Now at the Infinity, Master Chief's at the captain's deck, along with captain Lasky and Galen, they're discussing the visions Flash had back in Midgard.

"So... Chief, what's our plan?" Asks Lasky while leaning on the holo table.

"For the moment, the only actual information that we have is Zeta Halo, we must head there, I hope that vision was truly from the past." Said Chief with a rejection voice, he doesn't want to go there, again.

"There's only one way to find out..." Said Lasky, then, suddenly an alarm triggered at the captain's deck.

"Roland...!" Said Lasky aloud, then an AI appears at the holo table. "...What's the situation?" Asked Lasky.

"Captain, our sensors detected a portal breach into another world..." Replied Roland, then a hologram of a fleet of star destroyers is displayed at the holo table.

"Bad news are... That they breached into our world, more specifically, they're now at Zeta Halo." Said Roland, Chief, and Lasky change their expressions from doubt to determination. Lasky then presses a button and starts using the speakers throughout the Infinity.

"To all personnel on the Infinity, this is captain Lasky take position, we have a possible Omega level threat, we're going to jump to Zeta Halo, I repeat, all units, take position!"

Lasky orders the crew at the deck to prepare a portal, Chief and Galen leave, heading to the barracks in order to prepare fo the incoming battle. The Infinity's now at Zeta Halo and for their surprise, the First Order fleet was fighting against another fleet.

As the Infinity approaches the ring, a transmission is received by Lasky at the holo table.

"Infinity...we meet again." Said the being, Lasky recognizes that face. "Atriox... Thanks for helping us fighting them but, do you mind telling how did you get involved in this?" Asks Lasky.

"We track down an unknown signal that was heading here, and as you might already know, we face this old enemy, but they're stronger this time, they've brought living machines that can destroy our best vehicles in seconds, and their leader, has some new powers and a new ally." Said Atriox, it seems they've already fought the First Order in the past.

"Don't worry, Atriox, we're already dispatching our forces to aid the Banished, they won't take anything from the ring." Said Lasky, Atriox's hologram then disappears.

Now at the ring's surface, Atriox's forces are fighting the First Order. But as the fight goes on, we have a glance of the threats Atriox mentioned. A robotic being destroys a Banished tank, then it says.

"We're almost at the Palace! Fight, kill them all!!" Said the robot, then, a horde of more robotics creatures and stormtroopers charge agains the Banished forces, and when it seemed like a defeat, the robot leader receives a shot in the shoulder.

"I hit the damned Megatron!" Exclaimed the Spartan, the Resistance's troops have arrived, Chief leading the Blue Team and Jerome leading the Red Team, both Spartan groups lead the vanguard, Autobots, UNSC troops, Resistance soldiers and Galen join the battle.

(Use it as ambiance, if you wish. Although I recommend to use both of them at the same time.)

"All troops!! Atta...!!" Was Megatron about to say, but then he's suddenly interrupted by another robot that charged against him, both fall to the ground, breaking the enemy's formation.

"Megatron!!" Said the robot with an angered voice. "Optimus Prime!! I never thought I'd see you here." Replied Megatron, Optimus then charges against him, both then start fighting and clash their blades. "I will stop you!!!" Said Optimus aloud, the fight continues and as the Banished and the Resistance manage to fight back against the First Order, it isn't enough to make them retreat.

On the other side of the battlefield, Atriox fights with his brothers to stop the First Order from passing through them. But then, Eclipsed Sunlight arrives, breaking the Banished's formation with a dark magic shockwave, she and Atriox see each other with anger, as Sunlight prepares to charge against him, Atriox ignites his gravity hammer, waiting for the right moment. Sunlight makes the first move, but unfortunately, Atriox foresaw this and with a swift swing of his hammer, hits Sunlight, pushing her to the side, crashing with a rock.

"Good...!! Hahaha... you really are worth the effort!!" Said Sunlight before hitting the ground with her fists, shattering the ground and making Atriox to lose his ground. Sunlight takes this chance to charge against him, kicking him up to the air, and with a powered jump, she gets to Atriox and with a punch, she sends him down, crashing with the ground. Atriox seems wounded, Sunlight approaches him with a dark magic blade, and before she's even able to stab him, Chief's blades clash with hers.

