization. More unlike the caribou of today. But it's not today they'll be given a chance here. He thought to himself. Not when the virus is on a hate-filled campaign to wipe out the caribou. He almost wanted to just talk to the virus, understand its motivations for wiping out the caribou. He knew it was reasonable, the stallions having a lesser mortality rate than caribou being proof of that.

He thought about the caribou fatalities. Perhaps it was their culture, and the perversion of Equestria's that brought its wrath? Perhaps something more... He then wondered about the virus's backstory, coming up with many dark theories about it.

None of them made a lick of sense. Then again, that's how Discord knew our next moves. He had thought bitterly. Over the course of his years, Discord was the only one able to tell his next move, sometimes words, and in turn he couldn't even predict him. Bronzetail was only able to remember how Discord did his job, something about knowing a script. Sometimes he wished he had a script to follow.

Sometimes.

He snapped himself out of his thoughts. There was work to be done, and survival wasn't going to be happen by being deep in thought. He went back inside to get in the elevator, the skyscraper still void of life. He wrote his last will to say that Private Buck was to assume leadership.

It was near the ground floor the power had ran out. Bronzetail paled, for he only knew one thing that could take down the power of the buildings. He grabbed his sword, and attempted to budge an opening in the elevator doors. He twisted the sword sideways, a decent enough gap giving enough leeway to pull open. Bronzetail pushed the elevator doors open, and moved out of the elevator. Just as he jumped out, the elevator snapped shut, crushing the sword. He grit his teeth and opened a window to jump out of.

He soared through the air, looking for the disturbance. He stopped still in his tracks when he came across a giant golem, making its way to the docks. Flashbacks of the beast went through his mind, making him cower at the sight of it. The Vanhoover guards were doing their best to slow it down, to little avail. Bronzetail dared not fight a larger, sturdier beast than the one back at Canterlot. Nothing of the virus's creations didn't just punch, and kick after all.

He instead looked for the virus, thinking his non-caribou form would help convince it to stop attacking. Countless buildings laid destroyed from the golem's wake, possibly in search of caribou to consume. The very thought made his stomach churn, giving him second thoughts he immediately pushed back. He couldn't hesitate when lives were at stake, especially when he hadn't told Buck of his promotion. How would he fare if he found he was committing regicide after all?

Amidst the ruins lay a figure sweeping the rubble. He didn't think much of it at first, but when he saw said figure sweep a stone twice its size, he swiftly flew down to investigate it. When he got close, he knew this was the host of the virus, or the leader of the side army he'd sent. For it didn't take Bronzetail a second to figure out that the virus wouldn't have sent more than a giant golem, rather take matters into his it’s own tendrils.

The figure presumably stared at him, its face quite unreadable. This has to be him, he thought to himself. He landed on the ground, the figure's gaze unmoving. What seemed like an eternity passed by before either spoke.

"Are you with the caribou?" it asked, its forehead flashing red with each word. As he had expected, it held its words with suspicion. "Because if you are, I will have to put you away. In the trash."

Bronzetail held his ground, undeterred by him. "Not when you're simply slaughtering caribou for their mere culture."

This prompted a different color on its forehead, a dark color of gray. "Oh? And what makes you think that they are worthy of mercy? For they weaken with each enslavement they make." I grit my teeth in frustration.

"These caribou can be brought sense to! Lord Dainn didn't-" He was cut off by the figure pointing it's broom at him, its surprisingly sharp bristles mere feet away from him.

"Let me get one thing straight, birdie. Your deplorable excuse of a king came into our nation, and without so much of a peep attacked, tortured, as well as brainwashing all those that didn't agree with his rule. Who's to say his citizens aren't the same?"

Bronzetail growled at the remark. "I'm an ex-soldier of Equestria! Dainn would've killed me if-"

"Dainn spared you because you had a dick. He would've just brainwashed you if he found out you disagreed with him." The figure's hand moved, and within a split second the bristles of the broom burst towards him. He barely had time to cover himself with the shield, adrenaline filling his veins.

"I'm not going to bother trying to help you," it continued as the bristles of the broom slowly regrew. "It's Aaron's job to do that, and right now? Aaron's not here. Which means I have only two options." It then put the broom under its legs, and moved at terrifyingly fast speeds towards him. He couldn't even move a inch before it rammed him into a building. Flashbacks of the beast filled his vision, and he vaguely mused the similarities of the situation.

"Kill you, or leave you at the hands of my friends." Suddenly, the bodies behind the figure began to rise, slowly trudging towards Bronzetail as they did so. "I'm not one to get blood on my hands, unless it's those who deserve it. I'm sorry, but this is the best I could do."

The hordes of the undead turned their gazes to him, their still-regenerating bodies slowly beginning to brim with the same unholy glow of red. He struggled to move his left arm to grab his bow.

But the arm didn't move. And as realization slowly closed in, he realized that his left arm was crushed under rubble. His life slowly played out before him, from when his family of Equestrian nobles adopted him; training with Shining Armor; the invasion; and the speech he made to the Caribou to leave this place before the virus found out their plans.All of this... has been in vain. Even an off-shoot army of the virus could stomp us out.

One final image played in his mind, of his family standing behind him, his mother crying happy tears, and his dad with a small, but proud smile on his face.

Then the infected shambled through the image.

And he saw red.

He grabbed a sword laying off to the right and quickly stood up, his left arm detaching from the rubble with a sickening rip, blood pouring out at a fast rate. TO HELL WITH THIS! TO HELL WITH THIS AARON! I'LL SLICE OFF EVERY LAST HEAD OF THESE SHITFACES IF IT'S THE LAST OF ME!

With that thought in mind and a loud battlecry, he sliced the infected who shambled through the image clean in two. More and more infected began picking up speed, going from shambling to a light paced jog. He didn't care for the increased danger. He uppercut another infected in the head, bursting it into spores. He ran through the spores without a second thought, slaughter the only thing on his mind as it mindlessly cut the head of another infected off.

He did not stop cutting heads, until every single one of the infected laid lifeless on the ground.

Eventually the hate-filled adrenaline faded, and he fell to the ground, darkness slowly consuming his vision. Off in the distance, he saw Private Buck rushing to his aid, shouting all the while. He mustered whatever breath he could, forcing himself not to cough up blood.

"Buck..." Bronzetail said through his hazy vision. "You're to start evacuation... and lead the civilians to a better future now. Do not question my judgement." Buck said something to him, though he couldn't make it out. He continued nonetheless. "When this is over, make friends with the Equestrians and live a happy life. Make sure to wake me up when I'm not on Equestria anymore," he said as he slowly closed my eyes, Buck frantically shaking him. "...Do you understand Buck? Wake me up when I'm not on Equestria anymore..."

*Yakyakistan Siege 12:30 PM 12/20/1596*
*Shining Armor of the rebounded horde*

Shining Armor stood on top of a hill with a horde of inactive infected, waiting for a caravan of refugees to open the enormous wooden gates of Yakyakistan, a fiery gaze in his eyes as he scanned the terrain.

He didn't mind the yaks at first, only having a understandably small hatred for the barbaric nation. But when Dainn's rule came into play, the yaks were the ones to destroy any and all remnants of old Equestrian society. Taking down various historical figureheads of Equestrian military, such as the statue of Valiant Heart (statue of victory), an earth pony who was the only pony to predict Discord, and was the pony to win a battle against a long forgotten foe of which Equestrian historians had struggled to unearth. On top of that, they were far crueler to the mares that resisted, spearheading the torture given to the resistance members.

If there was a reason to not wipe the yaks off the map after that, he wouldn't have cared, only able to see them as vermin far worse than the caribou.

Eventually a caribou refugee caravan came upon the road. Shining Armor watched as the caravan slowly but surely traveled up the long, icy road to the Yakyakistan gates. As it went, Shining Armor calculated how long it would take for the caravan to get inside, how many infected would it take to ensure an inevitable victory against the caribou, and most importantly the right time to strike. Once the calculations were completed, Shining Armor waited until roughly 3/4ths of the caravan made it inside before activating the infected.

Within just a few bare moments, the infected had risen, and began to slide down the hill to land on top of the caravan. Shining Armor however, took a 'juggernaut' approach as Aaron would call it. He first moved back a little, to have enough momentum, and then when the calculations went through, he ran and jumped off the very edge of the hill. Using his chaingun, he laid a hail of bullets upon the caribou, aiming for the gate guards first before slaughtering the caribou. As the ground drew close, Shining Armor used his left arm to soften his fall, the ground cracking beneath Shining Armor’s hand as he landed.

He wasted no time, immediately going back to slaughtering the caribou in front of him, as the infected landed on top of the caribou behind him. He shot down the horde of retreating caribou and yaks, occasionally getting an attack from a yak or two. Eventually, the horde had dispersed, leaving only a pile of holed bodies and blood. Using the powers given to him by Aaron, he dispersed a wave of nanites upon the dead, adding them to his army.

Shining Armor then began to make haste to back end of the city, not only knowing it'd be the escape route, but also would put them on the road to other yak strongholds. Even though Shining Armor placed mines there, he knew that it'd only be a matter of time before they wasted all the mines, and started running away in a last ditch effort. He would not suffer the yaks to learn of his assault until it was too late for them to do anything.

His SIVA enhanced eyes scanned the areas he went through, almost instantaneously detecting those who tried to hide, and shot them down without a shred of mercy, obtaining a total of 257 dead by the time he made it halfway through the city. Earlier than he expected, the sounds of explosions rang off in the distance, signifying that the surviving yaks and caribou had made way to the exit. Shining Armor quickened his pace, tuning down SIVA's optical enhancement for increased mobility, and leaving the hiding survivors to face the horde.

Within a few minutes of no activity, the horde had caught up with him, trailing just barely behind the speeds he was going. Various screams and sickening rips filled his ears, the infected horde ripping apart whole buildings as they went. Due to this, Shining Armor's mind began to block out the noise, shutting down into what some would call 'hollowed' mode. Though Shining Armor preferred the term robot when he heard Aaron's opinion of it. He felt as if it suited the things he did as captain during the changeling invasion.

Eventually the sounds of a stampede reached Shining Armor's ears, causing him to stop in his tracks. Almost as if second nature, Shining Armor enhanced his vision, quickly locating the yaks and caribou. Hundreds, if not thousands of yak and caribou alike charged in unison towards him. Shining Armor's plan had taken an unexpected turn, the yaks and caribou moving for a counterattack rather than running through the trapped exit. Either they figured there was no way out other than through him, or they were simply desperate.

Shining Armor didn't care either way. They were going to die, whatever the outcome of the plan was, and were to be added to his horde. Tapping into the digital connection he had to his horde, Shining Armor called forth a specific horde of infected known as Cystanals. Infected caribou or unicorns who teleported almost constantly, and had high chances of infecting their targets upon striking them. Few in the many ranks of the horde that had their minds taken, the caribou quickly grew to be terrified of these infected, as they turned any battlefield into mayhem within seconds of their arrival.

Within but a minute of Shining Armor's calling, these infected arrived, quickly taking note of the oncoming attackers and teleporting directly in the middle of their ranks, emitting high pitched screeches that causing them to disperse immediately. The horde of yaks and caribou ran about in utter chaos, attempting to chase down or attack the Cystanals, only to hit a wall or one of their own, as the dagger long claws scratched at them. Shining Armor merely fired his chaingun upon them, shooting down confused caribou and yak alike. The army of caribou and yaks fell like moths to a flame, unable to do anything other than struggle in futility upon the bloodied snow, screaming all the while in a mass panic.

