240. The Shadow of Extinction
- Location
- Arizona
- Pronouns
- Him/His
Soaring over the battlefield, the white dragon watched on, confused. Below it, the petty insects known as humans fought against strange creatures made of metal, determined not to fall. So far, they were doing well, but it didn't look like they'd last too much longer. Then again, maybe they'd surprise her.
These...portals were proving to be more troublesome than expected. At first, they had only released small creatures or bands of human raiders, who stood no chance against the natives. Groups ranging from bandits to wolf packs and even intelligent apes had emerged from the portals, only to be cut down like mad dogs. The last group was pitied by the elder dragon – she could sense that they had legitimate reasons to oppose mankind, just as her kind did. As time had gone on, though, increasingly more dangerous entities had arrived. Six-legged crocodilians that turned creatures to stone. Great serpents that killed with a glance. Draconic creatures that apparently came from a world with two suns. And, most bizarrely, a dragon in the form of a human woman. Such a being shouldn't normally provoke more than annoyance from the Ancestral Dragon, but this one was an exception for many reasons. Firstly, this she-drake could change from human to dragon at will, which was more a curiosity than anything else. Secondly, though, she seemed to have an interest in human males….no, that wasn't quite right. She fancied them….ok, that was also wrong. The she-drake desired human males (or maybe just a human male), in the most carnal sense of the word. This did enrage the Ancestral Dragon – humans were to be purged or ignored, nothing more, nothing less. Worse still, the dragon-bitch apparently didn't care if the humans were not interested in her advances.
Regardless of her hatred for mankind, the white dragon did not believe them worthy of violation by her kin – they had at least restrained themselves from inflicting that indignity onto her kind, so some respect there was in order. This dragon, though, seemed to consider humans as only existing for her pleasure. And she wasn't alone – joining her were the humanoid female forms of other creatures, ones the Ancestral Dragon was unfamiliar with, but knew should not look like her mortal enemies. And just like the dragon-bitch, they also seemed to consider mankind their playthings.
That alone was enough to make the Ancestral Dragon want to destroy them. But she had more reasons than hatred to kill them.
When the mockeries of monsters had arrived, they had…twisted the land around them. Trees bore fruits with greater abundance and in healthier form. Vegetables similarly shifted toward perfection. Most bizarre of all, however, were the fleshy tendrils that emerged, covered in fluids that served to make them look perverse and disgusting. For reasons she could not understand, the Ancestral Dragon knew these tendrils had only one purpose – to violate humans who neared them. She also had the feeling that if they did so enough times, they'd turn into a form very similar to the creatures that had caused the tendrils to sprout.
All things considered, if this cancer was not cut out, the whole world would be twisted into a form reminiscent of this madness. And that could not be allowed.
The Ancestral Dragon had moved to attack, but her actions had been unnecessary – a Vaal Hazak, Gore Magala, Nergigante, and a younger member of her kin had sensed the oncoming darkness and acted. So had a group of riders, leading to one of the most unlikely truces she had ever seen. Together, they had brought ruin and extinction upon the defilers, and saved the land from blight. The humans would not have been able to slay these beasts, given they lacked the stomach for this kind of slaughter, but the elder dragons had no such qualms. The various beasts had tried to convince the dragons to side with them in seeking human mates, only to be repaid with fire, effluvia, frenzy virus, razor spines, and black blight. Watching the skin and flesh melt had been…quite satisfying. The only thing the Ancestral Dragon had enjoyed more from that slaughter was when she had found the invaders' brood, hidden in a nursery of sorts. She had observed them for only a moment, before unleashing her draconic breath upon them.
True, the results had been messy, and she had to clean the residue off her face, but she wasn't losing any sleep over it. And what was left had been extra tasty!
Afterwards, fixing the land had been a simple matter – the black blight caused the plants to wither and die in agony. The Ancestral Dragon had briefly imagined them screaming in horror, much to her delight. Once the blight did its job, the riders worked to reverse its affects – regrettable, but necessary. When the last of the corruption was gone, dragon and human retreated, postponing their conflict to a later day. Fighting so shortly after alliances was a good way to prevent alliances from happening, after all.
