2.4
+++
It's been quite some time since I've seen one.
It's on the smaller side, as far as Bloodthirsters go. This one is just nine meters tall, which puts in at about three times the height of my Klaxons. Still, it's a damned
Bloodthirster.
This is about to go very, very badly.
I charge immediately, my Klaxon-selves moving at surprising speeds for something so large, fast enough to be little more than a blur that few things could react to.
Yet again, a list the Bloodthirster was on.
It swings its axe, a massive, overly spiked, and ridiculously heavy thing. One of the Klaxons turns, limbs curling in front of it to take the blow head on.
Nevertheless, it just about splits it in half with one blow, ripping a jagged tear through it. Not quite dead yet, but it'll be soon.
I refocus immediately. The other Klaxon-self fires a burst of power, more than enough to evaporate any lesser Daemon. The Bloodthirster's skin only singes, blistering. The rest of my bodies quickly move to finish off the retinue, avoiding this fight the moment. I have my Clasher-selves shoot breaker-waves, in an attempt to weaken it.
It roars, ripping its axe out of the other Klaxon, finishing that body off. It curves low, wings widening.
Okay. I can buy... maybe another five seconds. I have the forces to defeat it, I just need to get them in place. I need thirty. That's not a lot of time, but a Bloodthirster is... dangerous. I do have a few options-
In the center of the clearing, just behind the other Klaxon, I see a column of faint rainbow lights.
- which just became unnecessary. Good.
It leaps, wings propelling it forwards as it does an overhand strike. At that exact moment, a flash of light heralds the arrival of backup.
And of all backup to give me, they sent
those two.
A lance manifests in midair, already striking at the Bloodthirster. Despite its speed, the Bloodthirster is able to bring its axe down in time to block it, though it halts all of its momentum. The wings flare, and it lands on the ground, snarling.
A small white figure dashes forwards, fast enough to blur. The Bloodthirster swings its axe down, at the figure brings its own weapon up.
The figure is much smaller than the Bloodthirster. Indeed, it isn't much larger than a normal Human. His body is partially hollow, seemingly frail in its construction. Against the monstrous, unnatural strength of a damned
Bloodthirster, one could be forgiven for thinking that this action was nothing more than elaborate suicide.
The axe smashed into the weapon, and simply
halted. The figure, still for a moment, became visible. The stencilled letters on his chest plate declared his name: Singleton. The axe hissed and smoked where it touched the sword, beginning to blacken.
The thing about Valiants? For all their apparently fragile construction, they employed what was among the most advanced technology that Humanity had ever designed.
Singleton pushed back, technological power winning against the unnatural strength of the Warp. The axe was pushed aside, and Singleton lashed out with his phaseblade, its edge glowing orange with a concentrated disruption field so powerful that even the flesh of the Bloodthirster was no match. The blade sliced long and deep, spilling blood and gore, and sending the Bloodthirster rearing back.
If Singleton was alone, this fight would have been very close.
But he wasn't. Another figure in dark grey
armour leaps into the air, glowing with blue light. The Symbiont manifested itself in a moment, a gigantic thing every bit as massive as the Bloodthirster. Light gathered in its hand, another lance manifesting.
It struck. The Bloodthirster brought the flat of axehead up, angled slightly for deflection. The sound of the two colliding was like thunder. Still, the Daemon manages the deflection, pushing the lance to the side, then backs up to right itself.
It glances down, at the axe. Where the lance had hit, a crack had formed. It looks back up, face curling into a nastier snarl.
Singleton widens his stance, even as the Symbiont behind him does the same, the lance shifting into a pair of blades. The Bloodthirster shifts its grip, holding its axe low to the ground, eyes focusing on the threat in front of it.
At its side, more Bloodletters burst into existence, forming up behind their greater brethren. For a few moments, there is nothing but anticipation, both waiting for the other party to make a move.
And that's thirty seconds.
Good.
A deep
thrum splits the air, and the Bloodthirster's eyes shoot upwards. I see its body tense, wings flaring, but it's too late.
A twisting sphere of energy smashes into it, falling from the sky. That energy promptly collapses, condensing into a localized gravity well, or to be more accurate, a
small black hole. It swallows the Bloodthirster immediately, its gravity drawing in the Bloodletters only a moment later, alongside rocks, trees, light, and any chance that a Daemon was going to get what it wanted tonight.
It detonates only a few seconds later, with a blast wave that levels another set of trees, a flash of ionizing radiation that leaves the area quite lethal, and a loose cloud of Warp Energies that was, formerly, a Bloodthirster and its retinue.
I just about fling myself at it, drawing in that energy. It tastes
wonderful, and there's so much of it~
I bite, chew, and swallow. My stomach fills with speed, and I begin to spawn more energy embryos, transmitting them across the island. The ground shakes and rumbles as my bodies begin to push their way out, growing rapidly.
The rest of the Daemons, unfortunately, start to flee. The devouring of Greater Daemons has a tendency to do that; sparking mass discorporealization as every Daemon in the vicinity realized that there was something really dangerous, here.
Still, that isn't bad. I slurp the last of the Warp Energy in, and I don't exactly have a lot of room left. Greater Daemons are dinner and dessert, all in one.
Still a few stragglers... but I don't feel like dealing with them at the moment. I gather a bit of my energy bounty, focusing it within my Entity-selves. The lights of my cores glow strongly, motes gathering together...
Before exploding outwards in waves of pulsing blue life light. It spreads, from the Entities, leaving motes of semi-material energy behind, and continues until it has gone quite a ways away from the island.
There's not many stragglers, but when the wave washes over them and begins to disintegrate their bodies by simple exposure, they take the hint and scramble.
What's left is a peaceful island, floating motes like so many fireflies... A pretty sight.
And of course, this pod.