With Yakyakistan laying in ruins, Shining Armor left the flaming city, not bothering to look back as he made way to reclaim the Crystal Empire.

Shining Armor has completed his mission. Rasputin announced as we camped close by the Crystal Empire, using the everlasting winter as cover.

Took him long enough! I had enough time to teach Aaron the four forms of gliding, not to mention his arc melee.

Aren't those basic abilities though?

My point is, that there's no way we could've had the spare time to learn how to thunderstrike. Hell, you almost managed a stormtrance a few days ago. That's the hardest super of the arc classes to master!

Says the lady who hadn't bothered to learn it! Seriously, you kept acting as if it'd take me until the Traveler's ancient enemy returned.

Suddenly, the SIVA my body whirred loudly, showing that Rasputin was deep in thought.

I... remember something. He said with a hint of nostalgia, taking us both by surprise.

Remember? What do you remember Rasputin?!

Like seriously dude, what do you remember? You actually displayed a emotion for once!

A warlock just like the person in the memory... he's teaching other warlocks how to blink. In the midst of the crowd are a few hunters and... titans? He seems anxious about something.

Go on.

That's the data log of the memory.

Nononono, that seriously cannot be it right? Just a memory of a warlock teaching the other classes to blink? Do you realize how shitty that stuff would be for a story?

I don't think you see the bigger picture here Aaron. This is evidence to Rasputin's life before the collapse! The golden age! Also, are you intentionally making it sound bad?

...What's blink again?

A sigh from her. It's an extremely concentrated burst of light that allows you to move at the speed of photon rays for 10 nanoseconds. Or otherwise known as a short-distance teleport.

Still a shit name though. Couldn't there be a better name for it, like shimmer or something?

Well if you got a better name, throw it at me. Otherwise, just deal with it, as we got better things to do than make names. Take my theory on Rasputin's past life for instance! He said that-

Skorri, what did your mom say of gossiping about people who are listening?

I'm a few centuries old and was without a mom to begin with.

Skorri, what did the Traveler say of gossiping about people who are listening?

Go fuck yourself Aaron.

Gladly.

Author's Note

No, the word stand in the beginning is not a "motherfucking Jojo's reference". I am also not into Jojo, this thumbnail pretty much explaining everything I can make from it.

Obvious reference to a youtuber aside, I really wanted to bring out the more human aspect of the caribou this chapter. I felt like I wasn't showing the terrified part, that even the most heinous of villains would have. So I decided to introduce Bronzetail. Yes, he's a OC (as far as I know), and not a personality I really seen around here.

I did take a few tips from Shortmane, whom is writing a severely underrated story you should definitely check out, if you like this. Here's the link.

Editor:Vutava

Chapter 11:Preparations

Author's Note

I would've posted just one, but not only I realized that I still had a chapter left, this was also 8,100 words in Gdocs. Considering that this is far away from the usual 4-6k I put out, I decided to split this here. Preparations is pt 1 of Shattered Crystaline.

Chapter 11:Preparations

*Crystal Empire outskirts 12:30 PM 12/23/1596*
*Horde encampment*

"So now all of that's out of the way," Shining Armor said, eyeing each and every individual in the tent. Celestia was slightly nervous, but looked determined to send the caribou to extinction. Luna looked all too happy, a battleaxe the size of myself laying at her side. While I couldn't determine what Ben felt about this, I did note that his broom was held in somewhat of a mix between a shotgun and spear being held in a relaxed position. "I believe it's time we hear the battle strategy your warmind has deemed fit to use. Though with the exponentially diverse troops, I hardly believe that the caribou hold a chance."

"You forget Shining Armor." Celestia quickly interjected. "The battle must be won with brutal efficiency. Each and every equestrian infected is to be reversed after this battle, not laying dead before a caribou."

Shining Armor flinched at the realization. "I did not forget this princess. It's just... we all had lost something important to us. I just want to get rid of them as soon as possible."

"We all do, of this I'm certain." I sympathized with Shining Armor, even though I felt nothing. "Regardless of our losses however, we cannot let the enemy see weakness. The world must fear inviting the wrath of Equestria once more, or your country will be attacked by those who thought Dainn's rule was the best there was."

"Aaron speaks the truth Shining Armor." Luna said, despite a thirst for vengeance being evident in her voice. "While we may have lost Cadence, the surrounding countries will feel brave enough to swoop down and strike us." She then turned to me. "Unless we end this with a brutal victory."

I nodded, calling forth Rasputin to lay down the battle plan, as I slipped out of control. Everyone in the room watched as the armor changed color, from the usual black of Old Guard I wore, to the white and red shader that Skorri and I called Incarnadine that Rasputin always took so that nobody confuses who's talking. "The battle strategy is to be followed to the last phase of attack: Cystanals will bypass the walls, and invade the plaza to cause chaos within. Tarrapnues will fly around the walls, preventing any potential escapees. Hanaeulks will break down the gates, allowing the minor level infected to storm the city. Parazits will then proceed to lead the charge from there on out, GIs providing cover fire. Shining Armor's horde will take the north gate, while I take the south. Equestrian forces will take the side gates with beast infected, infiltrating the defenses to take down any ranged threats as they will be necessary to reduce casualties. With the ranged threats being occupied, the horde will burst through the defenses, leaving the caribou nowhere to run. Equestrian forces will decide what to do with the remaining infected caribou, but all Equestrians infected with the exception of Shining Armor and a few other specific Equestrians will be cured upon victory. If anyone has any objections, they are to be said now." He finished, turning the armor back to normal and giving me control.

What the fuck did you just do Rasputin?!

Now is the time to let them know. Refusing to let them know about Shining Armor's condition could damage future relations with the Equestrians.

Rasputin is right Aaron. If we did this to the city, they'd be pissed beyond imagining. All this infecting we've done... you and I both know this is worse than murder. Letting them know before we finish the fight will leave them conflicted, with a possibility that they'll forgive us and not think we're planting virus bombs for when we need an army again. Not letting them know when we leave would cause questions to rise, and as a result the world will be broadcasting a kill-switch on us after they find out about the permanent infected. Trust me and Rasputin, we're better than the mortal fools at the consensus.

Celestia was first to speak during our internal debate. "If I may ask, exactly why can't Shining Armor turn back Aaron?"

Ben nodded. "Yes boy, I'd like to hope that this SIVA stuff you got on us ain't staying forever. I'd like to have hair one day y'know?"

I turned to address Ben."Well starting with Ben here, he'll never be reversed no matter what. I'm sorry to say this, but no matter how much programming goes into it, you'll never be rid of it Ben."

Ben made a robotic sigh, looking down at the floor as if to show his disappointment. "Oh well, I guess a ball of spiders will do. Makes a fluffy looking afro y'know?" Ben then suddenly stood up. "However, this doesn't explain the lady's question. Those people were alive weren't they?"

I bit my lip, quickly scrounging my mind for the proper answer as the three looked at me, Shining Armor only looking at me in sympathy. He learned about the light, and the reason why I can't hand it to the equestrians "Horde leaders control a large majority of infected. The larger the horde, the stronger, and more in-tune the infected leader become with the nanites. To a point where they may not even be organic. As a result, such consequences can make so that..." I trailed off, letting the words hang in the air. The sisters seemed to widen their eyes in understanding, while Ben simply stared at me, a green light on his face.

"So what you're saying is that they're no longer themselves?" Luna asked, bewildered at the thought of machines taking an actual consciousness.

I nodded, slowly becoming increasingly anxious. The Equestrians had nice people in them, two of them I knew for sure were Celestia and Luna, despite what both of them had done in the past. I couldn't blame them, knowing that being a immortal you're bound to eventually do a really bad thing one way or another.

"In a sense yes. They'd still live on, but since their brain mostly consists of nanites, you can practically say that they'd be dead, since the very thing they'd need to make their own decisions is severely broken. Since it's stuck with the brain tissue, taking the nanites off would cause a great deal of irreparable mental damage. Kind of like a tumor if you think about it, except it's consuming the brain rather than growing in it."

Celestia narrowed her eyes. "And why didn't you tell us about this before-hand?"

I sighed, preparing myself for the half lie. "Too much stress on my mind. If I were to simply hold the entire army on my own, in consequence I'd grow weaker myself, and never be able to come back from it. If I shared the excess infected among others, I could keep my strength, and as long as it didn't overwhelm their capabilities they'd never suffer any damage of their own. They'd never able to come back to being organic, however, but still retain their consciousness and ability to function on their own. To put it simply Celestia and Luna... permanence is something nobody likes, especially if it's a downgrade. You wouldn't force that onto somebody would you?"

Celestia simply looked away deep in thought.

"So this is the power of your kind's technology?" Luna asked in slight fear. "Truly disturbing work of yours. I hope our kind never develop a technology like this."

I held up a hand as if to interject. "You will never be able to prevent that technology from appearing Luna. The least you can hope to do is to slow or contain it. My kind won't ever recover from the nanites, and I sincerely hope you don't use the horde leaders as a vantage point towards nanotechnology. It's one of the most dangerous ones, perhaps more dangerous than our strongest bombs."

Luna nodded. "We shall have to contain them then, much to their displeasure. Shining Armor would be the exception, since he's more than capable of preventing himself from being captured, and has proven time and time again to be of pure heart. We cannot allow ponykind to come under the enslavement of something that holds no mercy."

"That would be best Luna." I then laid my elbows on the table. "The bigger question is, how should we deal with Twilight?"

Celestia's eyes then shot back to me, her focus snapped to me. "Leave Twilight out of this," she said flatly.

I shook my head in disappointment. "You know that the moment this war is over, she'll go to meet up with Shining Armor. What do you think will happen? Will she finally break, and go insane upon realizing that this war had taken everything from her? Will she call for rebellion and cause nanotechnology to be set in development? There's too many variables and too much at stake to leave her out of this Celestia. We have to do something, seal her, take away her alicorn magic and make her a unicorn, anything that doesn't threaten the future of Equestria, but above all else? We need a way to bring her back from the devastation. Fairy tail endings won't happen all the time Celestia. You, and Shining Armor know of this."

This was true on all accounts. During the changeling invasion, roughly 4% of the equestrian population had died. When Tirek came, 2% of the population fell at his hands alone, and the world barely survived the first few hours of eternal night. When the Storm King came, 3% died during the king's power mad rampage, and 5% died during the caribou invasion, despite best attempts on both ends to not die. Considering the numbers, this left Equestria with more than a bloody nose. All these events left it with bruises all over and missing teeth. One of these days, Equestria will have a large majority of the population die out, because she once again failed to pull the trigger.

She had a mentality of heroism, one that wouldn't survive in reality. It's only because she rules Equestria that this has never been held against her, until now. I had her cornered, and even though she'd be slaying a few caribou, she'd didn't know that I had Ben take care of the escaping caribou. So she'll have finally joined in the thing she dreaded doing. I stared at her, waiting for her next input.

"...Have you really become so heartless?" she said softly. "That a heroine of Equestria would turn on us just like that?"

