The Cabal caught up with the Hive and Fallen that had beat him to the Core of the complex. While Claw looked about, eager for combat, Kestral held onto the handles of his daggers uncomfortable, aware of the coming fight.
Bracus studied the details of the large room they stood within. It was a massive, circular chamber. In the center was pit with a great column of blue light emerging from it. The massive light fired into what appeared to be almost a vex portal attached to the ceiling.
The eerie similarity of this room chewed at the mind of Bracus. "You're wondering why this looks so much like the chamber of light." The Cabal's Ghost had asked after appearing over his shoulder, examining the blue light.
"Osiris didn't make the lighthouse. It was Vex construct like all the rest. I haven't yet been reactivated by his power when he adopted the location. I can only guess that maybe the chamber of light held a similar purpose to this room before Osiris moved in, hence the nearly identical setups."
"You're saying the Lighthouse might've been Tralion's old man cave before the decrepit guy on the throne moved in?" Bracus asked.
"Maybe. Really don't know. If it was Tralion's, or even some other axis mind, they are gone now so-"
Their conversation was interrupted when blasts of energy exploded from the blue column of light. Three blasts in particular. White tendrils of energy burst from the main column, as if the energy itself was giving birth to these monstrous machines. The Guardians of its own.
Three Vex Hydras emerged from the Blue column, their chassis altered from the standard unit. The three warriors whipped out their weaponry as the trinity of Hydras hovered towards them.
All three of the Viceroys possessed the same colour of Teal plating as their former superior mind. Yet the lighting that illuminated the circuitry of each was different. One Hydra gave off the orange colour of solar, one the purple of the void, and one the blue of arc. None of the Hydras possessed the common force field to rotate around them. These particular ones did not need them.
The one equipped with the power of the void was the first to attack. From its side cannons, purple orbs of energy fired, hovering in a slow movement but homing in on the targets. The two other Hydras performed the same attack with their respected elements.
While Bracus and Kestral attempted to evade the projectiles only to still be chased down by them, Claw readied her sword and lunged onto the head of the Void Hydra. With one hand she held onto the top of the hull and raised her sword upwards with the other. With a savage thrust, Claw launched her Cleaver downwards to pierce the Hydra head.
The Sword completely refused to penetrate the metal, and Claw's hand lost hold on the sword, cutting a scar on her palm as it slide down the edge. She growled in pain and frustration. Her sword tumbled off the face of the Hydra and onto the floor. She looked at where she had attacked. Not a scratch.
Bracus had learned that he could in fact cause the tracking orbs to explode when fired at, like volatile bubbles. He saw Claw latched onto the top of the Void Viceroy, steadying herself to jump for the sword on the floor.
Bracus looked to the left, closer to the entrance in which Kestral was still trying to run from the following orbs coloured in purple, orange, and blue. The Cabal gave a sigh and aimed his slug rifle at the orbs. But instead of the launching of micro rockets, a hollow click could be heard every time he pulled the trigger. Empty. He reached into his legging pouches for other cartridges. No ammo. No bullets to save Kestral from the uncanny Vex technology.
The Arc Viceroy began to float towards Bracus, its blue eye glowing brighter by the second. The Cabal focused on the fact that each of his friends were in various states of danger. His desire to protect once more granted him a suit of rock armour forged from cooled solar. His thick armour finished forming just in time to protect the user from the arc laser fired by the Viceroy's eye. An endless beam of energy. Bracus began marching forward towards the Arc Hydra, hoping to resist the laser until he could do whatever melee damage he could before his rock armour shattered.
Kestral looked at the Solar Hydra approaching him while still running around to avoid the orbs, growing immensely tired from it. He really did not want to do this, but forced himself into it. The Fallen charged towards the orange lit Hydra head on, leaping onto its face.
Kestral's four arms latched onto the metal. If these orbs would continue to follow him, would they still do it when they were headed for their own creator? Kestral began to feel a strong heat against his stomach. He knew it wasn't his power coming back but was still afraid at the possibility that his abdomen would be vaporized in a few moments by a solar laser.
The orbs continued onto the route of their target. Though Kestral could not see, he certainly felt the painful barrage of orbs assaulting him. He screamed at the various burns the orbs granted him and he lost his grip on the Hydra head. He dropped to the floor right before the solar laser could incinerate him. The Fallen had gotten a quick glimpse of the orbs that had in fact hit the foe. The void and arc orbs had done nothing to the Hydra. But the solar ones did. It's respected element.
