The World's Grave Part II: Greed the Defender
"Um, guys?" May whispered.
"Hey did you guys hear about the Anchor of Light? Vanguard ordered an evacuation." Mira said.
"Guys?!" The person was standing themselves up.
"Yeah, I just heard." Shino replied. "Just like the Skywatch last year. Were the Hive and Fallen going at it again?"
"YOU GUYS!"
"What?!" They both looked at where she was pointing.
The person was a Guardian. A Titan judging by the heavy armor and had obviously been sitting there for a long time. But no one else knew they were coming here. The Vanguard wouldn't even tell them why.
The Titan was male and spoke with a deep and rough voice, "You shouldn't have come here, you know."
"Just who are you?" Mira asked, standing up.
He seemed to think for a moment before answering, "You can call me Greed."
"Greed?" Shino laughed slightly, "You must have really pissed off your Ghost."
"Is making fun of him really the smartest thing to do right now?" May whispered furiously. But to their surprise, the Titan let out a genuine hearty laugh.
"You're a pretty funny, kid. I mean that." Greed said, once he had calmed down, "I regret having to do this, I really do…"
His tone became deadly serious, "But you really should not have come here." Greed lifted his right leg and slammed it back onto the ground.
For a few seconds, there was silence. And then a loud screech rang out. Joined by more and more. The bony claws of Thrall started to poke through the small lake near the entrance of the Grave.
"That lake was a puddle when I stepped in it…" Shino said in slight shock.
"Forget that! Just start shooting!" Mira commanded, already blowing off heads. More and more Thrall joined the fray. Acolytes, Knights and even Wizards were coming seemingly out of nowhere. The three were found absolutely everything to keep them from getting on the platform, but they were quickly being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Hive. Greed was calmly leaning against the back wall, watching the carnage unfold.
A Thrall's claw drew marks into Shino's armor, only to be knocked away. A meteoric blast from a Knight's Hive Boomer knocked Mira down with a pained yell. Shino moved to help her up, only to see four more blasts heading their way.
"Get close to me!" He called out. They quickly did as they were told. Gathering his Light and expelling it outward, the Ward of Dawn effectively stopped the attacks. Focusing his Light even more, the shield started to harden, preventing any Hive from getting through. They scratched against the force field in unbridled rage.
"May. Through the top." Shino groaned, his arms still spread outward. He could barely remain standing, much less talk. It was taking everything he had just to keep the shield solid and every hit against it threatened to make him buckle under the pressure.
She jumped through the top, which Shino made intangible. Once she was through, he solidified it again, allowing her to stand on top of it.
Without a moment's hesitation, May entered Radiance. The world started to slow down and even in the near darkness, she could see perfectly. Pointing her hands in the direction of the Hive, she created waves of ethereal flame that could still burn in the lack of air . The fire tore through the Hive, reducing them to ashes. She brought her hands up, causing the flames to shoot up into the air and crash down on the Hive like waves in the ocean, reducing anything she pleased into nothing.
Mira took their counter attack as a chance to check on Greed. He wasn't there.
May suddenly threw herself off the Void dome, twisting around in midair to fire at something, the Angel of Light ability keeping her temporarily aloft. Mira looked upwards to see Greed in the air, dropping down and smashing against the Ward of Dawn. The entire room shook with his attack. Shino yelled out in pain and dropped to his knees, the shield falling with him. Mira quickly grabbed him and Blinked away before Greed could land on top of them.
"I'm fine. Thanks." Shino said, coughing before lifting his large frame off of her.
Greed straightened himself out, gazing at them through his visor. May quickly rejoined her team. "My Ghost got everything it could." She announced, "We could leave right now."
"Who is this guy?" Shino asked, "We're all Guardians. Why is he attacking us?"
Greed continued to stare at them, probably attempting to predict their plans.
"Maybe he's turned traitor. Like Dredgen Yor…" his Ghost answered.
"There's something about him that wasn't there with Dredgen Yor when he first turned traitor. But I think you're right." May said.
"Well if that's the case, we very well can't let him run around." Mira decided.
"Your plan?"
She brandished her knife, "We're bringing him in. Spread out."
