Moon D2404
Daniel watched the sphere shoot down in slow motion, the attack coming out before he could react. There was no way he could swoop down and intersperse himself between the power and the others, so Daniel could only watch helplessly as the jaws of death bore down on his friend. Until he appeared.
Arthur Moravan suddenly leaped into the air from out of nowhere, his twinblade glowing as it expanded with Psionic power. Moravan jumped between the sphere and the other Pioneers in an apparently suicidal gambit, yet in that moment, Daniel noticed something. The twinblade was glowing with orange Psions, and its center shone with a strange, rubellite energy. The captain held the twinblade over his head and spun it rapidly, creating a circular blur of power that miraculously transformed into a gaping, crimson-edged portal. A microsecond later, the Spiraling Sphere crashed into that portal with an enormous discharge of sunset colored lightning, the two powers struggling mightily. However, after just another blink, the sphere and the portal vanished, revealing an unharmed and grinning Captain Moravan.
Daniel and the Xenos stared at the captain in shock, but the young human was the quickest to grasp what’d happened. He realized that the captain probably had some Integrated Warp Tech that connected to his twinblade. The Tech also seemed to be amplified by that Psionic capacity, since the length of the portal was defined by the length of the Psionic constructs on either end. On top of that, Daniel was elated to see Moravan had advanced to B class. After surviving the Greater Ravager's initial attack, the captain must’ve taken the time to absorb some stockpiled resources, understanding that now wasn’t the time to worry about Psionic poisoning.
Now, the CO landed on the ground and began spinning his twinblade at blinding speed once more. However, this time, only the points on both ends began to shine with power, creating the optical illusion of a spinning disk of light. The Kharnidd wasn’t idle as he did this, the Xenos breathing out another Bone Stripping Barrage at the man, yet this attack also vanished into a portal generated at the center of Moravan’s disk. Daniel tried to punish the creature’s mistake by shooting off another barrage of lasers, but the Ravager used its Hunter’s Domain and Sky’s Mastery to adroitly dodge. However, that left it on the run when the captain unleashed his ability.
Moravan swung his twinblade sideways, sending a now-solidified energy disk flying at the enemy. The monster tried to evade this new attack, but it tracked the beast, visibly spinning with cutting force. As the Xenos continually tried to evade, Daniel shot at it again. This time, he struck the creature with devastating accuracy, hideously burning the beast’s flesh. The Kharnidd flinched, an opening that allowed it to be hit by the spinning disk as well. The Psionic energy forcefully sliced into its side, provoking a roar of agony from the Xenos. It turned its large head around and bit into the attack, finally shattering the disk, though Daniel was already on top of the beast. He flew toward the creature at blazing speed, his hammer empowered with an Overclocked Destroyer’s Strike as he swung it with all his might. This time, the Ravager had weakened, and Daniel still benefited from some of the earlier buffs, so when his strike landed, the creature’s whole body cracked.
The Xenos hurled backward, body trailing purple blood, and Daniel flew after it. He was well aware that the Kharnidd likely had an Enhancement sphere in its back pocket, so he needed to keep up the pressure until this thing was permanently dead and buried. The first sign that the monster was about to use multiple spheres at once, Daniel was planning on using the Heavenly Slash, cave in or not. If this thing tried to take the Pioneers down with it, and Daniel held back, they were all dead anyway. If the Xenos only owned a single sphere, the young man was confident he could win without the nuclear option, especially with Moravan back in action.
As the Kharnidd crashed into the wall, Daniel shifted his hammer into a large, flaming greatsword. It took more power than the normal sword form, but the Pioneer felt it was worth it as he brought the weapon down like an executioner’s blade. As he did, Daniel got a closer look at the Ravager. And his eyes widened.
A cloud of debris had obscured the creature, and when it was visible again, the young Pioneer noticed that something strange was happening with the Ravager’s right hand. The limb crackled with violet-edged, orange lightning, and as the Pioneer closed in for the kill, the creature plunged the claw into its chest. Its body gave a minute shudder, eyes rolling back into its head as its muscles started to tremble.
Then, it vanished.
…
Ankara, Markus Haraldson
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Markus swallowed his fear and forced his gaze toward the Kharnidd Executioner, the enemy looming large in his vision as he flew through the air. He managed to get his feet behind himself to kick off a nearby building, narrowly avoiding the creature’s follow-up chop. His legs hit the pavement again, cracking the stone as the Pioneer backpedaled and halted his momentum. Markus kept his Hypersight active, trying to pin down the Executioner with his eyes. He managed to clearly witness the Kharnidd seemingly throw out a diagonal slash at nothing, but Markus knew better. He dove to the side, wind rustling his clothes as a blade of red Psionic energy cut through the air where he used to stand.
Mirrored Slash allowed the Executioner to manifest a blade of Psionic energy at any place in front of it, within a specific range, by swinging its arm. That blade would then strike in a fashion that mirrored the Kharnidd’s swing, with a slight delay, before dissipating. It was a tricky move that was almost impossible to dodge unless you knew it was coming. Markus did, but only because he’d read about the Executioner in the training documents the military had put together. He silently thanked all the hard-working scientists and military staff who’d put those docs together as he dashed through a nearby alleyway, trying to put as much distance between himself and the others as possible. Dragging the rest of the human group into this fight would be the worst-case scenario.