Now, though, even meaner creatures were coming through the portals – humanoid monsters that sought to glut themselves on mankind and could only be slain if their napes were slit. Dragons made from wood and magic. More creatures from the realms of Behemoth and the Leshen. Twisted metallic monstrosities made of scarp and piloted by a race of green skinned warmongers. And with the portals suddenly flaring up in number, it was only a matter of time before these things became impossible to stop.
Yet there was still hope – having left the battlefield, the Ancestral Dragon now found herself staring at a large portal, with incredible power and purity behind it. This one almost certainly lead to something heavily connected with the portals – possibly even the source of them. Better still, she could see a juvenile Zorah Magdaros heading toward it. Best of all, her mate had finally returned and was now acting as her wingman.
Sensing a chance to end this assault upon her domain, the Ancestral Dragon charged toward the light. The reckoning had come!
XXXXXXXXXX
AN: SOUNDTRACK START: Horizon Zero Dawn OST - Planned Obsolescence
I could only stare on in shock as the Horus unearthed itself. This was…this was…how was I supposed to beat this thing?
"Use your satellites lasers, you idiot!"
Oh. Thanks Viv!
"Don't mention it!"
With a thought, I moved my laser satellites into position and – what the hell? They just blew up!
"Oh, did you really think this was going to be that easy?" chided the familiar voice of the machine possessing the Metal Devil. "I had plans in place to stop you long before I revealed my trump cards."
...Oh fuck.
'Less whining, more machine killing.'
Well how am I supposed to do that?
"Well, there's a lot of machines heading your way, and you did get a slinger from Astera and knowledge of how to make stuff for the slings used by machine hunters. So if you don't want to use your powers, just pull stuff out of the nearby machines and start shooting."
...Thank you, Synais.
"Don't mention it. Now go and make the Metal Devil cry."
Pulling myself out of my silent thoughts, I dodged out of the way as a corrupted sawtooth lunged at me. With two blows I had the machine offline and its blaze cannisters in hand. Hastily combining this with metal fragments, I fired the resulting blast bomb at what I was able to identify as a soft spot in the machine's armor. The attack did negligible damage, but the fact it did damage at all was still a welcome sight.
Of course, if I wanted to put a dent in this thing, I was gonna need a bigger weapon.
"Deploying Archgun now, boss."
A moment later, my customized Imperator fell into my hands (holy hell that is heavy!). Barely missing a beat, I took aim and started pumping the machine full of lead.
That got results, though nowhere near what I wanted.
As I was about to formulate a new plan, though, more portals started opening up around me.
Oh, come on! What was gonna happen now?!
XXXXXXXXX
And so, after a long and arduous battle, the Magnificent Evil and his allies of convenience vanquised their attackers!
"..Is he always like this?"
"Yes, he is, Captain Poise."
"How do you put up with this, Ms. Thalya?"
Hey! I can hear you!
"Yeah, we know. Look, are there any other things that we need to kill out here? I mean, you seem to know what we're fighting."
Fine, but no more complaining. Anyway, looks like everything is dead except for some machines in the north and...oh.
"Um, that isn't good, is good?' wondered the Dark Elf known as Thalya.
Nope. There's a giant machine there that could easily kill everyone here, and unfortunately I don't have any way to get you off this universe, so it looks like you'll have to fight this thing.
"Well fuck."
That does seem appropriate, Captain Poise. Prepare to enter the portal that will open in front of you.
XXXXXXXX
Out of the first portal came what looked like a bunch of orcs and goblins..were those naga...wait, that's Thalya. So they must be from Dungeons 3...and those machines they traveled with are Anomaly: Warzone Earth...are those dragons from an app game?...Oh shit, Aloy is here.
Said Nora seeker glanced at me, then the Metal Devil...and promptly just froze up in shock for a moment. Then she recovered and glanced at me. "..But...but...Helis is dead, and I just shut down HADES..."
"Someone else is helping them. And they seem to have a personal grudge against me. I take full responsibility for this, by the way."
"We can assign blame after this thing is dead. So, do you have a plan for that?"
"Well, its armor still has some weak points in it from when it fell last time, so I was planning to just hit it there until something gives, but I'm open to suggestions-"
Without warning, another portal opened, this one more massive than all the others. Out from it emerged Oh shit that's a Zorah Magdaros AND TWO WHITE FATALIS?! WHY?!
