"

"Wot they doin?"

"Dunno. There is a weirdo just standing there in some odd armour hanging about with a shield. Bashing it"

"Coward. Using armour. Easy kill."

"Boss. How many we got?"

A group of scouts spoke before their leader continued.

"We have 800 elites for the frontal assault and twenty thousand fresh meat. The flanks will act as a distraction as usual.

"Has it rained? The ground looks different from the last scout report."

"It’s fine. We have waded through more than a little bit of mud. We will wash it off with the entrails of the pink skins. Get the Vim. Let’s put their tech to use."

...

Standing at the most forward trench. I stood above the trench line, banging Zircon’s pommel against my shield. The sound of the impact traveled a short way, but the physical action was the main reason.

I was attempting to make myself the focal point of their assault. To act as bait for a funnel. Directly Behind me hunkered down in the trenches were Rhapso, Nerissa and Morrgan alongside a great amount of Phalanx.

The rest of the Psionic elites were spread out evenly among the trenches. Prepared for what is to come.

It wasn’t long until the scout numbers in the far distance began to grow in number. Drakoshi began to appear on the horizon.

I raised my shield as a signal.

Artillery began to fire, their explosions shaking the very air. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

I watched as their trajectory began to descend upon the Drakoshi’s growing forces.

The explosions in the distance began to crash down on the Drakoshi forces. Though instead of Drakoshi mincemeat a shimmering blue barrier suddenly appeared above the forces all across the line.

Vim barricades. I was told about these earlier. Not indestructible as they were portable, each one carried by a single Vim. But they were usually enough to mitigate casualties until the Drakoshi were much closer.

The Drakoshi began charging instantly, underneath the constant bombardment of the artillery.

They also began firing back. Although their accuracy was not the best. Still though, I positioned my shield in front of my abdomen

The force of the bullets pinged off the shield while a few began hitting my helmet. I felt the urge to laugh.

*ping ping ping ping*

The ammunition began to hit my armour before falling down. I couldn’t even feel the kinetic force, the new armour was simply put. Awesome.

The bombardment continued for a short while. The Drakoshi were fast, covering the distance in no time.

The phalanx began firing. Doing more damage to the shields. I just watched. Waiting.

The Drakoshi continued full sprint for minutes before they hit the swamps. Hundreds of the frontlines began to topple over instantly.

Francesca and Rhapso in their hard work, had not just made muddy puddles. They had disguised the ground to just look like it’s a little muddy. When in actual fact, the ground underneath a small surface layer was basically a slurry

The large bodies of the Drakoshi collapsed into the mud. In some locations smaller Drakoshi were up to their chests

Though the mud was not the only surprise.

As Drakoshi began using the idle bodies of his own as terrain. As they planted back into the mud, a large spike suddenly emerged from the mud, impaling the Drakoshi.

The scene repeated in multiple locations. A Vim Drakoshi was wading through the slurry, before suddenly becoming a totem pole.

The spike went through its body and out through its back, piercing the shield generator on its back.

Fire resumed as the gaps in the shields opened allowing for the thundering bombardment of Fort Amberrock began to rain down on the aliens.

I raised my shield again, tanking a few shots to the body in the process. As I did, the Artillery began to fire... All of it this time

The Drakoshi, despite heavy casualties continued to wade through the mud. Their weapons began to get clogged from all the mud so they began pulling out the melee weapons getting close to the front lines.

I turned to the Phalanx and raised Zircon. Phalanx in the first row began to prepare for combat while Rhapso and Nerissa joined me on the top of the trench.

The duo began to fire immediately with their Deimos rifles while I used one of the new positions for my mini gun. I mounted it atop my right shoulder and began firing

*Brrrttt*

I began firing for a short while before taking strides forward as the Drakoshi got close. I took a deep breath before focusing on my surroundings and used my Gyrokinesis to the limit of my aura.

The nearby Drakoshi lost all ability to move. I ignored the closest ones to me and charged ahead.

I had perfect terrain advantage thanks to my Gyrokineis. I began slashing and stabbing at targets as I passed round Drakoshi with ease.

The fighting turned into the usual instinctive combat I was growing familiar with. I blocked bullets when I felt a great amount. I dodged blows, counter strikes. Parried and deflected.

...

As time went on, corpses became the ground, but the Drakoshi numbers were still great. The trenches began to be invaded.

The Drakoshi butchered when they could. Pissed for having to slog through the mud, they did their best to make their kills as brutal as possible.

An unarmoured Drakoshi picked up a Phalanx after reaching the lines. He ignored the bullets piercing his body.

His small eyes turned sinister knowing it was going to die and began to pull at the arms of the pink skin.

A smile crept upon its lips as it heard the scream of agony. It wanted to see the weak alien suffer for its existence. Just a little bit longer and-

Suddenly its perspective changed and it could see a familiar body falling to the ground. Confusion being its last emotion.

Skaja wasted no time after the kill and returned to the air momentarily. She looked around and began to relay orders. She communicated to the commanders where reinforcements were needed.

Evading a large round she turned and frowned in its direction before lowering her altitude. As she did so, her eyes spotted Apollo...

He was surrounded in a sea of corpses, but now he was isolated. The Drakoshi had pushed far enough that they had surrounded him. He was fighting on all sides.

Skaja wasted no time as she spotted Apollo take a slash on the back of his armour from a 12Ft Drakoshi and dived towards him.

...

’Cunt!’

I proclaimed in my mind as I was jostled. I then turned around and attempted to counterattack, but another large weapon attempted to slash down onto my armour.

I dodged again and as the one that just got a lucky strike in, attempted to attack again, I went to use Zircon for a deflection, but in the next moment the large fucker suddenly gained wings before a spear manifested from its head.

Knowing my back was now secure without a second glance, I began my assault anew against the forces that had begun to piss me off.

Even with the new corpse terrain, the larger Drakoshi still struggled to maintain balance when forced to move quickly.

Their large feet crush through their allies, getting trapped between limbs and holes.

As such when one made the mistake of taking tha tumble, I countered.

As one fell, I threw Zircon while its arm was down to catch itself. The lowered guard allowed Zircon to fly true and insert herself into its brain helmet.

I then lowered my body as a massive cleaver passed over me. I then punched upwards with my left arm. My shield collided with a Drakoshis chin, sending it backwards.

Taking a moment, I turned my head slightly to the side and used my peripheral to check on Skaja. A sword just pierced through her wing, the pain prompted her to jolt, creating an opportunity for an attack.

Without thought I threw my shield at full force towards the Drakoshi, its edge embedding deep within the Drakoshi. I wasted no time and rushed to Skaja’s side. my distraction of pulling in elites had worked as even more began charging at us.

I then pulled out my shield and passed it to Skaja before clapping my hands together. Fire then emerged between my hands before I unleashed an unbridled torrent in all directions.

Skaja hastily dived beneath the shield as I began to cook some Drakoshi barbecue. The rush of the flames was intoxicating, but I kept my cool. In doing so I created some distance to look around.

Nerissa and Rhapso were still where I left them, Morrgan had also climbed atop the trenches and was engaging in close quarters with Drakoshi that got too close. It seemed risky, but he was an elite, he knew what he was doing. Still, the battle had not lasted long enough yet. I needed to buy more time for Phase two to kick into gear.

So my option was simple.

I released the Onyx once more.