Intermixture

Supreme Commander Kerzon 'Xytranai was recently assigned to command the Blades of Transcendence Fleet. In command of the BTS Promethean Equilibrium, he had General Tivos 'Xytranee as his second commander of the fleet. News had spread of the countless victories of the covenant and the endless setbacks for the scourge of the gods, the humans. The prophets had made the glassing of Arcadia Kerzon's responsibility alone, and tasked him with the ritual ceremony for the destruction of the world.

"Report." Supreme Commander Kerzon ordered.

"All systems are at 100%, the fleet is prepared and ready to attack Arcadia." General Tivos said.

"Signal the fleet to jump into slip space." Kerzon said.

"Yes, Commander."

"Fleet is responding. Awaiting your mark, Commander." Tivos said.

"Let us destroy them!" Kerzon yelled as he sat up from his command chair and motioned his hand towards the view screen.

The ships jumped into slips space in a standard raid formation. They were about to invade one of the United Nations Space Command's outer colonies, the pleasure world of Arcadia. It was packed with civilians travelling away from their homes to vacation.

The ships exited slip space and approached the planet.

"Has the Hierarch been escorted aboard the ship?" Kerzon asked.

"Yes, Commander. The noble Hierarch is on his way to the bridge." Tivos said.

The door to the bridge opened and two honour guards came threw. They stepped to the side to allow for somebody to pass.

"All bow for the Hierarch of Regret." Enolc 'Relikee said. Every Sangheili on the bridge came down to their knees as a grey coloured alien in a hover-chair entered the bridge. The alien had a gold crown with a holographic halo on it and he wore a golden crest on the back of his neck to signify he was a high prophet.

He hovered over to Kerzon, who was still on his knees and starring into the ground, and put his hand on his shoulder.

"The gods see you worthy of decimating the scourge that has brought them shame. You may stand."

Kerzon stood up and looked at the prophet.

"You may proceed to activate the cleansing instrument."

"Yes, noble Hierarch." Kerzon said as he made his way to the tactical station. He brought the weapons systems online and then pressed a button that made a series of beeping sounds.

"Initiate manual targeting." Kerzon said to the ship. A pedestal with a touch pad came out of the floor and flashed blue.

A lifetime of anticipation and prayer led him to this moment. It was time to deem himself worthy of transcendence to the gods and ensure himself a path into the great journey.

"Speak, my prophet. And let the word destroy those who would stand in the way of the great journey." Kerzon said boldly.

"Faith. Destroy them with faith." The prophet said.

And so he did. He pressed his hand on the pedestal, causing it to glow blue, and he guided the plasma bombardment and seared the covenant hieroglyph for 'faith' into the surface of the planet below. The blast wave of flame and wind destroyed everything around the lines of his glyph, and when it was complete, Kerzon knelt, waiting for the molten rock below to cool and for the prophet to judge whether his actions had pleased the gods. The prophet put his hand on Kerzon's shoulder and assured him that the gods were pleased.

The Sangheili on the bridge stood up and roared in accomplishment as Kerzon stood up to his feet.

"No doubt that the human scum have prepared their forces. Signal the fleet to start assembling and distributing legions of our warriors to the surface. General Tivos, you lead the first legion." Kerzon said.

"Yes Commander." Tivos said as he left the bridge to start the fight on the surface.

Kerzon went over to his command chair and pressed a button on it. It opened a communications channel to the rest of the fleet.

"This is Supreme Commander Kerzon 'Xytranai. Let this be a lesson to those who would dare stand before the might of the covenant. Rein fire upon their world and lead them to their eventual slaughter, brothers. Begin the cleansing process." He said in satisfaction.

Tivos made his way to the hanger.

"All legions, prepare for combat." Tivos said over the com system. By the time he made it to the hanger his men were there and ready for combat. Tivos gave a quick speech and took a squadron of phantoms to the surface. Anticipation ran threw his body as he got closer to the ground. Suddenly a ding sound could be heard as a purple light shined brightly above the gravity lift in the phantom, indicating that it was time to fight.

Tivos looked at his weapon, a Type-50 Directed Energy Rifle, and dropped out of the phantom. He and his men were instantly bombarded by combat. Tivos looked around and noticed that entire legions of covenant warriors were already fighting the humans. He was in the middle of a street, cars and advertising signs flipped over and spread all over the cracked road. He looked to his left to see a small squad of humans pinned down by a covenant infantry squad about a hundred feet away. Tivos jumped off of a car and landed on top of a small structure, where he made his way across the rooftops to the pinned humans.

Tivos fired a concussion shell at them to disorient and injure them. The humans fell to the ground and scrambled around as Tivos jumped down from the rooftop and attacked them. He put his weapon away and drew his energy sword as he landed on the ground.

Tivos grabbed one of the humans and stabbed him threw the abdomen. The other humans picked up their weapons and started to fire when a gold coloured Sangheili jumped from behind cover and sliced one of the humans into two pieces. It was Tody.

