"On your left!" Jorgan shouted, ramming his fractured knife into the stomach of a Vex goblin.

"On your right!" Diana replied, using her Omolon-designed hand cannon to blow the core out of a Vex harpy. Guardians fought all across the Pyramidion's entrance, attempting in vain to hold back the onslaught of Vex units pouring out of the mighty structure.

"I thought Phaetin would've arrived by now," Jorgan commented, pulling his knife from the goblin's corpse and raising his scout rifle to the other hostiles encroaching on their position. The hunter stepped to his partner's side, and together they fired upon the oncoming Vex goblins and hobgoblins. Then, a robotic roar emitted from behind the pair, and they turned to see a gigantic minotaur standing over them. The creature raised its cannon to fire, but a sniper round tore through its chest before it could do so.

"Watch your backs, you two, because I won't next time," Zephyr-9 stated, leaping from the high ground of a Vex structure to join the battle below. Despite the hundreds of guardians who fought, the Vex numbers seemed to be exponentially growing. More and more fell, yet triple the number that died emerged from the Pyramidion's entrance.

"This could be going better," Jorgan admitted. He aimed down the sight of his scout rifle, held his breath, and fired. Bang! A goblin's head was blown clean off.

Vex continued to emerge from their precious structure, until an unseen force caused them to halt their advance. The Pyramidion's seal began to shut, its numerous soldiers rushing fanatically at the guardians in an attempt to hold them back. Then, an explosion erupted from the sky. A beam of arc energy shot forth from a single ship flying at supersonic speeds, and collided with the Pyramidion's entrance. The Pyramidion's seal shuttered and cracked apart, eventually shattering in its entirety. The ship above then slowed, approaching the battlefield with its guns ablaze. Guardians and Vex alike looked to the disturbance, and beheld a warrior in red robes dropping to greet them.

Ice shot forth from the man's hands, and instantly impaled a dozen Vex. The man then used the ice as a slope, and slid down to ground with ease. "I am here, guardians. Now push to the entrance!" Phaetin ordered. Alongside him came Darius and Roxy.

The others did not question, and an army of guardians instantaneously rushed the Vex structure as one body of destruction. Gun fire illuminated the landscape as the two factions clashed, and at the center of the nightmare sprinted Phaetin, who pushed ahead of the others with ease. Lightning shot out of the warlock's fingers, engulfing his enemies is electric agony as he continued to rush onward. At his flanks, Darius and Roxy attempted to keep up, firing their rifles until fresh mags were necessary. Before Phaetin knew it, he was inside the Pyramidion. Though the inside looked like a mere continuation of the exterior, he knew that he was standing where all Pyramidions started. It was like a real life multiplayer game, and the Pyramidions' interior space was the server everyone would join.

"What now?!" Jorgan asked.

"Now?" Phaetin asked, a terrifying grin on his face. He could hear Vex warping in all across the Pyramidion's interior to stop them. "Cause havoc."

/

"Saladin?" Cayde asked as he stared out at the grand Vex facility before him.

"What is it, Cayde?" Saladin acknowledged as he oversaw his Redjacks prepping Iron Lord gear for the others.

"I'm not so sure about this plan anymore," Cayde stated, his gaze stuck on the Vault of Glass just ahead.

"Afraid you'll get lost in time?" Saladin questioned.

"No," Cayde replied. "Just afraid you'll try to show me up on kills."

"Funny," Saladin admitted, though not even a slight chuckle emitted from his being. "Where's your old pal Shiro?"

"Last I heard, he was doing some scouting by the Citadel. Shaxx is gonna have his hands full over there," Cayde answered. "Any other notable guardians you know of who are joining the fight on Venus?"

"There was a rumor that Shin Malphur would be backing Shaxx and his group, but you can never be certain with hunters," Saladin stated, picking up his machine gun from a rack of Iron Lord armaments.

"Thanks for the compliment," Cayde replied, tilting his head back to the golden-plated titan. "And Lady Efrideet?"

"I'm afraid she's needed elsewhere," Saladin stated.

"Such a shame. And here I was hoping I'd get a chance to meet a more… youthful Iron Lord," Cayde commented.

A slight growl emitted from Saladin as he turned to face the hunter. Then, the pair titled their heads in surprise to see a female hunter approaching. She wore Iron Lord armor, though a much more updated variant. Quickfang was held firmly in her hands.

"Are you alright with an extra guardian tagging along?" Lex asked.

"Your funeral, darling," Cayde replied with a simple shrug.