The Executioner appeared at the entrance to the alleyway behind him, and it hit Markus with a vertical Mirrored Strike. He turned the attack aside with the power of his own Warp Slash, and began charging up his own Compounding Strike, yet the effort caused him to pause in his retreat. Markus stumbled onto another large road, then the Kharnidd was on top of him again. This time, the creature unleashed a barrage of quick slashes, which the Pioneer managed to deflect by activating Myriad Arms. Both of their limbs were moving incalculably quickly, launching a hundred attacks in the space of a breath, and for a moment, Markus matched the Kharnidd directly. Hypersight and Myriad Arms worked together, the first allowing him to see the enemy attacks and the second allowing him to equal their speed. Markus was careful never to match the Kharnidd strength-for-strength, the smaller man skillfully parrying or avoiding whatever the looming Executioner threw at him.
He watched as the creature grew more frustrated at its recent failed murder attempts, waiting for it to try something new. He didn’t have to wait long before the Kharnidd abruptly brought its two limb-weapons up in an X shape, the blades lightly clashing together to create a single, high-pitched note. The world surrounding the Kharnidd’s body exploded with countless slashes of ruby colored energy, shredding the road and several buildings around it. However, Markus had been prepared for this gambit, having teleported away the moment he saw the Kharnidd preparing the move. It was a close shave, but Markus stood harmlessly outside the reach of the Slash Domain, staring at the Executioner provocatively.
While it looked like Markus was holding his own, the truth was that he was barely surviving. His body still ached from where it had blasted through several buildings, and several superficial cuts on his head were leaking blood that threatened to get in his eyes. He hadn’t gone into this fight with 100% mental energy either, meaning he’d already dipped below 60% of his total capacity. Meanwhile, the Kharnidd was completely unharmed and apparently still near the peak of its energy levels. Pressured as he was, Markus had only one way to turn the tide. With every second that ticked by, his daggers glowed brighter with the light of the Compounding Strike. If he could unleash a full-powered Compounding Reality Warp, it should be enough to seriously maim or even kill the Alpha class Kharnidd. After all, an Executioner was much less geared toward survival than a Behemoth.
The duo faced off now, Markus silently taunting the Xenos as the creature snarled back. Hopefully, he could piss it off enough that it’d make a mistake. A high wind kicked up as Markus also activated his Psionic Blizzard, the Pioneer going for broke in his effort to slow the enemy down. Markus could see through his own blizzard just fine, and he watched the Kharnid cautiously, but even then, he wasn’t fully ready when the creature practically vanished from sight.
The Executioner seemed to appear from out of nowhere right next to Markus, blade flashing out in a horizontal strike. Markus managed to get his daggers up in time, but he was forced to block the attack head-on. Once again, the power of the attack sent him flying away, and once again, he was scrambling for his life.
The Exectioner wasn’t simply fast. Its Flash Step Capacity allowed it short bursts of extreme speed, making it seem like it was teleporting around. The Pioneer couldn’t teleport as freely, of course, meaning he had to rely on tactical movements and little tricks to stay one step ahead. The Blizzard mildly hampered the opponent’s movements and obscured its vision, constantly swirling around Markus and giving him enough leash to stay alive. He ducked behind pillars, moved around cars, deflected attacks, and outright teleported away as a last resort. The fight quickly moved further away from the others, an elaborate game of cat-and-mouse that produced explosions and wreckage at a frenetic pace.
Markus flipped backward to avoid another horizontal sweep, feet landing on the roof of a car as he felt his Compounding Strike nearing completion. However, the Xenos had backed him into a corner, and the dodge had left Markus slightly off balance. The Executioner lunged forward with another flurry of attacks, and Markus was forced to teleport away. Right into the Kharnidd’s trap.
The Xenos whirled around when the Pioneer disappeared, lashing out with a Mirrored Strike at the place where it expected Markus to reappear. The Pioneer’s options had been limited, and no amount of trickery on his part could completely obscure his destination. The blade of light slashed, and Markus flinched backward at the last second, yet the power still cut through his chest armor, drawing a red line of blood across his torso. The Pioneer ignored his injuries and threw himself into a combat roll as the attack dissipated. The roll allowed him to avoid a second horizontal Mirrored Strike, but the damage was already done. As Markus emerged onto a main street, he felt his wound begin to pulse with Psionic power.
Markus wouldn’t look down to check, but he knew that a large crimson X sign was being drawn across his chest as he ran. The Executioner’s Mark was the capacity the Kharnidd Executioner gained in exchange for eschewing the ordinary Kharnidd poison. Markus knew its properties, and he made a split-second decision. He reached into his storage and pulled out a flare gun, firing a sky-blue flare right over his head as he retreated. Soon afterward, the Executioner stepped out onto the street. Standing in the middle of the road, the Kharnidd didn’t seem to be in a hurry to follow. Instead, it held up a bladed arm in an ominous, threatening stance, before bringing it downward toward the retreating Pioneer in another phantom chop.
Then, Markus’s world turned a deep, bloody red.
Are the quick POV swaps in the recent chapters better than the block of perspectives at the beginning?