"...What are those things and why are you so terrified of them?"
"Big one is called Zorah Magdaros, it is a volcano on legs, and volcanoes are mountains that spew fire and rock so hot it acts like water. The other two are called White Fatalis-
"Also known as Old Fatalis," chimed in Vivian.
"-and they shoot white and red-black lightning. Also, they really hate people."
"I see. So, any new ideas?"
"Can I offer a suggestion?"
The two of us glanced at Vivian. "Yes?"
"Well, I'm not as strong as I once as, but I can open portals up for us to travel on."
"...So you're suggesting we get inside that thing and kill it?"
"Well, sabotaging the construction systems would also be a good idea."
I turned my vision toward Aloy. "You up for that?"
"Well, its better than nothing."
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Uncaring of the humans' presence, the elder dragons viciously attacked the Horus. The scorching mountain dragon, however, cared not for the machine being the vessel for the one who created these portals - it just wanted to kill the thing for being too close. The Fatalis couple was happy to exploit this to their advantage. There were a few hiccups with the initial phase of the fighting, though - the humans were not the only other entities attacking the machine. Joining them were other strange beasts, like what appeared to be living magnets and gears, who busily blasted into their foes with lightning and weird energy. The Fatalis duo had initially been shocked by this, but soon learned to exploit it to their advantage.
The machine was completely caught off guard by the trio's arrival. Desperate not to be defeated, it focused its attention onto them - even if they did not destroy it, the damage they could inflict on it would make it more vulnerable to the rest of those it was fighting. Thus, they had to go first.
Hastily, it used what reserves it had to deploy a group of corruptors and a Deathbringer, with orders to gather more resources so that it could turn the tide. Unfortunately for the machine, the female Fatalis immediately noticed the machines' arrival and realized they must have an exploitable opening to emerge from.
Of course, at the moment, the machine had bigger problems to deal with down there...
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Hastily exiting the portal, the three of us found ourselves in the belly of the mechanical beast. Already, new corruptors were being finished, alongside smaller machines, likely intent for recon.
"They're called jackals, boss."
Makes sense.
"So, everyone got the plan memorized? Not that said plan is particularly complex."
"Just go around and use blast bombs to try and disable the production lines, correct?"
Viv smiled. "Yes, Aloy, that is correct."
"Well, then we have no time to waste."
"Agreed. Move out!"
"Do you really think you can achieve victory, here, humans? I can already see you wandering about, trying to tear my vessel apart from within."
"If you're going to try to talk us down, forget it. I already took down HADES and Helis. The three of us can easily take down you."
"I Beg to differ."
Instantly, all of the doors around us sealed up, while a dozen different corruptors emerged from their assembly areas. We were surrounded.
And then a Deathbringer popped up right in front of us.
"Looks like you're out of options."
"..Fuck you...wait, I don't even know your name."
"Since it hardly matters, I will tell you: I am Main. And you are dead-"
Out of nowhere, an explosion occurred, causing the whole machine to tilt. Another soon followed, causing a patch of sunlight to shine within the machine. Then, finally, a huge, white form smashed through the hole where the light emanated from.
Shaking itself off, the White Fatalis looked at us, then at the Khopesh.
Without hesitation, it leapt at the machine.
"No...NOO!"
"Well, that was a nice," noted Aloy.
"True enough," agreed Synais, who was projecting an image of himself so that Aloy could see him. "Listen, the first two explosions were caused by the giant moving volcano fighting this machine. It appears to have ruptured a coolant pylon for this machine, alongside one of ammunition magazines. Taking them out would certainly help ruin this machine."
"Where do we go?"
"Marking routes now, boss. So who will go where?"
"I'll deal with the production line."
"Boss is covered. What about Aloy?"
"Heading for the coolant."
"I'll take the ammo, then."
"Good, everyone has a role. Now let's crush this thing."
XXXXXXXXXXX
Barreling her way through the Metal Devil, Vivian demolished all in her path. Unlucky machiens were split by sheets of metal, crushed under their own companions, and even ripped apart in the girl's own hands. Desperate to stop her, a swarm of corruptors barreled after her, only to be torn apart, one by one, as she fired off fire bomb after fire bomb, eventually killing all of them.
Destroying the ammunition supply was barely an afterthought for her.