"Now it's my turn." Said Chief, and with a strike of his blades clad with the demonic power, sends Sunlight flying away because she manage to protect herself with her bracer. Chief helps Atriox stand up, "...She's a nuisance." Said Atriox, tired of fighting her. "I know, where are they heading anyway?" Asks Chief while preparing to engage combat with Eclipsed Sunlight.

"They're heading to a Palace of Pain, and you know nothing good comes from there." Replied Atriox while igniting his hammer again.

Eclipsed Sunlight comes out of the smoke. "I will destroy you here and now!!" she says before charging against the duo, but she's suddenly teleported to a hall where Kylo and a few stormtroopers are. It seems that Kylo was the one that brought her because he's holding a pocket teleportation device. Also, one of the stormtroopers seems to be moving a big cage along a portal gun.

"Why did you bring me here?! I already had Atriox and Master Chief at my hand!" Said Sunlight with frustration, her targets escaped her and not because she wanted to.

"They would've taken you down, although it might have taken them a while, but the result would be your death anyway." Replied Kylo, he couldn't afford to lose his ally, he starts walking down the hall, Eclipsed Sunlight follows him reluctantly.

They approached to the door and Sunlight asks. "What are we doing here anyway? I thought that we were heading to a Palace o Pain." Kylo uses the panel at the door to open it. "We're already in the Palace of Pain, the battle out there is just a diversion to stop the Resistance, and because it went as planned, we're going to change the tides of war, my friend."

The door opens and reveals a hall with a big amount of containment capsules. Eclipsed Sunlight approaches one of them and asks.

"What are... these things?" Asks Sunlight confused, the creatures inside of them look, horrible, yet they don't seem like they're actually alive.

"Get away from those capsules!!! You're going to awake them otherwise..." Said a nervous Kylo to Sunlight, whatever these things are, they're dangerous enough to make Kylo Ren himself be consumed by fear.

Meanwhile at the battlefield, the Resistance's and Banished's forces managed to push away the First Order, but they don't give up. Blue and Red team are fighting while taking cover at a natural trench.

(Use it as ambiance, hehe.)

"Chief, they're not going to fall back any further than this!! Whatever the First Order want at that Palace of Pain, it has to be stopped! Go there and check if they haven't breach into it!" Said Jerome aloud, Galen then arrives blocking many shots with his lightsabers.

"Jerome's right, you have to go, we'll make sure they don't pass through here!!" Said Galen, Chief comprehends the situation and before he leaves Atriox arrives while destroying a Decepticon's face with his hammer.

"I'll go with you... they have killed many of my brothers, if their leader is at the Palace of Pain, I'll kill him personally." Said Atriox, Chief agrees to go with Atriox, both leave and now Fred asks Jerome.

"Now two of our best fighters are gone, any ideas, Jerome?" Asked Fred while shooting.

"Just one..." Replied Jerome, he then presses a button from his bracer. Then, a robot arrives from the air, and starts shooting at the enemies.

"Do you think it'll be enough?" Asks Jerome. "Yeah, I think so." Replies Fred, everyone starts shooting again, and Galen turned back to the robot and asks Jerome. "Since when do you own a robot?!" Jerome replies while shooting, "I own Theseus since quite the time already, sorry for using it this late." Galen only accepts the answer with a smile and focuses again on the battle.

On the other side, Atriox and Chief move through the battlefield to get to the path that leads to the Palace of Pain.

"There it is, we need a vehicle." Said Atriox, then Chief sees a tipped over Warthog and approaches it, he managed to flip it and he hops into it, Atriox takes the gunner's place and now they approach faster to the Palace.

Meanwhile, at the laboratory.

Kylo calms down and replies to Sunlight's question. "These creatures are one of the biggest threats that there exists in the whole multiverse, they call it...The Flood, a parasite that consumes biomass to become stronger, and also can reanimate dead bodies." Said Kylo while looking at the capsules, the stormtroopers and Sunlight can't believe, a parasite doesn't seem like the best of tools.

"What do you want from them? They're parasites, as you said, their only purpose it's to consume." Asked a baffled Eclipsed Sunlight, Kylo ordered the stormtroopers to remain there to surveil as they inspected the room, he takes the cage and the portal gun with the Force and brings them along with him, Sunlight follows him, still looking for an answer, then, both arrived a table at the other side of the room.