May slowly began circling Greed to the left, stopping directly in front of him. Shino to the right. Mira readjusted the grip on her knife before charging the Titan.
Greed's arm came up, stopping the blade cold. His entire body was covered by the Force Barrier, one apparently strong enough to stop a blade. Shino came in with a punch, which was similarly stopped. But once he did, they simultaneously wrapped their arms around his, attempting to subdue him. With his arms restrained, May quickly brought up her Hand Cannon, firing at his chest.
His body shook with each impact. But he made no effort to tear himself free. The gun soon clicked empty and in response, he started laughing. None of the bullets had entered him, all stopped by his shield and fell to the ground.
"What's so funny?" Shino growled, tightening his grip.
He stopped laughing, "I was worried that I'd be bored by you. I guess I was wrong." Greed looked up at May, "If you're all done, young lady, I guess it's my turn." He suddenly brought up his left arm, lifting Mira up with it and threw her towards May. Once his arm was freed, he manifested a violet orb in his left palm and smashed it against Shino. The orb exploded, forcing Shino backwards.
Shino dropped to his knee again, feeling even weaker than before. "Suppressor grenade." His Ghost said.
"I figured. I guess I'm out for a little while." He suddenly ducked and rolled out of the way. Just as he did, Greed slammed into the spot where he was standing, creating a small crater. He didn't get far enough because Greed's leg came up and smashed into his chest, sending him flying into the opposite wall with no way to defend himself. Shaking his head, Shino looked up just a bit too late. Force Barrier up, Greed body slammed him, deepening the hole into the wall and throwing a cloud of dust into the air.
"Shino's down." Khan said.
"I see that. Damn it." Mira cursed. Greed jumped out of the falling cloud. Shino was slumped against the destroyed wall, his Ghost floating over his head.
Greed straightened out, dusting himself off. He looked back at Shino and then back at them, "Your friend should've been more careful. I don't need to kill you two or split you up to kill him. I can easily just rip the Light out of him. I learned that the hard way." His easygoing tone was gone by the last part. Almost as if he was speaking from memory. He looked back at Shino and back at them before walking back towards Shino's Ghost.
Mira brought up her gun again, firing off the three Solar shots. At the same, May launched a large Nova Bomb directly at him. Greed made no effort to avoid it. The blasts rocked the chamber and threw yet another cloud of dust into the air. Wasting no time, both began running towards Shino and Greed. Just before Mira could touch his Ghost, something stopped her. It felt like a solid wall but the dust was covering it from view. May ran into the same obstacle.
"A Ward of Dawn. He created a small one." Mira figured out.
"Mira! Shino's inside it!"
"What?" She looked back and started to slam her fist against shield. Greed was having no issue solidifying the Ward. He began walking over to Shino again, leaving the two to helplessly try to break it down. Nothing they did even wavered his concentration. They could just watch as he reached out for Shino's Ghost.
Mira suddenly felt warm all over. She looked at her hands and saw that her whole body was shining with Light. May started forming the Nova Bomb, infusing it with Solar Light. She drew her arm back and rammed the bolt straight into the dome. Greed paused right before he could drain the Ghost, his whole body trembling with the massive pressure that just hit the shield.
"Mira!" her Ghost called, "A hole where May hit it!"
May dropped to her knees, slumping over. Mira jumped through where she had hit it. Greed's hands came up just in time to stop the long blue Arc Saber from stabbing into him. Her anger empowered her but in terms of raw strength, Titans were unmatched. Greed slowly forced her backwards, forcing her down to one knee. He brought his arm up with the intent to smash it down…
And he suddenly went flying away, slamming into one of the Hive statues. Parts of the wall crumbled, burying him.
Despite the physical toll of Radiance and two consecutive Nova Bombs, May brought herself to stand up and run around the two to revive Shino. He was surrounded in a cloak of lightning and holding May up, who could barely stand at that point.
"Shino-" Mira started.
"I'm fine."
She let out a small tired laugh, "Good." She looked down at her hand. Where was her knife? She looked around for where it might have fallen.
Greed suddenly appeared in front of her. Shino was able to grab May and jump away. Mira wasn't so lucky. Mira was slammed against the wall followed by a burning pain in her bicep. Greed had taken her knife with her when he had been knocked away. He stabbed it through her left arm and deep into the wall. He moved away and started walking towards Shino and May.