XXXXXXXXXX
Riding atop a broadhead, Aloy charged through the Jackals, arrows knocked and ready. As soon as she saw the leaking node, she released them, sending them hurtling into the heated coolant.
As the arrows were made to freeze targets, the results were rather explosive, to say the least.
XXXXXXXX
Only somewhat concerned about the machine shuddering, I took aim with my slinger and fired. Sure enough, the blast bombs blew away the production lines, rendering the machine unable to procreate. As of right now, it was effectively sterilized.
Smiling, I made my way back to where we had arrived, only briefly pausing to watch 2B and 9S use their frames to blast the machine's outer casing.
By the time I reached our rendezvous point, the girls were already there. Looks like we'd all completed our objectives..Wait, how were we going to kill this thing again?
"Do you really think that you can destroy me from within? You haven't done anything more than inconvenience me, and you have no way of hitting a vital system-"
SMASH
Out of nowhere, the arm of Zorah Magdaros tore into the Metal Devil's body, just barely missing us and the Fatalis and Deathbringer engaged in battle. A moment later, it was forced away...revealing a rather important looking component.
A scan soon confirmed it - we were looking at the machine's power core.
"...You were saying?"
"...no..."
A hail of bullets, arrows, sling bombs and lighting flew forth, blasting the core until it exploded.
"EYALHGSOGHJRGSG"
As the machine let out a cry in horror and rage at its impending doom, we dodged out of the way and prepared to leave...only for several pieces of debris to fall on top of the Fatalis, which had just ripped out the Deathbringer's AI core.
For a moment, I just stared. Then I took aim with my slinger.
"What're you doing?!" shouted Aloy.
"Something stupid."
"Mind if I join in?"
"Yes, Viv."
"Well, count me in too, then, I suppose."
A few blast bombs later, and the dragon was freed. We wasted no more time in jumping through the portal Vivian had opened, which proved to be the one thing that saved us - mere moments after the portal closed, the machine exploded.
"Looks like we got him."
I just nodded at Viv. Looks like he was down...wait, what happened to Void?
"Commander, this is Synais, we have a problem."
"Does it relate to the machine known as Void?"
"Yes."
Instead of getting an explanation, I was treated to an image of Void...standing right outside the portal to my hub.
WHICH WAS NOW ACTIVE.
XXXXXX
AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
These...portals were proving to be more troublesome than expected. At first, they had only released small creatures or bands of human raiders, who stood no chance against the natives. Groups ranging from bandits to wolf packs and even intelligent apes had emerged from the portals, only to be cut down like mad dogs. The last group was pitied by the elder dragon – she could sense that they had legitimate reasons to oppose mankind, just as her kind did. As time had gone on, though, increasingly more dangerous entities had arrived. Six-legged crocodilians that turned creatures to stone. Great serpents that killed with a glance. Draconic creatures that apparently came from a world with two suns. And, most bizarrely, a dragon in the form of a human woman. Such a being shouldn't normally provoke more than annoyance from the Ancestral Dragon, but this one was an exception for many reasons. Firstly, this she-drake could change from human to dragon at will, which was more a curiosity than anything else. Secondly, though, she seemed to have an interest in human males….no, that wasn't quite right. She fancied them….ok, that was also wrong. The she-drake desired human males (or maybe just a human male), in the most carnal sense of the word. This did enrage the Ancestral Dragon – humans were to be purged or ignored, nothing more, nothing less. Worse still, the dragon-bitch apparently didn't care if the humans were not interested in her advances.
Regardless of her hatred for mankind, the white dragon did not believe them worthy of violation by her kin – they had at least restrained themselves from inflicting that indignity onto her kind, so some respect there was in order. This dragon, though, seemed to consider humans as only existing for her pleasure. And she wasn't alone – joining her were the humanoid female forms of other creatures, ones the Ancestral Dragon was unfamiliar with, but knew should not look like her mortal enemies. And just like the dragon-bitch, they also seemed to consider mankind their playthings.
That alone was enough to make the Ancestral Dragon want to destroy them. But she had more reasons than hatred to kill them.