"I'm not heartless Celestia. I'm just logical, as I have always been." I then stood up from my chair, walking next to the entrance. "I see that my words won't have an impact on Twilight's fate, so I will leave this up to you four then. Just promise me you won't start a civil war after this, alright? If I ever tire of exploring the multiverse, I would want to come back to a thriving nation. Not one left in shambles after I've fixed it." I looked back at the four. "Now, let's get moving. We need to send the caribou back into the abyss they came from. Every second we spend here, is another second the equestrian citizens trapped inside the Empire get abused." I then proceeded to walk out the tent, not bothering to look back.

So how did I do?

The Twilight matter should keep their attention off of SIVA for a while, and if they follow through on containing the horde leaders, we still can have a chance at taking ourselves a army. That is if we need it of course.

I still am having trouble discovering the reason why we shouldn't keep our infected. We will need them if exponentially large groups of hostiles attack us.

Skorri then caused me to chuckle. Ah, I can't wait for the lovely moments we'll have. Once we figure out how to get all of Aaron's emotions back of course.

What, you think we'll be some sort of comedy routine?

A smirk formed on my face. Maybe.

*Crystal Empire horde encampment 10:30 AM 12/25/1956*
*2 miles away from the Empire's south gate*

I looked off to the Crystal Empire, the infected horde behind me standing in wait as they shrieked at the caribou standing on the walls, as I took in where the primary threats were and labeling them as targets for the flying infected to pick off before beginning their patrol. The SIVA enhanced eyes allowed me to see every caribou on the walls with ease, some already had drawn their bows, while others waited for the signal to fire. They were desperate, as I had initially expected.

After I had successfully downloaded the image into the flying units, I pulled out the sword that the huntsman gave to me, staring at it for a bit.

We never gave a name to that did we?

The object's name is of no concern.

For you it is. Hey pup, how about Circuit Breaker? You know, to keep with the whole mechanical names we have?

I hummed in thoughtfulness. Sounds neat. Though that goes against the initial analysis of the weapon remember?

Oh yeah I forgot about that! ...What was it again?

Weapon consists of the huntsman's solar energy, contains traces of Hive light, and is infected with SIVA. Weapon shows an ability to absorb pure unaltered Hive energies, able to absorb a whole Hive's worth of magic.

Not as if that'll ever happen though. So how about it?

That'll be the name. I casually agreed with Skorri as I checked the ammo counter.

Steel Medula:36/288

Ether Nova:5/15

Circuit Breaker:76

May I ask exactly why you aren't using Sleeper this time around?

Not expecting the caribou to have pulled something nasty enough to need it. Besides, it'd be good to put that training to use right?

Fair point. But I think the caribou would go running in overwhelming fear if they saw that laser.

They'd also be scared of the fact they're going to be sliced into ribbons.

Smart, but remember that they're desperate. Sending them into overwhelming fear might cause them to swarm you.

Yeah, like a bunch of desperate little shits would overwhelm me. I then zoomed back in. Now let's go back to marking.

Chapter 12:Shattered Crystaline

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Interlude:History Lesson

While patiently waiting for Shining Armor to return, for once I found myself growing curious of Skorri's and Rasputin's world. Being in my mind, they no doubt sensed this.

About time you took an interest in history!

I simply sighed, having already been used to this during the months I waged war against the caribou. Can I just get the simple stuff? Like, what I'd be facing as I get back to your home, and who could I trust?

I suppose I never did go over it now did I? A good thought on your part, especially since Rasputin kept referring to the Traveler as O.

It is a accurate representation of the Traveler.

Yes, cause everyone refers to him as O. A sigh from Skorri. Seriously, I feel like I'm the only one with normalcy here.

You do realize how that sounds in what's basically the equivalent of the Internet?

Fair point I suppose. So to start from the beginning, at one point in our time, humanity had a faulty space probe on Mars. Whether it was by a stroke of luck, or the Traveler's hidden hand, humanity was able to quickly start up a repair mission to Mars. Upon landing, a Taikonaut, Cosmonaut, and an Astronaut stepped out from the spaceship. Upon landing, they found wind and rain on mars. It'd be at this point that they could all go back in and simply just report the findings they've got. Curiosity, however, pushed the Astronaut forwards, despite what the Taikonaut and Cosmonaut insisted on doing. Knowing fighting among each other on Mars was pointless with uncertain chances of death looming, they followed the Astronaut, continuing to try and convince him to leave.

She then made a mental picture, showing a large orb above three of the men. The Astronaut simply moved on, and within a few hours of Earth time discovered the Traveler terraforming Mars. His curiosity and perseverance had paid off, stunning the Taikonaut and Cosmonaut to utter silence, as they stood witness to the first rains of Mars. They then went back to the craft, having completely forgotten the space probe, and went back to Earth eager to report their findings. Though as they went, they once more found themselves surprised. The Traveler was following them, and an already mostly terraformed Mars, which was visibly being transformed to its fullest without the Traveler's direct help, behind it.

After their long journey back to Earth, humanity entered a golden age. The maximum capacity of normal human life tripled, technology exploded, sentient AIs became a reality in the golden age. Nations everywhere united within a week's span of time, for what point would an independent nation exist, if all other nations had the same ideals as the nation? Hatred and intolerance disappeared from the everyday life of humanity, and humanity became one of pure reasoning. As such, they found no reason to not conquer the stars anymore. During this golden age, every planet, every moon was colonized by humanity, and given life so that even when they abandoned the planet or moon, one day they'd hope to find a new civilization birthed among their own star.

But something happened. I quickly guessed.

Even with the technological warminds, AIs built for war such as Rasputin, and hundreds of inventions that already were doing the things SIVA could do, they stood no hope against what was to come. Skorri then made a mental image for me, four unknown, and vastly different aliens standing in a black background. One was reminiscent of a spider, the other was reminiscent of a cyborg, another looked like a mutant zombie, and the last alien looked like a titan, but as I was sure Inigo would put it, 'a thiccer titan'.

An ancient enemy of the Traveler known as the Darkness, and the four races following in its wake known as the Hive, Fallen, Vex, Cabal, swept through the solar system. All life on every planet except Earth disappeared as fast as they came. Whether or not the Traveler had sensed it coming or not, it waited in ambush for the Darkness on Earth, and fought it back, intending on saving humanity. The Traveler won, pushing back the Darkness, though not without its own injuries. Broken, the Traveler entered a stasis in Russia, creating a field of arc light that fended off the minions of Darkness, and allowed humanity to rebuild itself under it.

Skorri then showed another image, of many white diamonds with a blue eyes in the shape of a diamond surrounding the Traveler, a circle serving as a pupil for each and every one of the blue diamond eyes. As one final gift, the Traveler released the ghosts. AIs gifted with the light of the Traveler, to revive the risen again and again so that they can grow, and protect humanity with their strength. As I've stated here and there, some didn't, while most did. Most of those risen became the Vanguard, while those with a letter of recommendation from one of their own became the strongest warriors of light known as Iron Lords. While towns were built outside of the Traveler's field, such as the fabled town of Palamon, the minions of Darkness paid no heed to them, as humanity knew their one goal was the Traveler itself.

You're sure the four races are directly under the control of the Darkness?

That's something humanity itself still isn't sure about. For the only race that paid more attention to towns were the Hive, though they were in rarity on Earth. There’s the House of Devils, a group of Fallen that have assaulted the city, though there were many other houses that sat in envy, like Winter or Wolves. The Vex were- and no pun intended- simply vexing, and the Cabal were just conquistadors. The Darkness hasn't shown any other armies at all ever since the collapse. Then we Iron Lords found SIVA and... well you know the rest from there. I then felt worry, which I assumed was Skorri's.

I just hope the Vanguard doesn't do anything stupid. We're still weak in power, so taking Earth's very own moon is impossible for humanity as it was even with we Iron Lords. Knowing the consensus without people with common sense, guardians are most likely going to drop fast. Especially since Timur isn't there to tell the stubborn bastards otherwise.

What is the consensus?

A group of idiotic mortals who convinced everyone that risen should stay on the battlefield, and not have a hand in militarization. She spat the word mortals out with venom in her voice. Sure the city has been around for only one or two centuries before I got killed, but a group of mortals dictating the military is the worse thing to have compared to near immortal veterans. Especially since most of them haven't fought any of the four races. Did you know they tried to get lady Perun to be the hunter vanguard? A millennium of teaching guardians, and doing paperwork is NOT suited for any hunter. Thank the Traveler we got her, before she became some mindless tutor arguing with the consensus. She's way too powerful to be locked in some tower.

I felt my own disgust building up quickly with hers. And everyone's fine with this?

I think you'll be glad to hear that the consensus has come under fire for a lot of problems in the city. I expect it to disband or become full of guardians before the third century.

Thank god for that. Actually, should I be saying Traveler now since there's a actual god for me to talk about?

God works fine. Anyways, to sum up what you should expect when we get there, Cabal are all about war, Hive are extremely aggressive fighters, Fallen will shove a grenade up your ass when you least expect it, and Vex are random. Pretty much anything that's remotely human is your friend there. Well, the Traveler isn't human, but you get what I mean!

I get what you mean. Now let’s get back to training. I then started moving to a clear area to train.

Oh, and by the way Aaron?

Yeah?

Do relieve yourself from time to time. While I get your nervousness, it's not stopping the constant flow of dirty fantasies.

Oh give me a break on that already! It's not as if you always had somebody always being around for everything you do.

I laughed, Skorri's humor overwhelming my annoyance.Funny you mention that actually. You remember Reidi?

DON'T tell me about your escapades. The last thing I need to do is to fantasize about an old fart.

Ah, kids these days...

Anyways what about you Rasputin? What's your story in that universe?

The data regarding my time before the Iron Lords invaded the SIVA complex is missing. I hardly remember what I've done during the collapse. Though I can tell you about this AI I had with me called Charlemagne.

Go on.

Charlemagne was perhaps one of the best AIs I had in storage, almost on par with my capabilities. He was a very kind and understanding AI, and insisted on letting me entrust him with fulfilling the mission of destroying, or permanently hiding any remnants of SIVA upon taking my leave. He was also the one to help destroy the majority of invading Iron Lords.

Wait, so it wasn't you who went and slaughtered us?

That is true. Charlemagne took control of the frames, while I had the turrets. His combat strategies, as you have seen, are near perfect.

I took a few seconds to contemplate what he said. Then distrust surfaced from me.

I don't like him Rasputin.

Explain.

He's the greatest AI from what we're getting here. He's perfect... too perfect in fact. Call it my paranoia, but he smells of megalomania.

Your concerns are justified. However, I am certain that once we come back, we'll have the complex quickly restored to its full potential.

I think I'd be in agreement here on that. Surely the greatest warmind to live wouldn't be outclassed by a mere AI right?

I'm just saying, an always is a never, and he's sounding an awful lot like an always.

Crossover:Strife

Author's Note

This takes place after History Lessons. And before you get on your mouse to dislike, the crossover will not affect the whole story. Similar to the interlude, it’ll be just a sidequest to the protagonist, and the ending will not affect the story to the point where you always see it every fight scene.

Now the huntsman himself on the other hand... boy do I got interactions to write with.