May still couldn't move. Shino tried to pick her up and get away but was brutally kicked down. May fell some distance away, groaning in pain.
"You had to make this difficult." Greed growled, kicking him again, this time hard enough to dent his armor. He raised his open palm towards Shino's face, "Any last words?"
Mira was struggling to pull the knife out of her arm. May still couldn't bring herself to stand up
Shino simply said, "None."
Greed's hand latched onto Shino's face, shoving his head back into the ground, "Never die with regrets, kid. They'll haunt you. Even in death."
Gun appearing in her free right hand, Mira desperately started shooting at him until the clip was empty. As usual, it did nothing. Nothing they had done was showing any sign of slowing him down. Why was Shino just laying there?
She abandoned the gun, desperately attempting again to pull the knife out, "Move you fuckin' idiot, what the hell are you doing?!"
Shino didn't answer. He couldn't bring himself to move. He really was going to die. He was going to sleep again. And this time, he wouldn't be waking up.
"Amir, get him out of here!" Mira commanded, talking to Shino's Ghost.
"Don't you dare." Shino growled to his Ghost, "Get out while you still can. Go home."
"No…" May said weakly, beginning to stand up.
Pain started to overwhelm him. Tendrils of blue Light began rising and entering Greed as the Light left his body. Mira's struggling became much more desperate.
"Leave."
"I can't…" Mira said, on the verge of tears. The knife refused to budge and the pain was debilitating.
The pain reached mind shattering heights. Everything started to darken, "GO!"
"I WON'T!" she roared back. Shino didn't respond. He couldn't. Just breathing presented a challenge.
Mira continued, the tears falling, "I promised Marie I would never leave anyone behind again. We both did."
She was silent for just a second longer, "And I'm not breaking it now. I'm dragging you back to Christine. Alive. Whether you want me to or not! " Full blown rage replaced her despair. She finally ripped the blood covered knife out of her arm, not even feeling the pain.
"Christine?" Greed suddenly asked softly, looking at Mira and then back down at Shino. Shino's pain suddenly stopped and the wisps of Light evaporated.
Mira didn't understand his hesitation but she was going to use it. "Khan." The large, streamlined, dark blue rocket launcher materialized into Mira's hands. Greed was still demanding an answer from Shino before he killed him. The launcher started to transmit a soft ringing into her ear, signaling it was ready to fire.
"MOVE!" She commanded. And she clicked the trigger.
May suddenly bolted up and threw herself towards Shino. She Blinked both of them away from Greed. Seeing the bright purple projectile coming his way, Greed threw himself backwards. The rocket suddenly curved upwards in his direction, making contact and exploding. He fell to the ground in a smoking heap.
May looked over at her, "Truth?! You're using Truth?!"
"Yup." She fired again. Greed jumped to the side, only for the projectile to dart into his direction and explode. She felt the mission would be dangerous so she got permission to use the Exotic weapon ahead of time. She should have used it in the first place.
Whoever this Greed character was, judging by the way he staggered when he tried to stand up again, he could be hurt. "May, start prepping your ship for take off. Shino and I will come back for our own."
"You still want to take him?"
"You saw what he can do. He's dangerous to every Guardian he comes across. We have to take him in."
May nodded before returning to orbit. Mira fired the last missile in Truth.
Seeing no point in attempting to dodge the projectile, Greed was knocked back into the Grave. The machine was uprooted entirely and fell against the back wall, tearing a hole through it.
In a similar manner to Greed, Shino leapt up high into the air and dropped directly onto Greed, cracking with lightning . The impact caused the World's Grave to shatter and created a crater in the ground under it. Even after Shino stood up and restrained Greed, electricity still crackled throughout the area. Greed tried to move but with his dropped defenses, both attacks did much more damage than usual.
"I'm ready to go." May said.
Using Truth drained a lot of Light from her. Mira felt her knees begin to buckle but refused to fall down. She could rest later, "We're coming. Take off as soon as we appear."
What do you guys think of the length? Should I attempt to make it longer or is it fine how it is?
Fighting scenes tend to move at a faster rate though.