"What I want is to have a weapon, just imagine, if we are loosing a battle, we can free a small amount of the Flood and they will bring back the dead soldiers, and charge against our enemies, slaying and consuming them, once the job's done, we only terminate them all and there won't be a Flood plague." Replied Kylo, Sunlight remains shocked for what he's saying. "Nothing guarantees you that it'll work." Replied Sunlight, she doesn't want to see what these creatures are capable of doing.

"I'm afraid you're wrong, the plan will succeed because unlike the people of this world, I have the power to dominate them, just see me doing it." Said Kylo while pressing a button at the table, then, the part of the room where Kylo and Sunlight are get isolated from the capsules' area, leaving the stormtroopers out. The capsules start opening one by one, freeing the creatures that were sleeping inside of them.

The Flood then attacks the stormtroopers, who didn't stand a chance, Sunlight and Kylo only witness the events, how the stormtroopers are killed, gutted by the Flood, the infection forms introduced in the stormtroopers' bodies, they screams are heard throughout the room, Eclipsed Sunlight is in shock, such violent beings shouldn't even exist, Kylo, on the other hand turns towards her and says.

"Leave them to me, I have my mission, you have yours." Kylo then takes the portal gun and calibrates it, shooting and creating a portal to another universe.

"What about you?" Asks Eclipsed Sunlight, she seems worried about Kylo. "I'll be fine, now go! Starkiller and the Ren Knights will meet you there." Replies Kylo Ren, Sunlight leaves not before saying "...Be careful, Kylo." She then leaves through the portal leaving Kylo alone, he was about the raise the sealing doors to control the Flood, but suddenly, he's interrupted by Master Chief.

"Kylo!!! Don't you dare release them!!! They're a threat not even you can handle!!!!" Said Chief with a desperate voice while approaching along Atriox to Kylo's position, Kylo only stopped because this is the first time he hears Master Chief being so frightened about something. Kylo listens to him, but he takes his lightsaber and creates a dark sword and says.

"You won't stop me, not now!!" Said Kylo, Chief and Atriox prepare their weapons and the fight starts. Kylo manages to keep up agains both of them by being fast enough to dodge their attacks. With a Force push he sends Atriox away, leaving the fight between him and Chief, they clash their blades and Chief says.

"You have to stop this, Kylo!" Said Chief, but Kylo swings his blades making Chief loose the clash and its Force pushed away, Atriox and Chief stand up, they're at each of Kylo's sides, but before they're able to keep fighting, the sound of a breaking glass interrupts them.

The Flood managed to break the glass and now they've breach out of the lab. "Oh fuck, MOVE!!!!" Said Chief aloud, the fight stops and the trio rushes to a blast door and shuts it, sealing the Flood inside there.

"This facility was made to contain them, why they managed to break that glass?" Asks Kylo confused of what just happened, he's interrupted by Chief who sheathes his blades and grabs him by the shoulders.

"This place was made for experimentation, there are procedures to contain any possible breach but we have to go at the top of the Palace. God dammit Kylo, why did you free them in the FIRST PLACE?!!!" Asks Chief, he's frightened and also angered.

"I rather keep that to myself..." Said Kylo, he's then interrupted by Atriox. "We can kill you right now and deal with The Flood on our own." Said Atriox, Kylo then manages to state a point of the current situation.

"Gentlemen, we are in quite the predicament, I have the power to deal with them, but you have the knowledge I need to finish them swiftly, and unless you don't want to get out of here alive, we have to work together." Chief then releases Kylo, and says.

"I'm afraid you're right, the facility has sealed every exit, so there aren't any other option than activating the containment procedures..." Chief looks at Atriox, then turns back to Kylo and says. "...We're going to work together, but we won't mind if you die here, got it?"

"Same goes to you, now then, how are we going to climb to the top of the Palace?" Asks Kylo, Chief takes his assault rifle and loads it, Atriox ignites his hammer. "We have to make our way through them, move!" Said Chief, the trio moves towards another door but midway, the door they left behind gets destroyed and a Flood horde starts chasing them.