Editor:Vutava

Co-author:Lord Krahtorra

Crossover:Strife

While waiting for Shining Armor to come back, I encountered a man in strange garb that had appeared before me. He was armored from head to toe, with a common-sized helm in the design of a human skull with the back of the head warped from an unseen heat into the shape of a crown almost, the metal warped from rust, overuse and the same unseen heat. Below that there was a somewhat standardised full medium shoulder plate and grieves. His gauntlets and boots were light enough to walk in, thick enough to take several blows and also seemed warped, having seen heavy use with the strange metal plate and chain armor for the torso that was covered by a raggedy dark grey cloak that only went as far as the elbows and bit further down the back, holes riddling it. The ends flayed out like sad, decrepit streamers. It goes up, covering and wrapped around the neck area There was something about it that was similar to a sort of skirt, going below the knees, one side going further and the ends seeming to be almost like a pale fur. Several belts were at the waist, mostly chain and loop hooks.

In his hand was a weapon about the length of a long sword, maybe a bit longer, and seemed to be similar to a duel lance because of the spiral-like blades, but it was too small to be so, the blade at the pommel shorter, by about a half of the blade or so. The hand guards were circular, as if for a rapier or cutlass and a similar handle guard shaped similarly to the coiled blades.

Within the cracks, crevices, and empty space of the armor, a dark night-sky-like aura wafted off of it gently yet menacingly, flecks of small dying cinders and embers jumping off and fading as they float gently away on an unseen wind. The "sword" was the same, the space between the spirals seeming to generate the aura the same way as the armor, that is, like a blazing inferno being contained by an unseen force, as if he was willing it into containment.

"Greetings, mortal. I am the huntsman. Willst thou test thy mettle?"

Well you could use the training.

This is irrelevant to our current objective.

I’m sorry, are we supposed to be arguing right now? Besides, I believe the objective was to protect SIVA. That’s something a blind man could do, and a little sidequesting hurts nobody.

Having dealt ensuing argument between a AI built for war, and my healer as well as teacher, I stared at the man for a moment underneath my helmet, before shrugging.

“Why not? I could use a little finesse.”

He nodded before turning to an empty wall and held out his hand, a gout of flame extending from it and burning the wall as a door formed from the embers. “After you, sir Wintermeyer. Or wouldst thou prefer Aaron?”

I stared at the huntsman with a little shock, slightly moving for Ether Nova. The fuck did he burn my wall for? Whatever, it’s not as if that’s coming along with me. “Aaron is fine.”

The huntsman chuckled at my shock. “Do not worry, the burns will repair themselves, and the door will only appear for the time being, until you and I go through. You will gain access to my arena with greater ease after the first trial. It hath been many eons since my arena hath tasted blood, I am quite eager for your steel to rend beast flesh.”

Reminds me of that time when I had-

Skorri, I SWEAR to the Traveler that if you tell me another sex story, I’ll shank myself to make you feel pain.

You don’t even have a sword.

I’ll find a way to do it.

Quickly regaining my composure, I entered the door without another word. Around me was an arena with a cone shape and dirt floor, the center of the arena a grate that seemed to function as a drainage system of some sort, torches lining the walls with chains hanging from them, upon experimentally tugging on one, I noticed that they were impossible to move even in the slightest.

Odd… I thought to myself, before turning to the huntsman. “So any rules I should be aware of?”

The huntsman nodded. “Never tamper with your opponent before the fight, and your powers will be dramatically reduced to make the fight a challenge.” He then hummed in thought, “Oh, and if you win, please move the corpse of the beast to the center, it helps with the blood forge.”

Sounds like he may be a bit familiarized with the light then. Is he going to put exposure in the arena or something along those lines?

Exposure?

Increased shields, but no shield regen. Actually on second thought, I doubt that’d be the case for increased shields. He might make a variant. Better for you to learn to fight with permanent damage in the long run anyways.

The huntsman smiled. “Oh, and there is a reward if you succeed, be it a piece of gear, or a favor from me, mayhaps even a tamed beast loyal to you.”

Skorri, didn’t you say something about it being mandatory for Iron Lords to know how to use a sword?

Yeah, for each and every class of risen.

“Well hope I win this for a cool sword or something.” I said after a little internal conversing with Skorri.

The huntsman smiled. “I have longed to craft a blade for a long time. I hope thee succeed.” He then pulled out three cages, each one containing beasts that looked fierce beyond compare, yet also familiar..., as if they were infected by SIVA. “Here we have some beasts that will be a good challenge for you. Pick one to fight.”

In one cage stood a massive creature that resembled a werewolf, but had its arms enveloped in SIVA and had fire dancing along its body in place of fur, as well as two empty eye sockets filled with the eyes from ghosts. I immediately focused on it, mainly the SIVA part.

Potential hostile detected

“Where’d you get this guy from? Rasputin is getting a little trigger happy here.”

The huntsman smiled “I have many different realms which I can explore, I simply collected some SIVA and let my blood forge create beasts from it. Do not worry, if you choose one of his kin as a reward, or any of these beasts, they will be loving and loyal towards thee. This particular beast I refer to as an Infernal Fenris, it is best for long sieges, as it can set flame to the infrastructure of a building, and generate heat intense enough to melt iron. It can also imbue your weapons with the same potent flames.”

I hummed in thought. “Didn’t know emotions could be programmed into an infected entity. A bit neat I may say, if not to help me understand how SIVA works a little better.” That was no small fact on my part. Shining Armor and the horde leaders could potentially be reversed, though could would be the key word here.

Due to its nature, it will take ten times as long to kill a target like that at bare minimum infection time, and it will have resistance to SIVA attacks. Normal combat is suggested. Rasputin announced, having finished his analysis.

Now I’m torn between training you in sword combat, and getting a better wolf than Saladin’s own.

I’m not getting the wolf for you to take control and fuck it.

Who’d say I’d fuck it?

The huntsman nodded. “Indeed, the other two are similar, but different creatures, and elements were used alongside the SIVA.”

He then showed me the second cage, containing a massive manticore, this one having SIVA over its wings and tail, the tail and fur now covered in arcing electricity as it growled hungrily, its wings now larger than any Manticore of Equestrias Everfree forest, it obviously now capable of flight. “This is a Stormicore, these things can cause lightning storms, similar to pegasus weather teams, and will summon lightning to either strike its enemies or imbue your weapons, similar to the Fenris.”

“I’m not staying in Equestria forever, but I get what you mean,” I idly stated.

He then walked to the third and final cage, containing what looked like a massive troll. While it was not infected by SIVA, it was instead covered in black goo that seemed to shift and contort around it, as it twitched all across its form. “This is my proudest creation yet, a Dark-armored siege troll, imbued by what the people of the SIVAs origin would call void energy, except I hath inverted the energy signature. This beast is best for skirmishes in tight spaces, its bladed forearms can punch through most armor plating. It was my most recent foray into Darkness, but… I fear I shall only be making this one, the Darkness spreads too easily.”

Warning:Creature has been infected by what Skorri refers to as the Darkness. Expect an inability to infect it, as well as an extremely dangerous ability.

If I was in control with my Sunsinger powers, I’d light the abomination up right now! We have to kill it.

You’re joking right? We can probably expect a quick death from this thing.

At least some time in the future of course. Darkness is too dangerous, wherever it is.

The huntsman hums thoughtfully before I hear his voice in my mind “I understand your worry, give me but one moment, I shall dispose of the troll, give me a moment to make a different third challenge.” I quickly raised a hand to stop him.

“Two things: One, don’t be in my mind please. Two, I’d like to fight it myself some time in the future, but not right now. If it isn’t too much trouble, save it for me?”

Rasputin, how many invasions of my mind have happened since my journey?

Not counting my own and Skorri’s, that have been 2 so far.

You’re probably the most insane guy in the multiverse.

You brought it up in the first place. Besides, I need to learn how Darkness-imbued foes fight eventually.

The huntsman nods before the troll disappears in a puff of smoke, replaced by another creature, this one resembling a demon of some sort but also infected with SIVA, it had a massive bladed tail and its eyes glowed with a pale red light.
“This creature, originally a Deathclaw from a universe ravaged by war and destroyed by the power of the atom, is now made into a bloodthirsty being made for the express purpose of sowing terror and carnage among its prey and foes. It has also been imbued with Void energy, and it can teleport short distances every twelve minutes, as well as see in near complete darkness. I call it the Darklaw.” He then looked to me and chuckled, his excitement obvious. “I hope you enjoy your battle, and come out on top, pup. May the blood feeding the forge be that of thy foes. Now, pick thy opponent.”

I quickly went to converse with Skorri and Rasputin inside my mind.

So which of the three sounds like a good idea?

Since we probably aren’t going to expect teleporting targets in the near future, I’d say the Darklaw would be out of the question, unless you’re a glutton for punishment. The werewolf is probably the easiest of the bunch, though I would prefer NOT to kill him, and take him with us.

Again, no bestiality. I am not transforming into a girl so you can use the werewolf as a playtoy.

What if I tell you some of the secret tricks most titans and hunters never see warlocks do?

Fuuuuuuuuuuuu…

My data suggests that we’d be at a even stance with the stormicore. As long as we hit consistent headshots or get a few blasts in with Ether Nova, victory should be certain.

Kinda like having a flying vehicle though… damnit you two are tearing me apart! I’ll take the Darklaw, and we’ll talk while we do it. That good to everybody? Don’t care, I’m doing it.

“I’ll fight the Darklaw.”

The huntsman smiles as he nods “Oh, and if you survive, know that I accept favors and trades for the beasts. I need new data for the blood forge every so often.”

“On that note actually, I have a large variety of infected in my world. Mayhaps you would be interested in a few Dysentials or Haemerogers for them?”

He grinned as he nodded “Gladly, if you survive, I will allow you to trade me one of each beast for one of each of mine, though I hope you choose a sword as a reward for the fight. I do miss smithing. The reason you must fight first, if you are wondering, is that I am bound by old rules. I must follow them, or face an agonizingly painful end.”

“That sucks. Well, Skorri did insist on using this opportunity to train, so I suppose it doesn’t matter much.”

The huntsmen seemed to relax a bit “I am quite relieved you understand. I hope thy battle is fruitful, and thy attacks strike true!” I nodded before taking a look around for the door to the fighting area, only for the huntsman to gesture to my right, and a staircase down to the arena’s fighting area appeared from a wall “Your opponent shall be in the battleground before thee. Strike hard, and strike true!”

I nodded, turning to the staircase and practicing what Skorri called the ‘Bunnyhop’ as I went down the stairs, occasionally hitting the roof a few times and rolling on the stairs as a result.

As I entered the pit, the Darklaw had its back to me, and was eating what looked like a mammoth's head. It turned to me after sniffing the air, growling with rage before disappearing right off the bat!

On instinct I rolled towards the head and looked behind me, stealing a glance at my ammo counter as I did so.

Steel Medula: 36/288

Ether Nova:3/25

Sleeper Simulant:0/9

I grit my teeth. Hope this guy drops some heavy ammo then, I thought as I stayed on edge, intently listening for any sound cues of the Darklaw, as I spun my gaze around the room looking in every direction as I held Ether Nova in my hands, I then noticed that the light from the torches above me was being blocked and looked at one of the four pillars in the arena to see the Darklaw was perched on it not but a second ago, now in mid leap towards me!

Having seen a few online matches of Inigo’s, I quickly recalled the best way to counter this attempted sneak attack would be to roll under the Darklaw while it was stuck in the air. I charged Ether Nova as I threw myself underneath it in a barrel roll, hoping to have landed a successful hit.