"Weak! Their weak to their own powers!" Kestral yelled with pain.
Bracus had noticed in the corner of his visor that his Fallen friend was hurt, but he was too busy trying to beat the underside of the Hydra to no avail. He and Claw both heard the shout from Kestral. Bracus here realized that he was useless against this particular Viceroy and rushed to help Kestral.
The Solar Hydra had hovered some feet back in order to get a better aim on the Guardian on the floor. It was preparing another solar beam to vaporize the pathetic germ before it. It halted its attempt at execution when it felt something strong tearing apart at its underside.
Bracus tore open a hole underneath the Hydra, ripping out machinery as he climbed inside. Bracus was ready to use his damaged rock armour to rip the Hydra from the inside then out. The Hydra realizing that its inner mechanisms would not be enough to destroy the invader decided to commence the self destruction of the chassis in an attempt to destroy the invader along with it.
Bracus was soon learning that the Hydra he was cramped inside was heating up enough that even his own armour could not resist the rapid temperature escalation. He dropped from the hole he had torn. As his boots connected to the floor, the explosion of the Hydra Hull slapped against his rock coating in a fiery chaos. The rock layer shattered.
The Ghost of Independence had taken a decent peak from the entrance to the chamber and soared back to its Guardian with enough information.
As the battle had been going on within the Core of the Complex, Independence was fighting with the voices in his mind which have gotten slightly louder now. The Goblin was desperate to rid of them just as he was curious to understanding the nature behind these voices if there even was one. His position inside the lift room had not changed since. He was slumped at the wall, fighting his thoughts.
"Independence, the others are fighting the Viceroys! They can only hurt them with their respected powers! One of three will only be weak to you!" The Ghost urged.
"The voices, little light. It is so difficult to think clearly. I do not believe I can help them..." The Vex responded with a defeated tone, dropping his head down.
This Guardian was the only way the others were going to defeat the last of the Vex minds on all of Mercury. This Guardian, who was too concerned with a storm in his brain to just attack. It didn't take brains to attack. The Ghost remembered when he had first worked to get its Guardian.
"Get up! Get up now!" The Ghost shouted as it continuously rammed itself into the face of Independence, adding to the irritation the Guardian was already feeling in his mind.
The head of the Void Hydra was tearing down the middle as a Sickle of the same power cut through, pulled downwards by the weight of the Acolyte. Claw dropped from the Vex and chased for her sword. The Viceroy continued to hover in a random direction for a few moments before the purple glow within went dark and the entire chassis exploded with void energy. One Viceroy left.
Three mildly injured Guardians were helpless against the Arc Hydra. Whether it was the bright flame of Solar or the wretched shadow of the void, the Viceroy was completely invincible. The door to Mercury's freedom of Vex rule was locked away. Arc was the key.
A grin emerged behind the helmet of Bracus as he witnessed a ball of arc fired onto each side of the Hydra. And both of those shots were of his own Vex. They formed into electrical imitations of Goblins and began firing away at the Hydra.
Arc began to burn at the hull of the Hydra, each shot firing deeper into the metal. Kestral turned to the entrance to witness his Vex partner leaning against the side of the wall, struggling to keep awake. Independence looked at the large machine with disgust. In a way he felt that the nonsense that corrupted his thoughts were the result of these Hydras. The garbage collected in this place by these machines and turned into some monstrous soup that they sent into canyons and formed white lakes.
Independence began to scream as he gripped at his willpower and fired out more clones to control. He now commanded seven of his replicas to fire away at the Hydra. Soon the last Viceroy was a big metal sponge of damage. The arc energy tore its way through all the circuitry. Whatever it didn't burn, it overcharged. The Last Axis mind on Mercury exploded.
All across the landscapes of Mercury. Every single Vex unit, from Harpy to Hobgoblin to Hydra. Each one that had been patrolling the metropolis of constructs or the lifeless dunes. Each one either halted in their tracks or dropped from the air. Every haunting red eye went dark. Every bleep, hushed. Every unit under the Eradicative mind became as still as the constructs themselves. And Osiris felt it.