When the mockeries of monsters had arrived, they had…twisted the land around them. Trees bore fruits with greater abundance and in healthier form. Vegetables similarly shifted toward perfection. Most bizarre of all, however, were the fleshy tendrils that emerged, covered in fluids that served to make them look perverse and disgusting. For reasons she could not understand, the Ancestral Dragon knew these tendrils had only one purpose – to violate humans who neared them. She also had the feeling that if they did so enough times, they'd turn into a form very similar to the creatures that had caused the tendrils to sprout.
All things considered, if this cancer was not cut out, the whole world would be twisted into a form reminiscent of this madness. And that could not be allowed.
The Ancestral Dragon had moved to attack, but her actions had been unnecessary – a Vaal Hazak, Gore Magala, Nergigante, and a younger member of her kin had sensed the oncoming darkness and acted. So had a group of riders, leading to one of the most unlikely truces she had ever seen. Together, they had brought ruin and extinction upon the defilers, and saved the land from blight. The humans would not have been able to slay these beasts, given they lacked the stomach for this kind of slaughter, but the elder dragons had no such qualms. The various beasts had tried to convince the dragons to side with them in seeking human mates, only to be repaid with fire, effluvia, frenzy virus, razor spines, and black blight. Watching the skin and flesh melt had been…quite satisfying. The only thing the Ancestral Dragon had enjoyed more from that slaughter was when she had found the invaders' brood, hidden in a nursery of sorts. She had observed them for only a moment, before unleashing her draconic breath upon them.
True, the results had been messy, and she had to clean the residue off her face, but she wasn't losing any sleep over it. And what was left had been extra tasty!
Afterwards, fixing the land had been a simple matter – the black blight caused the plants to wither and die in agony. The Ancestral Dragon had briefly imagined them screaming in horror, much to her delight. Once the blight did its job, the riders worked to reverse its affects – regrettable, but necessary. When the last of the corruption was gone, dragon and human retreated, postponing their conflict to a later day. Fighting so shortly after alliances was a good way to prevent alliances from happening, after all.
Now, though, even meaner creatures were coming through the portals – humanoid monsters that sought to glut themselves on mankind and could only be slain if their napes were slit. Dragons made from wood and magic. More creatures from the realms of Behemoth and the Leshen. Twisted metallic monstrosities made of scarp and piloted by a race of green skinned warmongers. And with the portals suddenly flaring up in number, it was only a matter of time before these things became impossible to stop.
Yet there was still hope – having left the battlefield, the Ancestral Dragon now found herself staring at a large portal, with incredible power and purity behind it. This one almost certainly lead to something heavily connected with the portals – possibly even the source of them. Better still, she could see a juvenile Zorah Magdaros heading toward it. Best of all, her mate had finally returned and was now acting as her wingman.
Sensing a chance to end this assault upon her domain, the Ancestral Dragon charged toward the light. The reckoning had come!
XXXXXXXXXX
AN: SOUNDTRACK START: Horizon Zero Dawn OST - Planned Obsolescence
I could only stare on in shock as the Horus unearthed itself. This was…this was…how was I supposed to beat this thing?
"Use your satellites lasers, you idiot!"
Oh. Thanks Viv!
"Don't mention it!"
With a thought, I moved my laser satellites into position and – what the hell? They just blew up!
"Oh, did you really think this was going to be that easy?" chided the familiar voice of the machine possessing the Metal Devil. "I had plans in place to stop you long before I revealed my trump cards."
...Oh fuck.
'Less whining, more machine killing.'
Well how am I supposed to do that?
"Well, there's a lot of machines heading your way, and you did get a slinger from Astera and knowledge of how to make stuff for the slings used by machine hunters. So if you don't want to use your powers, just pull stuff out of the nearby machines and start shooting."
...Thank you, Synais.
"Don't mention it. Now go and make the Metal Devil cry."
Pulling myself out of my silent thoughts, I dodged out of the way as a corrupted sawtooth lunged at me. With two blows I had the machine offline and its blaze cannisters in hand. Hastily combining this with metal fragments, I fired the resulting blast bomb at what I was able to identify as a soft spot in the machine's armor. The attack did negligible damage, but the fact it did damage at all was still a welcome sight.
Of course, if I wanted to put a dent in this thing, I was gonna need a bigger weapon.
"Deploying Archgun now, boss."
A moment later, my customized Imperator fell into my hands (holy hell that is heavy!). Barely missing a beat, I took aim and started pumping the machine full of lead.