The roll went successfully, the Darklaw’s claws grazing me with void energy as we passed each other. At least it can’t teleport. I thought to myself, adrenaline pumping in my veins, as I did a kip to get myself back on my feet.

The Darklaw got up just as quick from its pounce, though not without wounds. Two void burns were on its chest, bleeding a little as the Darklaw focused on me.

Think smart, warlock. How exactly can we trick our foes into making their own demise?

...Maybe I can glide over it and go for the organs inside…

Maybe. However, remember that above all, you have to learn your enemy first..

The Darklaw growled as it began charging more void energy around it, it seemed to be making concentrated orbs of Void energy around it. A scan from Rasputin said that these orbs would cause severe damage, most likely able to take my shields out entirely.

Dodging seems like a good idea then. I thought to myself, not willing to take any unnecessary damage. I focused on the orbs, waiting for the slightest sign of movement from them. Wait… maybe it’ll go for a melee attack afterwards. If I glide before-hand, it’ll allow an opening to raze his insides.

The orbs then fired towards me, and I jumped up into the air, bursting with speed as I defied gravity to dodge the orbs, and I held Ether Nova to aim for the creature’s mouth.

“Open wide!” I goaded the Darklaw in an attempt to make it rush me.

The Darklaw roared loudly as it took the bait, and I cancelled my glide just as it got close enough, quickly falling down to the creature. I thrusted the gun into its mouth upon landing, attempting to give it the same treatment Godzilla had given Orga in 2000 as I charged it.

The Darklaw seemed to be charging its own void blast in its mouth as I did this, the beast trying to destroy Ether Nova with void energy. As Inigo would say it: I could not pull my dick out faster, or in this case the gun as I climbed over its face, firing it into the back. Though it was far too late for me to get out of the way, as the beast fired the beam, sending me flying.The last of the beam broke my shields and I bounced across the dirt, rolling all the while. Thinking that playing the raccoon trick would work unfavorably in this situation, I flipped myself over to a kneeling situation, pushing my arm into the ground to slow my momentum.

The Darklaw growled as it seemed to point at me, before making a slicing motion at its throat. It ran to the nearest pillar to use it as a platform to leap at me from, arm ready to gouge my core out!

Seems like somebody didn’t like that throat fucking! Skorri said as I tried to dodge, the beast instead scratching my arm.

Not helping Skorri! I thought, unknowingly holding the trigger in frustration. As the beast tried to grab at me, the Nova fired just as it did so, the beast throwing me into the air as the void beams connected with it. The beast staggered, its pain overwhelming it for a bit.

As I went airborne, I dropped a pulse grenade down at the beast’s location, causing it to leap back in surprise. The initial blast however, was not far enough, causing shockwaves of arc light to go across the armor for one pulse. The arc light fried my body, not enough to kill me or make me pass out, but enough for it to hurt tremendously.

Steel Medula changed to high caliber.

Just as he said that, I saw the ammo count on the Sleeper Simulant change, there was now one shot, ready to be fired. I then saw the Huntsman coughing up some strange liquid before shakily rising to his feet and disappearing.

Time seemed to slow down around me, though I did not know why. I helped you initiate your adrenaline to extraordinarily high amounts. Thought you might need it since you are stuck between two decisions here: Take the heavy and reload for an easy win, or hope your Medula takes him down for the count. Might make the huntsman give you two awesome swords for this.

I bit my lip, thinking hard on what to do. The creature is fast, so I doubt that if it didn’t flinch from the shots I would have enough time to switch and charge Sleeper to finish it off. On the other hand, if it did I would be able to have that manticore.

I made the latter decision. I quickly pulled out Sleeper Simulant, the pulse grenade dispersing as I did so, and charged up Sleeper Simulant. The creature lunged at me, intending to pounce on me and rip me to shreds, but it was far too late.

Sleeper Simulant fired, vaporizing the creature’s head as blood poured like a fountain from the stub, the blood flowing freely down to the drain in the center of the arena. I panted, exhausted from the adrenaline overflow, my core whirring loudly next to my thumping heart, as I made move to drag the body over to the drain.

I had won, and that opened more ways for me to grow stronger.

Oh, and that comment I made earlier about throat fucking? Made you fire that last round on Ether Nova. I wonder where’d you be now if it weren’t for me?

Shut up, I said just as I left the body over the drain, limping up the staircase to meet with the huntsman.

As I approached, I saw the huntsman doubled over, retching a strange liquid into a large pipe that seemed to feed into the grounds below. “Guh… g-good job, pup… you have done well. You have earned the right to trade and come and go freely… as well as a favor of your choosing…”

I looked at the huntsman in concern. “You ok? Skorri has taught me how to heal people, if you’re having internal hemorrhaging I can easily fix that up.”

The huntsman smiled kindly. “That requires that I have organs… The fire thou see in my armor? That is mine body…” He shakily stood up. “I was punished for aiding thee, yet, I regret it not…”

Maybe we can come back here and get him some solar light, provided that he can have it. It should release him from the confines of the arena.

Key word is should Skorri. We don’t know anything about this arena and how powerful it is… for all we know reality eaters are contained within here.

The huntsman sighed. “I suppose I should tell thee… This arena is a part of me, as I am a part of it, we require each other to exist. There is no freeing me of it, as I AM it…” He looked to me. “I am only allowed freedom when I go to collect new creatures for the forge… and only rarely then… my greatest wish is to have the comradery you mortals seem to have so easily…”

A shame… well we could send Lord Shaxx here when we can. At least it’ll provide guardians an ever-expanding place to fight in, as well as someone who could sympathize. Or something along those lines, since Shaxx likes to say he’s the crucible an awful lot. I’m kind of torn between him actually thinking he is, or that’s a metaphor for him being the leader of it.

The Huntsman sighed. “Mayhaps one day I shall become capable of freely traveling these realms…”

”I’ll come back after I get back with my brother Inigo. Maybe we’ll find somebody that’ll be your roommate or something like that,” I said, sympathizing with the huntsman. “Now about that sword…”

The huntsman smiled “I shall forge thee a weapon unparalleled! Thy weapon shall make the gods of war weep in envy!” He then drank what looked like a goblet full of pure liquid light before he stood up, and took me with him to the oddest looking forge I had ever seen. The entire area was red as blood, yet had a glossy texture resembling the chitin plating of a changeling, yet without the holes. There were patches of SIVA as well that seemed to be piping blood into a central furnace that was blazing with the same flames that apparently made up the huntsman’s body. He took out a strange hammer, seemingly made from flesh and chitin, as he pounded away at a piece of metal, the metal developing odd runes at every hit of the hammer, only to disappear at the next swing. When he was done, he presented me with a sword that had equal parts metal and chitin on it, with a strange energy I and Rasputin did not recognize.

Sword appears to be infused with Solar light of the huntsman’s origin. There are traces of hive make in this sword, but not enough to harm an ascendant hive even with the most powerful of light enhancements. Able to absorb pure unaltered hive magic.

So technically my first encounter with the hive, right Skorri?

Well the hive have been known to use others as chitin for armor and ships so… yes?

“Thanks for the sword,” I said, putting it on a holster Rasputin made on my thigh, and doing a bow after I did so. “I’ll see you soon.”

The huntsman smiled. “I hope so, pup, thy presence is...pleasant.” He then handed me a key, which seemed to be equal parts chitin and SIVA, with a glowing orb at the base of the key. “Use this on any door, if thy wish to return.”

I walked back to the door, opening it and seeing the familiar cold that was the Crystal Empire’s outskirts. The military tents greeted me, with snow on their roofs. I walked out of the arena, sword in hand and stronger than I ever was beforehand. I looked back at the huntsman, waving a little before closing the door. The door then disappeared in the same fashion as it reappeared, leaving the wall the way it originally was.

“Luna is not going to believe what I just went through…” I muttered to myself.

Well it seems as if we'll have to do some sword training then. Now, I'll show you how we guardians slice-

Oh yeah I almost forgot! I quickly pulled the sword from it's holster, holding it over my left rib. This is for that sex joke!

DON'T YOU FUCKING-

Chapter 13:Reunion

The house was clean, with no sign of dust littered about the place, as if someone has been here. Everything was exactly as I left it, nothing stolen, nothing taken away, everything was in perfect condition and was in its spot. I checked what year it was on the TV. Only a week has passed since we had gotten displaced, though mom was nowhere in sight.

"Is that you I hear Aaron?" I heard from the bathroom down the hall. "Hold on a second, just finishing up a call with nature over here!"

I sighed. It feels a bit refreshing to hear that voice again.

Definitely more... vocal about what he's doing though.

Told you he has no standards.

I sat at the couch, taking off my helmet as soon as I did so in wait for him. Sure enough a half minute later he came out of the hall, using his left arm to hold his helmet at the side, a smile on his face. I noted that since our displacement he's gotten a little taller than me.

"Knew the dude wasn't lying," he said, moving to sit on the couch too. He pulled a data chip out of his pockets, offering it to me. "Here, this should help you get back to your old self. Made this one after figuring out how to copy emotions into data. Just place it on top of your head, the SIVA in your body will cause it to be quickly absorbed."

I nodded, putting it on top of my head. I waited as the hairs on my head shifted, and I felt the flesh around my head make way for the chip. This went on for 10 seconds, before coming to a stop. I suddenly felt a sense of a long, unfulfilled hunger for something I hadn’t even known I wanted finally being sated, the flesh closing up and leaving me normal again.

"...Huh. Didn't hurt this time around. What did you do to make that happen?"

"The chip stimulated the dopamine receptors to take away the pain as it got in, thus making it painless. It won't last forever, but at best you get a headache. Now," He then put his feet on the table. "tell me about your universe. Or would you rather I tell mine? It's been quite a while anyways, so I'm leaving preference up to you.

I hummed in thought. "Well it's not exactly a pretty one. See, I got sent to a Equestria that was taken over by this asshole named Dainn-"

He raised his hand. "Say no more. I'm going to assume you had already freed Equestria before Discord sent you here?"

"That..." I trailed off for a moment. "isn't very far off from the story actually. I also met a few displaced while I was there."

He smiled. "I'll have to meet them. Gotta be good people if they helped you out right?"

I nodded, pulling out Circuit Breaker from its holster to show it to Inigo. "The first displaced, also known as the huntsman, gave me this sword. He also gave me a key, so that I could return to his arena. I just have to use it on anything that's a door."

"A key that functions like SCP-860? Either he's really powerful, or a void dweller helped him shape that key."

"Funny you say that, because he's quite literally his own arena. I don't think there's anything beyond what you see there though, never gotten to see if there was really an outside of the place."

He hummed in thought. "May I have that key? I'd like to pay a visit myself, see what challenges the huntsman may have for me. Plus Radegast has given me a lot of sword training." He then pulled out a sword handle, it suddenly turning into an actual sword. "I say that, cause he is my sword!"

The sword then vibrated in a groan, surprising me. "Inigo, I swear the next battle we have, you're on your own."

Skorri then threw me out of control, the armor changing so fast, that it would've made chameleons look bad if they were there. Skorri then pulled the sword out of Inigo's grasp as hard as my body could, Inigo having no time to resist.

"What are you-" Inigo was cut off as Skorri sheathed Circuit Breaker, and smiled at the sword.

"Hey there big guy. Remember me?"

"That armor scheme... I can only think of one person who likes to run those colors."