"Go!!" Ordered Chief, he stayed a bit longer to provide covering fire and to diminish their population, even if are small numbers, Chief then goes through the door meeting up with the group. "Run, the elevator is ahead, move!!!" Said Chief aloud, the group now runs through the hallway.

As they run to the elevator, multiple pod infector forms crawl out of the walls, they've learn how to sneak throughout the whole facility.

Chief shoots at them to buy some time, they were about to get in the elevator, but before they manage to escape, two Flood Tanks get in their way.

"Dammit! Deal with them, I'll manage the ones behind us!!" Says Chief, he turns around and shoots his assault rifle to keep the infection forms at bay, Kylo and Atriox fight the Flood Tanks. Atriox with a swing of his hammer gets one of them on the ground and smashes its head, while Kylo dodges the arm attack of the Flood Tank and cuts its limbs with his light saber and pierces it with a storm of dark swords, then Kylo decapitates it. When they turn around, Chief seems to be struggling to keep them at bay, there are not only infection forms but now they've mutated.

A spider-like form that jumped towards Chief, but he kills it with an attack of his blades, then a multiple spikes hit Chief, downing his shields.

Flood Ranged Forms start shooting even more spikes, forcing Chief to fall back. "Get in the elevator!!" Said Chief while moving backwards and shooting, once they're in the elevator, Atriox closes the door and the elevator starts moving.

"It's been less than 15 minutes, how these things managed to grow this fast?!" Asks Kylo, he's surprised by the Flood's evolution speed. "They have a collective-conscience so they learn everything from the organisms they consume. This infestation, isn't new, Atriox and I had to face it when we were fighting in this ring." Replied Chief.

"Does this thing will get us to the upper floor?" Asks Atriox, he doesn't want to deal with the parasite any longer. "I'm afraid not, it'll stop at the second floor, we'll have to take another elevator from there and that one will take us to the top." Replied Chief, who reloads his assault rifle, the elevator stops and the group gets out of it, the room seems quiet, they speed up to not be caught by the Flood but midway, Atriox is hit by a plasma shot, the group turns around and sees the stormtrooper squad that Kylo brought, turned into Flood forms, their bodies were deformed and their armor was the only thing that showed that they were stormtroopers, but they are wielding blasters and start shooting at the group while more infestation forms get inside the room. Everyone goes to take cover behind metal structures.

"Why the FUCK are stormtroopers controlled by the Flood?!!" Asks Chief angered, Kylo blocks the shots with his lightsaber to then take cover and replies. "My bad, I have a plan though, I'll cover you from their fire and you eliminate them from the distance." As Kylo said, the horde approaches, they have less time to choose a proper solution. "Screw this!" Said Atriox, he then leaps into the air and hits the ground with his hammer, bringing the infestation forms to the ground due to the shockwave.

Kylo then uses force lightnings to incinerate them, unfortunately, a Flood Ranged Form escapes and shoots multiples spikes at Kylo, he realizes soon enough to block them with his lightsaber, but he stopped lightning the other infestations forms, which now stand up and charge towards them.

Chief provides covering fire to help them escape, now they're on the run, again, but Chief takes a fire grenade and throws it at the horde, stopping them for a bit while they burn, Kylo stops and charges an dark magical attack, when he shoots it, it takes the nature of fire, but this one doesn't extinguishes like common fire, taking this chance, the group runs and approaches to the elevator door. Once inside of it, Chief activates it and the elevator moves, as they approach their final destination, Kylo says. "They managed to get to us in a matter of seconds, they should already know where are we heading and will probably wait us there." Chief and Atriox think of what Kylo said, after thinking for a short moment, Atriox says. "Then we should destroy the whole building, it's the only possible option now that they're throughout the whole facility."

"Yeah, it seems so, but first, let's focus on not dying before arriving at the control center." Replies Chief, the elevator then stops and just as Kylo said, the Flood arrived first and they're taking possession of the control center's table, which has an enormous window behind that shows the progress in the battle between the Resistance and First Order. "They're trying to lift the quarantine protocol!" Said Chief, the group charges desperately, the combination of gravity strikes, dark fire and bullets gives the group a chance to make way through the horde, Kylo jumps into the air and arrives first to the control table, he's looking for the self-destruction protocol while Chief and Atriox fight the infestation forms.