"Need any assistance, General?" The zealot asked.

Tivos turned and decapitated the human behind him before he answered. "That would be nice." He said.

Tivos dove for cover as a human soldier shot at him with a SPNKR rocket launcher.

He pulled out his Type-50 and fired a concussion shell at the human, knocking him off his feet and almost killing him. Tivos took the opportunity to charge at the human, engage one of the energy daggers on his wrist and stab the human in the throat. Tivos looked to see human men, women, and children scrambling around the streets looking for cover in the madness of the invasion.

Tivos looked up to see a phantom hover above the street, the phantom shot and killed a few civilians before Supreme Commander Kerzon dropped out and drew his energy sword.

"What are you doing here, Commander?" Tivos yelled over the noise.

"I couldn't keep away from the real action for long." Kerzon said.

Kerzon began running threw the streets slicing human infantryman and civilians into pieces with his energy sword, doing so with incredible skill. Tivos looked over to see Tody beating a human to death. Countless humans were falling, covenant warriors moving threw the streets and killing anything they see. Tivos felt an impact against his energy shields as he saw a human civilian firing a UNSC magnum at him. The human was cringing a body of a small girl, presumably his daughter, in his arms, crying, yelling, screaming in rage. Tivos growled and charged the human. He grabbed the pistol and threw it to the side, where he then tripped the yelling human and began beating him to death. At the human's final breath he drew one of his energy daggers and stabbed him in the face, killing him instantly from that point.

Kerzon sliced his way threw an endless barrage of human infantry and civilians until he came to a crying human woman hiding inside an ally. She was cringing her small daughter in her arms, telling her that everything was going to be fine.

Kerzon drew his energy sword and slowly walked over to the mother and daughter, growling as his flame head grew slightly brighter.

The woman screamed and held her daughter as tight as she could.

"Stop, please!" She said, her words dissolved in crying and fear. "Please don't hurt my-"

She was stopped when Kerzon grabbed her daughter and ripped her from her mothers arms. The woman screamed and attacked Kerzon with a series of punches and kicks, all of which the massive towering alien absorbed with out even moving. He looked at the woman and kicked her in the face, breaking her jaw, nose, and shattering most of the bones in her face.

She yelled and screamed and rolled around on the ground with her hands up to her face as blood ran down her hands and forearms.

The little girl Kerzon was holding screamed and kicked around to the point where Kerzon grew annoyed. He held her high in the air by her throat and then slammed her into the ground. He then let go of the girl and stomped on her head with his giant foot, breaking her neck. Threw all of it the woman could hear her daughter die and she began to scream even louder.

Kerzon walked over to the woman rolling on the ground. "Silence!" He yelled as he picked her up by her throat and made his way out of the ally.

The Supreme Commander held the woman high above his head and called for the attention of his comrades, who were finishing off the last of human forces in this part of the colony.

"Let this be an example for all who would defy the gods! Show no mercy!" He yelled as he plunged his sword threw the woman's mid section, and then ripped it outward, causing the woman's lower half to drop to the ground, as her upper half still remained in Kerzon's grasp. He threw down the remainder of her body as he ran threw the streets violently slaughtering any human he saw, murdering a few baby infants in the process as he raided threw a nursery single handedly.

Tivos led his legion to another position, fortified by human forces, he engaged and slaughtered them violently. Within a few hours the entire planet was taken over, and all the remaining human forces were obliterated.

Supreme Commander Kerzon 'Xytranai and General Tivos 'Xytranee were granted promotions for their acts in the name of the gods.

Kerzon added 'Fal' to his middle name and was promoted to Imperial Admiral.

Tivos was promoted to Supreme Commander and given second in command of Kerzon's fleet.

They both continued their campaign against the humans until the prophets betrayed the Sangheili and forced the Sangheili to ally with the humans, where they effectively ended the covenant once and for all and saved the galaxy.

Tivos finished his long story and looked up at the stars. "We did terrible things. Became terrible people. I can only hope this doesn't change your outlook on me and the others. I'de still like to remain friends, but I think you needed to know the things that me and Kerzon have done. We are better than that now, but were it not for the prophet's betrayal, your stallion friends would not be here.

Rarity looked him in the eyes. She was completely driven to speechlessness and her eyes began to tear up.

"Tivos... I am so, so sorry." She lunged at him and gave him a tight hug.

"Don't be." Tivos said, returning the hug. "I did those things willingly. I became a monster. And now I must live with my burdens."

Rarity pulled out of the hug and kissed Tivos on the lips. She waited a few seconds and retracted her head. Tivos simply stared in surprise.

"What was that for?" He asked in confusion.

"You may have to live with those burdens, but you don't have to do it alone." Rarity said.

"I thought you would be afraid of me." Tivos said.

Rarity smiled. "No. I'm not afraid of you, Tivos."

They both sat and looked at the starry night, until they both headed inside and went to sleep.