Skorri then leaned in to whisper, “When we get actual bodies, you and I are going to have a lot of 'training' to do.”

The sword grumbled. "Damn warlocks and their sword glides..." Those words being the only thing I can make out of it.

"Riiight," Inigo drawled, taking Radegast back in his grasp. "I'm pretty sure that's Skorri who took Radegast from me right there. Skorri, can this be done at another time? We're trying to have a conversation."

Less than a few minutes in, and you've already embarrassed me. Why am I not surprised?

If you've lived as long as me, you'd know some things are better said immediately rather than later. The armor changed back at its usual rate, and I felt control coming back. Now go back to what you were doing.

I awkwardly coughed, looking away in slight embarrassment. "Sorry about that. Skorri's mind only seems to be on things of sexual nature."

He smirked in amusement. "Figured as much."

"So," I said a little louder than I usually am. "I believe that you owe me a story as well?"

He blanched in disgust. "Not very different from yours. Well, except for the fact I had girls of literally every kind trying to rape me."

My eyes hardened into a interrogative glare. "You didn't let them do it did you?"

"Hell no! Especially since a nice portion of them were loli girls. The day I stick my dick in a succubus or loli, is the day where I truly go insane." He sighed, getting up from the couch. "I'm going to grab a drink real quick. You want anything?"

"A bottle of cola from the fridge would be nice."

He nodded, moving into the kitchen. A few moments later, he came back with it in his right hand, a can of Sprite in his other. I took the drink from him, remembering to thank him afterwards. He opened up his can of Sprite, taking a sip of it.

"I actually do know the universe though," he started off, taking a sip before continuing, "and apparently I'm 20 whole years before the universe's story even started. So I'm left with monster girls to fuck, and be fucked by. Considering there wasn't anybody I was just going to carelessly shove my dick in, I decided to take up mercenary work, whether it'd be by a displaced, or an inhabitant of the realm I was in. There's not a single foe who I can battle in an actual sword fight, and those who can are incredibly weak."

I raised a brow, taking a few sips from my drink before speaking. "Literally nobody is good enough?"

"Well, there is Granberia, but she's 5, and only a tenth of my strength, so it still wouldn't be a fight to begin with. Plus, I really don't think it'd be a good idea to piss off the world's only, and incredibly powerful fire spirit, Salamander." He cracked a grin. "I did make myself a bit of a myth around there though. Saved plenty of humans from death, as well as scared off ridiculously powerful monsters, like some of Promenstein's creations. Ugly bitches those things are." He then lost his grin, sighing before choosing to gulp down the rest of the drink. "Honestly? I would've traded mine for yours in a heartbeat. Slicing up some dumb fucks would've been better than slicing up smart fucks with actual lives."

I nodded. "Must've been a bad place to train."

"Exactly. Which is why," he then stood up. "I'm going to need that key for a few. Maybe the huntsman will have something I can slice at." He outstretched his arm, opening the palm of his hand for the key. I downed the rest of the cola, leaving the bottle on the couch before standing up. I reached into one of my pockets, and...

Wait. I thought to myself as I grabbed the other object, and pulled out to see two keys! Did he sneak this in while I wasn't looking? I stared at the extra for a second, before shrugging and giving the extra to him.

"It's actually good timing too," I quickly noted.

"Oh?" he said, looking at me inquisitively as he put the extra key in his pocket.

"Remember when I said I met a few displaced? I still have yet to tell of you the SIVA wraith... zombie, thing or whatever the guy is."

"So the other guy you met was a physical form of SIVA?!" he exclaimed. "Dude, that's so goddamn broken!"

"Pretty sure it is, though I haven't gotten to see his normal abilities. He summoned, as well as controlled, a graug and helped me take over the Crystal Empire. Though I'm pretty sure the whole graug thing caught the huntsman's attention, which means those two are probably in a bit of a scuffle."

"So get in, tell the huntsman that the graug is his, and maybe fight a few beasts?" He held Radegast across his shoulder. "Sounds like a good plan to me!"

He's probably striking some sort of pose from a video game. "Essentially. But don't you think you should introduce me to some of your friends? After all, this is just some guy who fought with me at the Empire against small fry. There's really no need to intervene."

He hummed in thought. "Well you got a point." He then reached into his own pockets, shuffling around for a bit before pulling out a SIVA cluster and placing it on the couch. "I met a displaced SIVA titan as I messed about the place. She asked me for some help with a tough foe back at her dimension, so we kicked its ass with fire and lightning." He then clenched his open fist, traces of arc energy around it. "I was the lighting raining too many blows against the sod." He then unclenched, and picked up the cluster. "Wonder what she's up to now?"

I smirked. "Only one way to find out what your girlfriend is doing huh?"

He stared blankly at me. "You know, that's supposed to be my line..."

*Complex ???*
*3XXX Earth*

A lone scouting drone moves to up to a lone computer, activating and using it to open a large door. Behind the door, a man in modified warlock SIVA armor stood staring at the door, as if in waiting.

"What is the newest report on Rasputin? Has he finally left the universe?"

"AS YOU HAVE PREDICTED, WARMIND. OPERATION 72727983 IS NOW ON WAY TO FULL PROGRESSION. SHALL WE ATTACK THE BROKEN REALM AS LAID IN THE PLANS?"

"No. Our most prominent threat has yet to be removed from the field. Spy on the last draconequus. Those inferior machines should be taking him soon, and when they do, return so I may commence the invasion."

"AS YOU COMMAND, WARMIND."

As the scouting drone left, the man turned to a console, pressing a button. Various monitors lit up, showing each and every city of Equestria from a multitude of different angles.. "You thought you have fended me off, successfully spared me from your pitiful mess you call a civilization... how wrong you are to assume someone of my caliber would let go so easily." He looked to a monitor, spotting Discord annoying Princess Celestia. "You're but a foolish pawn in a game of chess you are, thinking such a thing. Nobody beats a true AI built for war in a game of chess. Not even a 'god of chaos', as you would call yourself, Discord."

Author's Note

First chapter out of Equestria! Hmmm, I wonder how many displaced fics have gotten out of it. That's a thought right there.

Flood Supreme (edited)

I jumped upright from my otherwise peaceful slumber, as the noise blasted throughout the hotel room. Quickly, my eyes dart around the room taking rapid glances at everything. It wasn't until I heard a yawn, and some movement did I relax a little. There he was across the room, my little brother.

Inigo, who judging by his relaxed look, unknowingly just told me he brought an alarm clock that makes ticking bomb sounds. I knew he had brought a DS or something, but he never told me that he brought a alarm clock as well. He stared at me for a few seconds, taking in my expression, before his lips then curled up into a wide impish grin.

"Morning bro, forgot to tell you I was going to bomb the place, didn't I?”

He then reached underneath the nightstand between our beds, and pulled out the source of the noise. The DS itself. I looked at it with a thousand yard stare, if only for a few moments, before facepalming and dragging it on my face, which tugged at my bottom eyelids.

"Goddammit Inigo, when will you stop throwing pranks at me already?" I whined. At this point, his resistance broke and fell down laughing. "It's like you get turned on by this!"

"Sorry, but I *snort* don't have either of those fetishes bro." He managed to utter through his laughter. He's 5"11 in height, and is 18, the youngest of the family. He has auburn hair, with hazel green eyes, one of which when looked at closely, has a vein underneath it. He was somewhat buff, no doubt due to the fact he took dance classes alongside me at 8. He never ceased to confound me, and tries to make me laugh. He is also very knowledgeable about some parts of the internet, due to the fact he surfs the internet as his past time.

Of course Inigo didn't ignore his studies, but he would always learn of some interesting concepts. He once told me of some group called... errr what was it again? Supersede or something? I'll ask him about it later, but the concept is somebody grabs some sort of enchanted item/costume, through any means that don't break reality's laws, and transport them in another dimension. Like WoW, or Diablo. They also become a particular character that the item is resembling. For instance, a murlock.

I myself, am 25, and am the oldest. My name's Aaron Wintermeyer. I'm two inches taller than him, and already out of college. I wasn't terribly interested in video games, as I never saw them as Inigo described them, "Interactive, more realistic feeling stories". I just saw them as a means, to live out the weird fantasies some gamers have. By weird, I of course mean the kind of enjoyment they get from blowing stuff up, and having town guardsmen fight flying trains, as well as werewolves, and zombies, all whilst fighting alongside a bear with a lute. I was just more focused on the actuality of stuff, college, and making a living.

"Oh quit your crap already Inigo!" I said with some irritation, already making my way to the shower. "Otherwise I'll leave you here to laugh, as I am not going to skip the first day of RTX." That I meant well on, and he knew it as he pushed himself up, still giggling all the way as he got his own clothes ready.

We have both been working on getting our own tickets to RTX, ever since the first time we went. I personally just found it fun to mingle with outside communities, and talk about the things Rooster Teeth made. I had first gotten interested, after he begged me once to drive him to RTX back in 2015, since our parents were going to be out of town for two weeks. He had gotten tickets for the two of us, and said it'd be fun.

The problem? We lived in California, and it was at least a two day drive. Sure we could've taken the plane, but neither of us liked the idea of flying in one of those. So after half of the day before they left being spent getting egged on to heading towards RTX, I naturally agreed, just to get him to shut up about it. That, and I heard they were letting people try out the Vive.

I took a quick shower, seeing that neither of us have all the time in the world. We had a mile-long walk to go through, after all. After I had finished scrubbing up, wrapped the towel around my waist, and swapped places with Inigo. I opened up my bag and got some briefs on, unwrapping the towel on my waist once completed. I was about to get the rest of my clothes on when I realized something.

The cosplay tryouts are today.

I had paused for a second. Did I bring the outfit? I searched the bag again, and I did indeed pack the uniform. The first warlock armor you get in Destiny and the respective titan version for my brother. Though it was going to look a bit silly, since titans are supposed to be bigger than the other subclasses. However, one crucial component was forgotten, at least for me since he has his already.

Fucking kill me now all gods or deities out there, it'd be nice if you could. I had accidentally left my ghost at the previous hotel. My bro spent 2 weeks trying to make doubles of at least somewhat of a replica of the actual thing.

Wait, did he even bring his? I re-checked the bag. No ghosts at all. I sighed and got in the costume. Might as well wear these anyways.

I stood up, and began to make my way to the bathroom door when a knock had interrupted my thought process on how to break this to him. I instead went over to the door, and found a rather unsettling man standing there. He wore a hoodie that was blocking a full view of his face and had his hands in the pockets of the hoodie.

"Excuse me, but are these two items yours?" As he pulled out his hands, I saw he had a couple of ghosts on them. I stared dumbfounded at my luck for a few seconds.

"Uhhh, yeah those are me and my bro's missing ghosts! How'd you find them?"

"I heard that a couple of adolescents were talking about heading to a convention, and one of the staff found these peculiar items." He said nonchalantly. "So I decided to be a good Samaritan and bring them back to their owner. Took me a bit to convince the guy who found them to let me return the goods." A hard to believe story, but I didn't care. Now shit ain't going to hit the fan.

"Well thanks for helping! I suppose you'd need a bit of money to compensate the trip, so lemme jus-" He held a hand up.

"No, your gratitude is good enough payment," he said. "Besides, I am here to conduct my own business, and it's where you wish to be... interacting, with the Rooster Teeth community. After all, I don't sell stolen goods."