"I got it! Brace you....!!" Kylo said, but he's grabbed by a tentacle and is pulled all the way back to the entrance of the room, Kylo looks up and sees an enormous infestation form.

"Get the FUCK AWAY FROM ME!!" Said Kylo while pushing the giant away with the Force, he then stands up and runs at a high speed, but he's grabbed by another of the creature's tentacle and got smacked into the ground, Kylo only lets out a scream of pain, Chief and Atriox then decide to go and help him. Chief cuts one of the tentacles with his blades and Atriox brings it down with a hammer strike, unfortunately, the creature waves its remaining tentacle wildly, pushing Atriox away and making space for itselft to stand up, the creature has gone berserk.

Before it can land a blow, it's stopped by Kylo's Force lightning and before he manages to cut off it's last tentacle, 4 Flood Tanks sprout from the creature's back. "Go to the center and activate the self-destruction sequence, Atriox and I will take care of them!!!" Said Kylo to Chief with a desperate voice, Chief agrees and runs back at the table, but he's stopped by many infestations forms.

"I got TIRED OF YOU!!" Chief takes his blades and activates their power, killing even the Flood Tanks with ease, then a swarm of pod infectors tried to jump over Chief to infect him, but he slashes savagely around himself, he manages to kill every single one of them, now, he's able to use the the control table, he then sets up the timer for the explosion up to 30 seconds and activates it.

"We have thirty seconds, COME HERE NOW!!!" Ordered Chief, Kylo and Atriox stop fighting and run towards Chief, Kylo moves faster and approaches there first, he then pulls Atriox with the Force to help him get with them faster, Atriox then hits the window with his hammer and breaks it. "We have to jump!!" Said Atriox, everyone prepares, there are only 7 seconds remaining, Kylo uses the Force to grab Chief and Atriox with the Force and jumps with his dark power, managing to get away from the palace within short time, once they land, the palace explodes, creating a shockwave that destabilizes the TIE-Fighters, X-Wings and Broadswords in the air.

They made it, they managed to destroy the whole building along with the Flood infestation. Kylo stands up first and says. "Thanks... for saving me back there, I... I was fool to think I could control something as The Flood." Said Kylo as he breaths deeply and turns around, observing the landscape, Chief and Atriox stand up and Chief replies.

"Don't worry, when it comes to dealing with that... monster... no one must die by their hands, but..." Chief and Atriox start taking their weapons and move slowly towards Kylo, to not make any noise. "...There's one thing left to solve." Said Chief, a prominent silence along the battle ambiance creates tension between them.

"Yes... only one... thing... LEFT!!" Kylo said as he turns back and freezes both of them with the Force, Chief and Atriox's murder attempt failed. "Did you think I was FOOL enough to think that this alliance would last any longer than this?!" Said Kylo with an arrogant voice.

"I'm going to kill YOU! No matter if it's the last thing I do, I'll KILL you human!!" Said Atriox with frustration, they were so close but now, they're so far of achieving their goal.

"You'll have to excuse me Atriox, but I'm afraid that dream of yours won't be possible, although I gladly invite you to... TRY!" Kylo pierces Atriox's chest with a dark magic sword, Atriox spits out blood and curses Kylo in his language before falling to the ground.

"Atriox!!" Said Chief while looking at Atriox's body lying on the ground, Kylo then approaches him and says. "Y'know Master Chief, I could've killed you years ago, but you were always lucky enough to be saved by your friends or the circumstances, but not this time, this time I'll finally..!!!" Kylo raises his lightsaber with his right hand, and prepares to land the final blow, but then, a communication from his commanding officer arrives, "Supreme Lord! We're being overwhelmed by the enemy, what..."

"Retreat, we're done here!!" Kylo shuts the communication and before he swings his blade, a cloaked figure uncamouflages from behind him and with an energy, sword cuts off his right arm, Kylo screams in extreme pain and before the stranger kills him, he throws Master Chief at him, both fall to the ground as Kylo groans and the stranger takes off his cape.

"Sorry for not killing him, Chief. But I couldn't take the risk of loosing you." Said the stranger.

"Thanks, Arbiter... now, let's finish him off." Said Chief, the duo prepare to fight again, but Kylo angers and makes a tauntrum while holding his wound.

