Hey, guys! Merry Christmas! I love you guys, and I wish you all the happiest of holidays. Also, happy holidays to you guys who don't celebrate Christmas. Happy Christma-Hanuk-Quanza! Even though I'm like two days late…. Alright so, I do not own Destiny or its characters, ideas, ect. If you have a criticism or critique, please leave a review. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

God bless, JPLegends

ACT II: Hive

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: Warrior of Light

The blade cut at Garok, a Swarm Prince. Brilliant green light creeped in the air, unholy fire spreading onto the rock in dozens of arches. Garok stepped back, the bone armor chipping at the sword and ash splurting from his skin. He screamed metallic screams, and Alec swung again. More fire, more hive screaming in fear. Garok stepped back, his three-fingered hand covering the cut in his armor. Alec slashed upward, swinging through the Prince like butter. Bones went flying, and ash cut through the air, being set alight by the fire as it lit up the ground.

Alec stood up straight, looking at his sword. The Sword of Crota was on fire, its sickly green color licking his armor. He looked at Chloe and Titus, who were staring at the hive around them, keeping their weapons trained. The hive stared at Alec, croaking in anticipation. Alec took a deep breath, grinning behind his helmet. The Sword whispered to him, telling him to prove his worth. Alec looked from the different hive faces, looking around at the crowd. He uttered one word, with confidence striking with venom:

"Next?"

A thrall started screaming, and soon dozens of screams filled the air. Tons of thrall started charging at Alec, and the acolytes and knights starting firing at them. Chloe and Titus start firing at the collection of hive who were kicked into a murder frenzy, desperately trying to keep them off Alec and failing. Alec slashed with the sword again, cutting through multiple thrall and scattering them to the wind. As if the chaos of a sword that was cutting through everything wasn't bad enough, the fire the sword was producing was spreading everywhere, and killing even more of the hive around him. The hive kept coming, and Alec kept swinging, killing hive in front of him and the fires keeping the others at bay. After seven swings, Alec slammed his blade into the ground, causing the ground to shake and the hive around him to either die or fall. Fire leaped into the air, creeping onto the walls and eviscerating the hive around Alec. There was a crack in the rock on the floor, and dust was falling from the ceiling. More hive came in, this time more organized. Titus and Chloe started moving, preventing the flanks from slamming into them. Alec did the same.

"That was fast!" Alec shouted, running into a thrall battalion and cutting through them.

"They don't like us having the sword, I guess!" Chloe shouted, firing at acolytes at the other side of the room.

"Then I recommend we keep it," Titus shouts. "Have at you!" Titus pulls his shotgun and runs into a hive line, blasting a few of them away with three precise shots to the clusters of acolytes. He turns and punches a thrall in the mouth, separating making it stagger back. Titus continues to pump lead into his hive enemies, rotating from acolyte to thrall to knight, moving in circles. He leaps in the air to reload, throws a grenade and gets back into the thick of it, while Alec slices through the hive like nothing. Chloe keeps her range, until she leaps into the air and summons a ball of bright, solar light in her fist. And with a loud crashing sound, her body is brightly illuminated in sunlight, wings of fire spreading from her back. She shoots fire from her hands, throwing balls of fire at nearby hive enemies, causing pockets of fire to burn at the hive in chaos. The hive break, staggering from the sudden fire and light filling the air, while the guardians cut through them.

Alec feels really good for about the fight, raising his fist into the air while running. "Yeah!" He shouts, before getting back-handed by a knight. Alec flew back onto the stone ground, looking up at the knight that hit him. Its head crest made of bone looks like a crown, but less like Garok's. Unlike Garok's crest, which looks like the tendrils of a maggot ready to feast, this one looks more regal. Almost like a crown. His red, encrusted body looked ancient, and he roared, deeper than the other sounds of the hive. Alec could tell that this knight was a Swarm Prince, and this Prince was older than the rest. Alec stood back up, brandishing the sword. The Sword hungered for murder and blood, Alec could feel it. So could the Swarm Prince, as it roared even louder and charged at Alec. At least, he was trying before Titus shoulder charged straight into the Prince, causing him to tuck and roll in a combat position a few yards away from Alec. Titus got to his feet, reloading his shotgun.

"Dakoor, Prince of Yul," Titus says, sounding guttural. "I remember you."

"Big ugly over here looks old enough to have been at the Great Disaster." Alec says, circling around Dakoor, who waited for an attack.