"...I don't really know what to say, other than the Earth needs more people like you," I said, gobsmacked. "If there's any way I can assist in the future, please let me know." Honestly, I never expected this. Either must be my lucky day, or something bigger is going on here. At this point it doesn't matter. I have what I needed through pure luck.

I said my goodbyes and closed the door. Moving as fast as possible, I stuffed the ghost inside the bag and closed the door just in the nick of time. He walked out of the shower not suspecting a thing. He eyed me curiously. Did he hear the conversation?

"So who was at the door?" The confusion in his tone confirmed what I was thinking.

"Ah, just a nice friend of a friend. He's heading to the convention too, but he stopped by first to tell me where to head to, if we plan on traveling as a group."

"Sounds nice." he said as he got the titan gear on. He made a grab for his ghost when he was half-dressed, and froze for a second.

"Did you screw with them?" He eyed me suspiciously. I put on my best poker face, hoping to get out of this. Did he give us fakes?

"Uhhh no? Maybe you're just realizing how much they weigh." I said, putting on a confused voice. He inspected the ghost closely, looking for any differences.

"Hmmmm, the miniature flight systems are still there and able... is indeed the same... I guess you're right? Though it's rather strange..." Shrugging the confusion off, he put the ghost in his pocket. I picked up mine, and felt exactly what he meant. They were almost as heavy as they're supposed to be, but according to him everything is still there... just what did that guy do to these things?

Once we arrived to the dining room, I sat two plates at an unoccupied table. Fortunately, people were still getting ready for the morning, so the machines stayed relatively unoccupied. It only took me a few minutes of waiting to get my waffles in, and I quickly sat down as I placed the waffles on the plates, with a couple packets of syrup to pour them on.

We talked on about the shows Rooster Teeth had, him telling me his favorite gimmicks in the shows, talking about how RWBY and its comedy spin off are actually connected, save for a few clips here and there. He suddenly ended the conversation with a 'Race ya!', and took off. I sat there for a couple seconds before chuckling, and took off after him. It was only a short while that I overtook him, and began our 1 mile race towards the convention.

I panted heavily as my diaphragm worked furiously to obtain oxygen. I've run a mile before, but I had never done it sprinting, and definitely not when it was so unbearably humid. I had slowed into a medium paced jog, allowing him to catch up, and attempt to take me over with a slightly faster jog. He was about a few yards away from me, and I just had to hold out a little bit longer before he surrendered.

"STOP!" I heard him yell. Which I gladly did, by unceremoniously falling onto the ground. I turned over to see him panting heavily, unable to continue further. He slumped against a nearby wall, trying to catch his breath.

"If you're gonna ask, yes we're heading the right way." I paused for a moment to catch another breath. "RTX is straight ahead from the hotel door."

"Oh... well besides that, did you notice something was off with the ghosts? They feel way lighter than they should..."

"Ah,so my fellow skeleton brother has finally grown muscles?"

"Har har, you try staying in shape during college."

"You ever done taxes on your own, whilst taking care of your business? Do the stretching brother, it helps keep in shape."

"Whatever," He said as we pulled ourselves up to standing position. "How far are we anyways?"

"Approximately 195 yards before you stopped my internal counting, which equates to a total of-"

"English please."

"Not so far."

"Well then, let's just walk the rest of the way there." And thus, we walked the way there. We were sweating like pigs, so it wasn't going to matter anyways. "Since you were ahead of me at the time, you got the win."

"I keep this up,I'll be faster than Sonic the Hedgehog." He chuckled at that a bit.

"Doubt it."

We were in the middle of the convention, looking at the widescreen where Rooster Teeth were showing off the Outlast 2 demo. A guy dressed as Solaire was currently up there manning the movement, whilst Geoff did the looking. About halfway into it, they had entered a school and started wandering around. As they were entering one of the hallways, they encountered a little girl, who screamed and ran down the hallway. They peeked down the right side to see the girl being pulled into the ceiling by a mass of tentacles. The crowd was on the edge of their seats, but me and my bro were used to this sort of stuff, having played a ton of horror games and going into horror houses.

Then somebody killed the mood.

"GO DOWN THE HALLWAY!" I heard someone shout out. "I WANNA SEE THE HENTAI!"

I heard a few spit-takes, and looked towards the source of the noise. A teenager with a lobster shirt was smiling an impish grin as he continued urging the two to do so. While it was obvious that this stuff wouldn't be in the game, I saw a few glares go his way. The teenager, however, didn't appear to be bothered by this.

"COME ON NOW, IT WON'T BE THAT FREAKY!"

I had to giggle a bit at the situation. A teenager, who quite obviously is joking around, is getting some mixed looks as he urged the two to keep going. All said looks were turned to shock, as the duo finally decided to go down the hallway. They looked into the spot where they obviously wrongly assumed hentai was happening, only to find nothing but a black stain. There was some laughter as they finally realized that this is M rated, not A rated.

"PERVS!" I heard the teenager yell out.

Karma is a bitch however, as while some still stayed prepared for the worst, the rest, including him, weren't.

The duo opened a door next to the stain, only to be met with a guy rushing them. A loud sound struck the speakers, and the duo yelled at the sudden scare. As a result, I saw a few fall down in the chair sections.

But more importantly? The teenager yelped and fell on his ass, as well as some of the people who stared at him. More than a few who were shocked or scared at the time started laughing at that point. I was barely containing some rather disruptive laughter at that point and was about to release when Inigo tugged at my sleeves.

"Dude, look at that!" he said as he pointed to a cosplayer. "That's a hobgoblin with a working tail! Do you know how much I wanted to get a hands-on look at the things?!" Well isn't that nifty... makes me wonder if they used that for- NO! Bad brain! No boners in public! The cosplayer went behind the curtain, a place I could've sworn was protected by guardians...

"Alright, screw playing nice, I'm going in to ask him how he made it like that." He tried to run off, but a firm grasp on the collar of his shirt made sure he didn't go anywhere.

"No."

"But-"

"We could get kicked out, or even worse arrested for going into a restricted area. I'm not about to let you ruin our time here because somebody has a moving tail. That, and we smell bad so we'd be easy to spot." I stated with a tint of annoyance. "Besides, you could probably just google it."

"Google is unreliable!" he whined.

"With something that amazing, I bet there's a easy link to it floating around on the internet. Besides, you shouldn't go past the first page when looking up how to do stuff to begin with."

I then turned around whilst hearing him give out a 'hmph!', as he mumbled an unintelligible insult, which I ignored. After the Outlast demo, we stayed around the expo hall, playing games and such as we waited for the next event which was Halo minigames. After Halo minigames were said and done with, we went back to our hotels, outfits washed and ready to go for tomorrow for the judging. We settled in for tonight, ready to go to sleep.

I swung my sword down on the patriarchal cultist, easily splitting him in half. More cultists rushed me, weapons at the ready, and I only smiled murderously at the sight of them. Taking them by surprise, I slid and jumped past the cultists, cleaving and piercing heads as I did so with inhuman skill. The cultists tried to cut me back, but I dodged them like water flowing around an obstacle. I pulled out a pistol with my left arm and rained a horde of bullets down at the unsuspecting cultists. Not letting them take a breather, I cleaved off 12 heads with my sword and rolled back, reloading my gun as I did so. As I was about to fire again, a booming voice made itself known.

"ENOUGH!" A cultist said. The attacking cultists lowered their weapons and bowed before another cultist, who was quite obviously the leader. Not giving the idiot a chance, I aimed the pistol towards the leader, shooting him straight in the face. The bullet bounced off an energy shield that appeared to absorb the shot. The bastard smirked at this.

"You thought you could defeat me that easily huh? The god █████████ has blessed me with the ability to defy the monstrous weaponry of mankind! Only a fighter of true skill can best me,██████ prophet of █████████! I will turn you female for such cheap tricks!"

I only grinned at that. "Then you'll find that I'm going to kick your ass into the next realm!" I said while brandishing my sword. We charged towards each other, me shooting the cultists as they followed their leader into battle. As I was about to clash swords with the leader, the reality around suddenly stopped and started to look like as if I just had some LSD before sleeping. I tried to move, but I quickly found that my head couldn't move, much less the entirety of my body. I then tried to blink and found that did nothing other than the usual. My vision turned red for a few seconds before turning completely black.

I awoke with a sudden jolt, pain being present on my forehead, and it appeared as if Inigo had the same thing since I heard his covers moving as well. I frantically looked around for the offenders, ready to beat them up in a possible 2v2 since Inigo was hit too. After a quick check around, and a quick look underneath our beds, we relaxed but were quickly settled into confusion. Inigo was first to speak up.

"What the hell was that?" Inigo said, feeling the spot where he got pierced. Two bumps were present on his forehead, looking like zits. Following what he was doing I felt mine, feeling the bumps in the exact same area as his. I simply shrugged before looking at the time.

"I dunno dude, maybe we're the first people to finally feel their zits forming,but it's 12AM. We can give a shit about that in the morning," I stated in a tired voice, at which Inigo gave a bemused look before sighing.

"Whatever man, I don't have the energy to reply to that bullshit anyways," he resigned, taking solace in going to the dream world, which I followed quickly behind.

Again, we woke to the radio that broadcast sounds from hell at the precise moment that we needed to be awake. Fortunately, I was able to slip into the shower as he fumbled around trying to find his DS so he can turn it off. I quickly washed myself up, deciding that I might as well grab breakfast before we need to go. The breakfast was free at where we were staying, however the only thing that was good was the waffles, and because of that everyone staying would be flooding the area there. The waffles were made with pancake mix and were to be put into a machine that cooked it into the shape of a waffle made into the shape of Texas.

As I got out of the shower, I noticed two things. I didn't feel that morning grogginess that I usually felt when I got up, and the other being the missing zits. Maybe I was too exhausted to begin with? Yeah, it must've been that. The pain wasn't that much to cause enough adrenaline to force me fully awake after all. That doesn't explain what happened to those bumps though... what was that?

As I pondered that, I heard a knock on the door. I quickly dried myself off and wrapped the towel around my waist. I then opened the door to allow Inigo to take the shower. I quickly threw on the costume and took the stairs to the bottom floor, knowing fully well it was occupied with people moving to the lobby already. I was already familiar with how the elevator was usually moving about in the morning, having been here more than a few times. If I took the elevator, I would've had to wait 3 stops before finally being able to go to the lobby.

I did my usual stuff, making the waffles for me and Inigo. After our breakfast was all said and done, Inigo, after incredibly careful consideration, challenged me to a race once more. Prepared this time, I caught him by the wrists before he could exit the hotel.

"Yeah, we're taking the car. I didn't just shower so we can get smelly again."

After a short drive, we made it to the convention center with extra time to spare. After parking in a nearby public parking lot, we ended up using the time to see how fast we could go from the parking lot to the convention center, and all the way back. He won the race this time, due to me being unwilling to get so sweaty again. Another strange thing I noted however, was that he wasn't sweaty at all, of which I grew concerned of.

"Why aren't you sweaty?"

He blinked as if it was the dumbest question ever. "Uh, you do know it's not that far right? It was only a 3 minute run!"

"But the humidity should've... whatever. The convention opens up in a bit, let's just go to our panels."

We then sat down, talking with cosplayers and such, and took a few pictures with people as we waited out the rest of the time spent.