"The more the merrier, hunter," Saladin said, giving Cayde an uncomfortable shove in the process.

"When're we supposed to know to attack?" Lex asked.

"We'll know when the time comes," Cayde stated. He was nodding his head as if he was a grand master who knew all, but even he was fuzzy on the signal.

"Until then, we wait," Saladin said, turning to the Vault of Glass. Other guardians were scurrying around and grouping up with comrades. From a makeshift booth, Banshee-44 was making last-minute firearm sales, and throughout the rally point Redjacks were being powered on. The battle would soon begin.

/

The Citadel towered above all that surrounded it. To most, it would seem rather threatening; but not to the head of the Crucible. Shaxx simply stared out at the structure with a smile, until his train of thought was ruined with a hunter dropping down behind him.

"You excited to finally set your boots outside the Crucible?" the hunter asked. The exo wore a yellow cloak, and had yellow markings across his face.

"What have you to report, Shiro?" Shaxx replied, ignoring the hunter's previous question.

"Well, the Citadel is unique in that most of the structure is within our own timeline. As in, the facility is solid and real-worldly. The only part that connects it to the Nexus itself are the warp gates on its top levels," Shiro reported.

"So we'll have to fight our way up there? Excellent," Shaxx remarked, grinning beneath his helmet.

"Finally. Been itching for a good fight," another voice commented.

Shaxx and Shiro turned, only to see another hunter. "Malphur. You sly dog," Shiro beamed.

The wielder of The Last Word was a legend to most, and had a certain aura of cool about him. His signature firearm was strapped to his hip, and his outfit was reminiscent of a cowboy. His cloak had no hood, and instead he wore a western-styled hat over his helmet. "Shaxx, it's been too long."

"Glad to have you aboard, guardian," Shaxx stated. Then, the trio turned to a disturbance at the Citadel. The facility was glowing, and at its base, a sea of minotaurs were warping in.

/

The Infinite Forest's entrance was empty. It was as if Mercury had been wiped of all life, and it disturbed Ikora. "Something's not right," the warlock said. "Where's Osiris?"

"We can't worry about him right now," Zavala replied, slapping a fresh magazine into his Origin Story. "We need to prep for our invasion."

"But what if Osiris is inside when the Nexus comes crashing down?" Ikora questioned.

"He won't be. He's smart, Ikora, and I'm sure he already knows what's about to happen," Zavala tried to assure his comrade. Then, a tap on his shoulder caused him to turn around. A short, lean hunter stood before him, her hair shooting over to the right side of her face.

"What did you do to Rasputin?!" Anastasia asked, her furious eyes piercing Zavala's soul.

"You mean the fragment?" Ikora questioned.

"Yes, the fragment!" Ana flipped out. "I don't know what the Vanguard was thinking, but Rasputin is most certainly not happy."

"The fragment is vital to Operation Rift," Zavala stated.

"Operation what?" Ana asked, suddenly confused.

"A warlock has found a way to defeat the Vex, and Rasputin's fragment is required to make such a feat happen," Ikora explained.

"Rasputin's business is my business," Ana snarled. "So if you're ending the Vex, I want in."

The leaders of the Vanguard looked to one another before finally nodding their heads in agreement. "Every additional guardian helps," Ikora admitted. Then, the Infinite Forest beeped. In an instant, Cyclopses warped in around the simulator's entrance, and Vex goblins flooded out to greet their enemy.

"Ever fought Vex before, Ana?" Zavala asked the hunter as he raised his rifle.

/

"You think you could've been more specific to the others?" Darius questioned his leader as the trio rushed through one Vex hallway to another.

"That was all they needed to know. The more spread out they are, the more the Vex will have to stretch in order to purge us from their world," Phaetin explained. The warlock then rounded another corner and came upon a long, circular corridor filled with rotating beams of radiolarian fluid.

"Did you take a wrong turn?" Roxy asked.

"No," Phaetin stated as he darted forward, leaping over a radiolarian beam as a he went. The man continued to sprint onward, his motions timed perfectly to avoid each and every obstacle that came into his path. His followers, on the other hand, were having a bit more trouble bypassing the Vex security measures. At the end of the corridor, Phaetin saw it. A Vex warp gate was begging for him to step through, but the warlock did not. Instead, he simply whipped out his datapad which contained a map of the Nexus. Then, he tapped his foot on the ground, and fell through. His comrades soon followed, and the three were sprinting down a vertical, box hallway a moment later.

"How are we not falling?!" Roxy questioned.