That got results, though nowhere near what I wanted.
As I was about to formulate a new plan, though, more portals started opening up around me.
Oh, come on! What was gonna happen now?!
XXXXXXXXX
And so, after a long and arduous battle, the Magnificent Evil and his allies of convenience vanquised their attackers!
"..Is he always like this?"
"Yes, he is, Captain Poise."
"How do you put up with this, Ms. Thalya?"
Hey! I can hear you!
"Yeah, we know. Look, are there any other things that we need to kill out here? I mean, you seem to know what we're fighting."
Fine, but no more complaining. Anyway, looks like everything is dead except for some machines in the north and...oh.
"Um, that isn't good, is good?' wondered the Dark Elf known as Thalya.
Nope. There's a giant machine there that could easily kill everyone here, and unfortunately I don't have any way to get you off this universe, so it looks like you'll have to fight this thing.
"Well fuck."
That does seem appropriate, Captain Poise. Prepare to enter the portal that will open in front of you.
XXXXXXXX
Out of the first portal came what looked like a bunch of orcs and goblins..were those naga...wait, that's Thalya. So they must be from Dungeons 3...and those machines they traveled with are Anomaly: Warzone Earth...are those dragons from an app game?...Oh shit, Aloy is here.
Said Nora seeker glanced at me, then the Metal Devil...and promptly just froze up in shock for a moment. Then she recovered and glanced at me. "..But...but...Helis is dead, and I just shut down HADES..."
"Someone else is helping them. And they seem to have a personal grudge against me. I take full responsibility for this, by the way."
"We can assign blame after this thing is dead. So, do you have a plan for that?"
"Well, its armor still has some weak points in it from when it fell last time, so I was planning to just hit it there until something gives, but I'm open to suggestions-"
Without warning, another portal opened, this one more massive than all the others. Out from it emerged Oh shit that's a Zorah Magdaros AND TWO WHITE FATALIS?! WHY?!
"...What are those things and why are you so terrified of them?"
"Big one is called Zorah Magdaros, it is a volcano on legs, and volcanoes are mountains that spew fire and rock so hot it acts like water. The other two are called White Fatalis-
"Also known as Old Fatalis," chimed in Vivian.
"-and they shoot white and red-black lightning. Also, they really hate people."
"I see. So, any new ideas?"
"Can I offer a suggestion?"
The two of us glanced at Vivian. "Yes?"
"Well, I'm not as strong as I once as, but I can open portals up for us to travel on."
"...So you're suggesting we get inside that thing and kill it?"
"Well, sabotaging the construction systems would also be a good idea."
I turned my vision toward Aloy. "You up for that?"
"Well, its better than nothing."
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Uncaring of the humans' presence, the elder dragons viciously attacked the Horus. The scorching mountain dragon, however, cared not for the machine being the vessel for the one who created these portals - it just wanted to kill the thing for being too close. The Fatalis couple was happy to exploit this to their advantage. There were a few hiccups with the initial phase of the fighting, though - the humans were not the only other entities attacking the machine. Joining them were other strange beasts, like what appeared to be living magnets and gears, who busily blasted into their foes with lightning and weird energy. The Fatalis duo had initially been shocked by this, but soon learned to exploit it to their advantage.
The machine was completely caught off guard by the trio's arrival. Desperate not to be defeated, it focused its attention onto them - even if they did not destroy it, the damage they could inflict on it would make it more vulnerable to the rest of those it was fighting. Thus, they had to go first.
Hastily, it used what reserves it had to deploy a group of corruptors and a Deathbringer, with orders to gather more resources so that it could turn the tide. Unfortunately for the machine, the female Fatalis immediately noticed the machines' arrival and realized they must have an exploitable opening to emerge from.
Of course, at the moment, the machine had bigger problems to deal with down there...
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Hastily exiting the portal, the three of us found ourselves in the belly of the mechanical beast. Already, new corruptors were being finished, alongside smaller machines, likely intent for recon.
"They're called jackals, boss."
Makes sense.
"So, everyone got the plan memorized? Not that said plan is particularly complex."
"Just go around and use blast bombs to try and disable the production lines, correct?"
Viv smiled. "Yes, Aloy, that is correct."
"Well, then we have no time to waste."