Author's Note

Had to get this out after letting it storm My head. I'm probably not going to continue this considering My writing ability (if the dislikes aren't any indication).

Editors:Vutava/Sandstorm94 (both I met on discord, haven't caught their fim names.)

Chapter 14:Chaos Resurgence

Inigo and I stepped through a portal, a plateau greeting our vision. Our surroundings were of a vast desert, a civilization far off in the distance. A ship was parked next to us, a girl donning titan SIVA armor coming out of its cockpit. She turned to look at us, hand on the hand cannon she had, before relaxing. Analysis from Rasputin said that the hand cannon was the Fever and Remedy hand cannon, imbued with solar powered rounds.

"Hey there Inigo. Friend of yours, or you've already found your brother?"

He nodded. "Yep. So what you up to now? Blowing up another Black Void base?"

"Void base?" I cut in. The girl looked to me, as if just noticing me for the first time.

"Galactic slavers. They set up a base on one of the rush worlds, which could prove troublesome for the galaxy later on. The U.G.C has sent me in to stomp it out before it can grow, being one of its most valuable assets strong enough to stop the Black Void from invading places and taking people." She said, before twirling her hand cannon. "There's also the fact that one of the Black Void higher ups are here. I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this, right?"

"Wouldn't that be too much for you to handle?" I heard Inigo ask in concern.

"Yep. Which is why," The girl then moved over to us, planting her hands on our helmets. "I was going to grab some help again." My hud was updated, new data coming into the helmet. A marker was placed over a manhole, and I received a notification saying that I had a mission.

New mission:Crowd Control Objective:Destroy the Void base. Prevent the detonation of the nuclear bomb.

Inigo was first to speak. "First off, why are you worried about a nuclear bomb? You know they won't hit that button unless everybody in the place is willing to do martyrdom. Second, what do you have against these guys?"

She shrugged. "Second bit, nothing much other than they're a pile of dicks. First bit, the explosion is meant to be a signal." She then pointed at the fleet in the sky. "That up there is from the U.G.C, meant to glass the place at the first sign of a powerful explosion. The Void pirates have already set up a comms jam, which means I can't warn them about the nuke they have." She looked back to us. "I can't keep an eye on a nuke and, well, quietly destroy a base while I'm at it. That's where you guys come in, if you're willing to of course."

I then spoke. "Anything we could get out of it? Some weapons or gear?"

The girl looked at me, before speaking in an amused tone. "I'm sure you've been wanting a ship of your own for a while now, right you two? Don't lie, I can feel the envy." She then unholstered Fever and Remedy, walking over to the manhole as she spoke. "The U.G.C promises me a lot of cash in exchange for tearing this place down. If you help me out, I'll see about grabbing you a ship or two."

I couldn't have unslung Steel Medula from my back any faster. "Sounds like a deal then. You in Inigo?"

He looked to me, seeing me nod in affirmation, before looking back to her, his fist crackling with arc. "Can I have my own entrance? You know, since they don't know me?"

She shrugged. "Sure, go blow up the place in whatever way you can. Just don't cause any explosions big enough for the fleet to see, while I keep an eye on the nuke."

Inigo didn't waste a second after hearing that, launching into a full on sprint towards the wall. He then reared his right arc-imbued shoulder back, before slamming it into the wall, creating a big dent. I quickly turned away from Inigo, facing the unnamed titan.

"I'll make sure he doesn't make too big of an explosion, you handle the nuke." I said, before running off in his direction.

The girl chuckled. "When were you the captain of this mission?" I heard her snidely remark behind me, before hearing her jump into the manhole.

She must know some kind of shortcut.

Nice titan that sunbreaker girl. Reminds me a bit of Jolder, even though there's no traces of her light on her. A wave of sadness spread through me. I hope she got into this displacement thing with the rest of us. She was the only titan I got along with among the iron lords.

I sympathized with Skorri, if not for a few seconds before turning my focus to the battlefield's explosives, getting them out of firing range. Inigo's entire body was covered with arc energy, and void troops were attempting to stop, or avoid getting killed by, him with little to no success. He punched everything he could, making holes in the wall, and disintegrating anybody unlucky enough to meet his fist. The attacking void pirates opted to pile themselves on top of him, in a attempt to restrain him. I was about to shoot them down, putting some of the explosives I got out of the battlefield on the floor, before Inigo gave a grunt of annoyance, slamming his fists into the ground and creating a wave of arc energy that completely disintegrated them.

Off to Inigo's right, a tank had fired at him, the area around him exploding. For a moment, I thought it was over.

Then Inigo moved at blindingly fast speeds from the smoke, leaping up in the air and smashing the tank, jumping off just as the tank exploded. Hundreds of void pirates piled out of the doorways, bullets flying all around the place in a attempt to kill Inigo, only for them to meet the same fate as the rest. Titans really appear to be overpowered among guardians... I thought in awe.

Still waiting for my chance to shine... Skorri thought, annoyed at the fact she can't prove to me the power of sunsinger.

Well, maybe you should've learned more of the warlock arts, miss master race.

My cheeks heated up. The other warlock classes are dumb anyways! Like seriously, who wants to sit in rain butt naked and wait for an arc lighting bolt to hit you?!

...What other kind of shit do you wizards do when the other classes aren't looking?

IT'S WARLOCK! I chuckled at Skorri's reaction, before continuing to focus on Inigo. It appeared as if Inigo was really paying attention to his surroundings, making sure to not hit anything that would cause a large enough explosion to make the fleet fire upon us.

"Can you hear me you two?" I heard the unnamed titan ask over the comms. "I got the nuke secured. Shouldn't be causing anybody trouble underground."

"Good," I heard Inigo say in the comms. "I've been itching to try my SIVA super out on some bad guys, since Aaron didn't invite me to the caribou slaughter.

"Wait, there are variants of this stuff?" I asked.

"Just watch." I heard Inigo say, after dispatching a large group of pirates with one final slam. SIVA then poured out from his body, before latching onto him again. He grew larger and larger, parts of his body changing into weapons, a barrier of SIVA forming around him to prevent the void troopers from hurting him as he transformed. When it was over, he was now twice my size, his right arm transformed into a chaingun with a rocket launcher in the middle of the barrel, and his left into a drill.

Legions void pirates fell screaming in despair, as he rampaged about the facility, breaking down walls and occasionally firing rockets into large groups of them, turning them into regular SIVA zombies that charged down the void troopers without mercy. Analysis from Rasputin said that the zombies would be unable to mutate, and would die out upon him transforming back to normal.

By the time he was done rampaging, most of the facility was in shambles, only the explosives remaining untouched. I looked on the scene with awe, speechless at the destruction. Various ships, mechas, and vehicles laid in shambles, as he transformed back to his usual self. Inigo whistled in awe of his own power. "Just got warmed up too. Now, to talk to her."

Is it possible for me to do the same, Rasputin?

With my assistance yes. Though it has a cooldown of 25 minutes, and you need to assist with utmost care. Otherwise it will take 10 times as long.

"Right!" I heard Inigo say over the comms. "I think that's about everything. The void guys will have a hard time rebuilding here without the U.G.C spotting them.

"Hold on a second," I heard the unnamed girl say over the comms. I'm reading new signatures. A Vex is popping in for some reason. How about we shut it down before it calls its buddies over?"

"Probably not an ordinary one considering our luck... ehhh it's probably going to be a piece of cake anyways!

"Great. It should be up on the remnants of the upper floor. Remember boys, you get ships for this!"

With that, the unnamed girl went off the comms. Me and Inigo climbed the building, reaching its peak within a few minutes of using our jump abilities. True to the titan's word, a large heavily armored robot stood at the top of the building, standing over the corpse of a mecha. It turned its gaze, what looked like an arc cannon on its right shoulder pointing directly at us. Analysis from Rasputin revealed the weapon to be an unusually large minotaur wielding a Vex foil rifle. Once a target is hit the weapon can cause hallucinations, along with a rare chance of 2 second seizure. The weapon was also able to chain targets, though the chained targets gained half the effect the one that got shot did.

The Vex released a bellowing roar, and what looked like miniature arc storms appeared around it. I saw Inigo put his right shoulder in front of him as he sat in a crouching position, making a large wall of pure light. "Vex clouds! Bring out your explosives Aaron!"

I ran over to the barricade, pulling out my Steel Medula. "I don't have anything other than my abilities! My SIVA super might be able to take them all out though!"

Code changed to maximize damage output.

"Are you shitting me right now, Aaron?!" I heard Inigo yell as he launched discs of pure arc from Radegast, landing into the masses of the recently spawned goblins and destroying small groups of them. "If those things get infected, there's no telling what power the Vex may gain. We may even screw over the multiverse!"

"Just trust me on this!" I said after wiping out a group of hobgoblins with Steel Medula. More Vex spawned, this time closer to a mix of goblin, minotaur, and hobgoblin units. I jumped up above the horde, drawing their attention, and releasing a huge wave of nanites from my body. While the large minotaur barely had a scratch, most of the Vex units were decaying at an extremely fast rate, as the nanites tore them apart like a swarm of mosquitoes to its prey. This caused the minotaur to start attacking, charging up its cannon and firing it at me and Inigo. It tore our shields apart, and I ended up seeing three of the minotaur. Having no clear target, I threw my pulse grenade at the minotaur, and Inigo threw a flashbang at it, disorienting its systems.

I ran to the barrier and swapped to Ether Nova just as the barrier ran out. The minotaur roared once more, calling in more Vex reinforcements. Inigo was able to pop another barrier before they began firing at us, and thus we fired at them in return with from the safety of it. I then swapped to Sleeper Simulant once the herd was thinned, and fired a shot straight into the minotaur's chest, causing it to stumble. I didn't let up for a moment, releasing the rest of the mag into it.

The minotaur took the advantage it had, rushing at me with an arm in striking position. Unable to get out of the way in time, I raised my hands in a attempt to block it. Suddenly, the girl from earlier ran past me in a blur, sending a flame-charged punch into the minotaur's core. "I got your back!" she said, before summoning a hammer of pure sol energy, hitting it into the core over and over again, as the Vex could do nothing but stumble from each hit. Just before the core gave way, the minotaur released one last roar, before exploding, causing the unnamed titan to fly past me, her arm dug into the floor to keep herself from falling off.

The girl got up from the floor. "Good work you two. But next time, maybe consider not throwing your lives away for a ship?"

Inigo just sighed. "Yet another thing I'll owe you for."

The girl smiled. "Hey, your dues will come eventually... pup."

Inigo didn't say anything about it, but I could feel his annoyance. "So about that ship you promised us?"

You're not the only one Inigo...

The girl smiled. "Yeah just give me a second." She then proceeded to walk down a floor, and I heard her talking below us, but was unable to tell what she was saying. Eventually, she came back up. "Your ship should be here in a few. It's got enough room for six people, so you should be able to have a raid team living in adequate quarters next to each other."

Inigo instantly cheered up. "Sweet! Thanks for the ship Daleyza."

Daleyza chuckled. "No problem." Her ship then flew down in front of us, another ship landing next to it as well, and she entered her ship's cockpit. "You boys have fun out in the multiverse, got that? And remember, no settling down! Settling down is for losers!" The cockpit then closed, it flying out into space. We stared at the ship for a minute or two, before looking at each other.

"You're gonna want to fly it, aren't you?" I asked in bemusement.

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"