"WHY?!!! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS GET SAVED?!!! THIS IS NOT GOING TO END LIKE THIS, I'LL MAKE SURE TO KILL YOU NEXT TIME!!!" As Kylo said this, a dark magic cloud sorrounds him completely, once it dissipated, he was no longer here, the duo didn't waste any second and ran to aid Atriox.

"Atriox! Can you stand?!" Asks Chief worried. Atriox's holding his wound, with effort he managed to say. "I can...*cough* that...*cough* idiot... knows nothing of ...*cough* Jiralhanae anatomy... he aimed for my heart...*cough* but he missed and hit... *cough* my lung." The Arbiter and Chief help Atriox stand up. "All units, the First Order is retreating, I repeat, the First Order is retreating, we won." Said Captain Lasky through all Resistance channels.

"It appears we won this battle, but not this war." Said the Arbiter. "This was a small fraction of the First Order's fleet, next time, we must be prepared." Replied Chief, Cortana then appears at Chief's shoulder and says.

"Chief, I know you're tired from fighting the Flood, but there's something we need to discuss." Chief looks at her and asks. "What is it?" Cortana then makes up some notes she wrote while the fight was going on. "What happened to Sunset Shimmer's counterpart, I mean, we faced her when we arrived here, but where did she went? She was not with Kylo Ren."

Chief understands the question, but he's mentally tired, so he only replies. "I don't know, we can check the portal detectors when we're back at the Infinity, we can find a clue there."

"You fought the parasite? How could that happen?" Ask the Arbiter, he was aware that there was Flood activity once in this Halo, but not that the First Order wanted to free the parasite. "They...wanted to... *cough* use it as a... *cough* weapon." Replies Atriox, the team now focuses on regrouping with the rest of the Resistance.

Time later, at a Star Destroyer's medical bay, Kylo Ren is on the surgery table.

"Sir, stop denying the anesthesia, the surgery might be extremely painful and you might die from that." Said a medical robot, Kylo Ren then says with an angered voice. "I don't care! Do the surgery, NOW!!"

The medical robots start the surgery and Kylo Ren screams due to the extreme pain, his suffering makes everything at the medical room shake by the Force, his screams resound through the hallways and throughout the Force itself.

At the Infinity, Galen is meditating, but he's interrupted by Kylo's screams, Galen stands up and looks at the void. "That's... not...any good news, Kylo...finally...achieved it."

Chief goes his room at the barracks, someone told him Tesla was looking for him there, but as he couldn't find him, Tesla left the report in his room. Chief walks in, takes off his helmet and takes Tesla's report, it was related to the anomalies' research, the document describes the functionality of Equestrian energy as a power source, also describes how the magic has unknown aspects, it behaves following the laws of physics but, each anomaly is different from the other, so the tracker they desgined is only capable of tracking the energy emition, but not how strong is that anomaly or what predilection has, Chief takes the datapad to a drawer beneath his bed, but as he opens it and places the datapad, he sees his communicator, he forgot to take it with him due to the rush of the moment, Chief turns it on and sees he has 4 missing calls, 1 from Princess Celestia, 1 from Flash's mother, another one from Flash and the last one is from Tesla, Chief worries and calls Flash, he waits and after a bit, someone picked the phone.

"Flash, sorry for not responding, I was..." Then a sobbing voice interrupts him, the message is unintelligible for everyone except him, Chiecan't believe it, he makes a negation face, he drops the coommunicator, takes his helmet and puts it on, Chief runs out of his room and calls the rest of the Blue team, Chief heads to the portal room and meets with the rest of his team, they were waiting for him, Richtofen had already opened a portal.

"Chief! What happened?!" Asks Kelly worried by the sudden message, but Chief ignores it and runs through the portal,the rest of the team follows him, and after that, the portal closes, leaving a veil of ignorance to us.

What kind of message did Chief receive to make him run desperately.

END OF CHAPTER

Author's Note

Hi everyone!! Thanks for reading this new chapter, as I said the last chapter, this part of the narrative was a direct continuation of the events of the previous chapter. In addition, I have to say, next chapter, is a twist in history that'll change the course of many future events.

I hope you liked this chapter, feel free to comment, again, thank you very much and see you next chapter.

Set your hearts ablaze!