"Agreed. Move out!"
"Do you really think you can achieve victory, here, humans? I can already see you wandering about, trying to tear my vessel apart from within."
"If you're going to try to talk us down, forget it. I already took down HADES and Helis. The three of us can easily take down you."
"I Beg to differ."
Instantly, all of the doors around us sealed up, while a dozen different corruptors emerged from their assembly areas. We were surrounded.
And then a Deathbringer popped up right in front of us.
"Looks like you're out of options."
"..Fuck you...wait, I don't even know your name."
"Since it hardly matters, I will tell you: I am Main. And you are dead-"
Out of nowhere, an explosion occurred, causing the whole machine to tilt. Another soon followed, causing a patch of sunlight to shine within the machine. Then, finally, a huge, white form smashed through the hole where the light emanated from.
Shaking itself off, the White Fatalis looked at us, then at the Khopesh.
Without hesitation, it leapt at the machine.
"No...NOO!"
"Well, that was a nice," noted Aloy.
"True enough," agreed Synais, who was projecting an image of himself so that Aloy could see him. "Listen, the first two explosions were caused by the giant moving volcano fighting this machine. It appears to have ruptured a coolant pylon for this machine, alongside one of ammunition magazines. Taking them out would certainly help ruin this machine."
"Where do we go?"
"Marking routes now, boss. So who will go where?"
"I'll deal with the production line."
"Boss is covered. What about Aloy?"
"Heading for the coolant."
"I'll take the ammo, then."
"Good, everyone has a role. Now let's crush this thing."
XXXXXXXXXXX
Barreling her way through the Metal Devil, Vivian demolished all in her path. Unlucky machiens were split by sheets of metal, crushed under their own companions, and even ripped apart in the girl's own hands. Desperate to stop her, a swarm of corruptors barreled after her, only to be torn apart, one by one, as she fired off fire bomb after fire bomb, eventually killing all of them.
Destroying the ammunition supply was barely an afterthought for her.
XXXXXXXXXX
Riding atop a broadhead, Aloy charged through the Jackals, arrows knocked and ready. As soon as she saw the leaking node, she released them, sending them hurtling into the heated coolant.
As the arrows were made to freeze targets, the results were rather explosive, to say the least.
XXXXXXXX
Only somewhat concerned about the machine shuddering, I took aim with my slinger and fired. Sure enough, the blast bombs blew away the production lines, rendering the machine unable to procreate. As of right now, it was effectively sterilized.
Smiling, I made my way back to where we had arrived, only briefly pausing to watch 2B and 9S use their frames to blast the machine's outer casing.
By the time I reached our rendezvous point, the girls were already there. Looks like we'd all completed our objectives..Wait, how were we going to kill this thing again?
"Do you really think that you can destroy me from within? You haven't done anything more than inconvenience me, and you have no way of hitting a vital system-"
SMASH
Out of nowhere, the arm of Zorah Magdaros tore into the Metal Devil's body, just barely missing us and the Fatalis and Deathbringer engaged in battle. A moment later, it was forced away...revealing a rather important looking component.
A scan soon confirmed it - we were looking at the machine's power core.
"...You were saying?"
"...no..."
A hail of bullets, arrows, sling bombs and lighting flew forth, blasting the core until it exploded.
"EYALHGSOGHJRGSG"
As the machine let out a cry in horror and rage at its impending doom, we dodged out of the way and prepared to leave...only for several pieces of debris to fall on top of the Fatalis, which had just ripped out the Deathbringer's AI core.
For a moment, I just stared. Then I took aim with my slinger.
"What're you doing?!" shouted Aloy.
"Something stupid."
"Mind if I join in?"
"Yes, Viv."
"Well, count me in too, then, I suppose."
A few blast bombs later, and the dragon was freed. We wasted no more time in jumping through the portal Vivian had opened, which proved to be the one thing that saved us - mere moments after the portal closed, the machine exploded.
"Looks like we got him."
I just nodded at Viv. Looks like he was down...wait, what happened to Void?
"Commander, this is Synais, we have a problem."
"Does it relate to the machine known as Void?"
"Yes."
Instead of getting an explanation, I was treated to an image of Void...standing right outside the portal to my hub.
WHICH WAS NOW ACTIVE.
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AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