"This isn't reality anymore," Phaetin stated, raising his left arm to the solid wall ahead of them. He opened his Vex fingers, and the wall before him suddenly dissolved. Once the wall was no more, the trio was abruptly sent back into the world of gravity. They fell for what seemed like an eternity, until an unknown force took hold of their bodies and landed them gently on a large, glass platform.

"This looks like Atheon's hold within the Vault of Glass," Darius remarked as he took in their surroundings.

"Similar, but not the same," Phaetin replied. He then gestured to the grand object before them, and the others turned to look.

"That's one large warp gate," Roxy commented, her jaw dropping inside her helmet.

"For good reason," Phaetin said, his eyes glued to the structure as it came to life. Platforms began to materialize around the trio, and dark mists foreshadowed what would come next.

The warp gate was awake, and through it stepped the largest Vex any of the guardians had ever seen. Twice the size of Argos, the unique minotaur stomped forward. Its body was coated in gold, and it wielded a pair of Torch Hammers.

"Let me guess: that's the Gate Lord we're after," Darius hypothesized.

"Indeed," Phaetin answered as he stared up at the mighty machine. "Apollyon, you're mine." The warlock then thrusted his arms forward, lightning shooting out in a mighty surge of power to engulf the Gate Lord. Apollyon lowered its arms, and its lone eye began to glow. A distorted bubble suddenly appeared in front of the machine, and lightning faded into nonexistence upon colliding with it. "Time distortion," Phaetin grinned as he stepped away from his opponent. All around, Vex goblins were warping in, and the others raised their weapons.

"We got your back, boss," Roxy said. She lifted her shotgun to the enemy and fired. Darius was soon by her side, a pulse rifle in his hands.

While his comrades fought with the Vex distractions, Phaetin was left to deal with Apollyon by himself. The warlock dodged several explosive rounds from the Vex's Torch Hammers, then replied with explosive fire of his own. However, like before, the Vex simply blocked his attack with a bubble that ruptured time. Then, Phaetin noticed confluxes materializing around the chamber. "Darius!" he called out.

"What?!" Darius replied, blasting away a goblin with his palm.

"The confluxes! They're trying to erase us from time," Phaetin stated as he dodged another volley of explosive rounds from Apollyon.

Darius took his leader's words to heart, and leaped onto the shoulders of another goblin before it could react. He then pushed off the machine's body and glided across the air like an ascending god. He quickly fired his pulse rifle, shattering two of the confluxes as they attempted to charge up. He then pointed his weapon to the third, but was hit in the back by a hobgoblin before he could fire. Phaetin's vision began to fade, and he desperately fought against the nausea taking over his body. Time was warping around him, distorting itself until he himself would no longer be of the real world. Then, a confirming explosion behind him brought his vision back.

"Got it!" Roxy shouted.

Phaetin lifted his head to Apollyon as the machine raised its left foot to crush him. "Thank you," Phaetin whispered, raising his right hand to the oncoming minotaur's foot. In an instant, ice shot up from his fingertips to meet Apollyon's foot. It froze the creature's leg in place, and Phaetin rolled to the side for another clear shot. The Gate Lord fired its weapons wildly in the false hopes of landing a hit as Phaetin outstretched his left hand. The warlock then reeled back his left arm, his Vex hand balling up into a fist. Phaetin was using his spectral abilities, and tore away Apollyon's right leg. The creature's torso then fell backwards, crashing against the ground as a result of its left leg still being encased in ice. "It's over!" Phaetin shouted as volts of electricity shot out of his hands. The explosive energy erupted across the minotaur's body, causing it to fracture and finally break.

"The gate, it's closing!" Darius shouted with concern. He and Roxy rushed to the warp gate ahead of them, but by the time they arrived, it was too late.

"Relax, brethren," Phaetin said. He stepped to the broken head of Apollyon, and tore into it. "We have all we need right here." He then revealed the Gate Lord's eye, and pointed it to the warp gate beyond. Slowly, the gate reenergized, and opened.

"Never should've doubted you, sir," Roxy remarked, eager to step through the warp gate ahead.

"No" Phaetin abruptly said. "I must go it alone from here. You two need to hold this position."

"Against endless hordes of Vex?!" Darius questioned.

Phaetin simply smirked. "Yes," was the final word he uttered before disappearing into the warp gate. Once he was through, the machine deactivated.

"Well this sucks," Darius groaned. Dark mist was forming around the two guardians, and they hastily reloaded their weapons for round two.