"Oh, he was," Titus says. "He killed my fourth platoon." Titus rose his shotgun, firing it at Dakoor. Dakoor, in response, rose his hand and caught most of the pellets from the shell in his arm. Alec got a sudden rush in his head, the sword compelling him to strike. And strike immediately. Alec rushed forward to the side of Dakoor, and followed what he felt in his head. He swiped up, cutting through Dakoor's skin below his bone-plated chest. Fire flew through the air, causing Dakoor to catch fire and stagger, swinging his cleaver at Alec. Alec caught it in the chest, feeling the blade cut into his armor. Alec winced, but moved forward again, following his instinct. He swung again, cutting through the bone chest piece, weakened by the fire. Dakoor staggered, a deep cut in his skin. Alec swung again, slashing through the cut and cutting Dakoor clean in half. Dakoor explodes into pieces of bone and ash, and collapses onto the ground. Titus looks at him, and Alec shrugs, not exactly sure what just happened. Alec looks at the sword, which has multiple cracks in it, bleeding white light in small amounts. Alec couldn't help but feel more violent while holding the sword, as he would not usually charge head first into an enemy line. It's almost like the sword was compelling him, and he could almost hear it speaking to him.

'Kill. Kill. Kill,' The Sword of Crota whispers. 'Slaughter. Bludgeon. Massacre. Kill. Kill. Kill.'

Alec ignored the voice, and almost without effort, the voice went away.

"Come on," Chloe says, coming down from the ground and her light wearing off. "Let's go rendezvous with Damascus and the others."

"What about the other Swarm Princes?" Alec asks, his sword seeming to ask the exact same question.

"I have a theory," Chloe says. "That theory being they aren't taking too kindly at three different armies fighting at their doorstep." The three make their way back to the Circle of Bones, cutting through pockets of hive on the way back.

"Titus to Damascus, how're you holding out," Titus asks through the radio. "Damascus, come in. Damascus!" No response comes through the radio.

"Let's hope we aren't too late." Chloe says. Alec agrees. They get to the Circle of Bones and see a hive line firing at a group outside, causing chaos and explosions to fill the air. Alec, Titus, and Damascus attack with three prongs. Chloe stays back, starting to pick at the acolytes' attention. They scream at each other, getting their attention while Chloe gets headshot after headshot. Before their attention is entirely on the three, Alec jump and sweeps his sword, cutting through three and the fire burning through the rest of the line. Alec gets a view of the chaos, with hive and fallen fighting all throughout the circle, and a small pocket in the center managing to carve their place in the center. Alec also sees a few humans leaping in the air from place to place, firing rocket launchers or auto rifles. Titus rolls forward and summons his Ward of Dawn, the void shield plugging up the opening. Alec watches as his armor and Monte Carlo become infused with void light, and the unholy green fire disappears entirely inside the bubble.

"What now?" Alec asks.

"Those hive in the middle of the battlefield have to be commanded by Banuk. The ones in the exterior are probably Merok," Titus says. "Get to the center, wipe out the group in the middle, and take out the rest. Go!" The three jump into action, with Chloe naturally staying back and picking off the hive from afar. Titus got in the faces of the hive in small group moving around the center. And Alec went straight to the center, slamming at the ground in the largest group. Green fire swept into the air and burned through the enemies like they were nothing. Alec felt the flames lick at his armor, flames fueled by malice and hatred, carried on by a sword. He swung and swung, cutting through the hive, which started screaming and turning their attention toward Alec. But Alec did not stop mowing down dozens of hive until he got to Banuk in the center. Banuk barely had a chance to blink, before Alec got in his face.

Banuk, Ur Prince was ugly, with his armor chipped all over the place and many gashes all over in ashy skin. His crest on his boney head was less like a crown and more like three horns curled up together, like a devilish ram. Alec swung, and was immediately floored as Banuk dodged out of the way with almost no time to react. The fire leaped through the air, creating a ring of fire around them and killing a lot of hive. Alec stumbled forward and rolled, gaining his balance as an explosion took place right behind him. The ash from an acolyte's body streaked across his armor, and he held the sword at ready. Alec could feel the Sword of Crota thirsty for murder.

Banuk charged first, swinging his cleaver. Alec dodged out of the way, and again as Banuk swung again. Alec managed to leap away from danger, kicking at Banuk's side and swinging his sword. The sword did not connect with anything, but the fire connected to Banuk's skin, burning and charring it. Banuk turned, aggressive and ready to run at it again. Alec dodged as necessary, the sword chastising him for not being assertive in the fight. As Banuk swung horizontally, Alec dropped to his knees and threw a throwing knife at Banuk's eyes, managing to hit him in the spot in between all three. Banuk roared in pain, and staggered back. Alec charged forward and swung, chipping at his armor. The sword told him to do it again, and Alec swung. Again, Alec swung. Finally, Alec slammed the ground with his sword, making fire once again lick the air. And Banuk disintegrated into the lunar atmosphere, the flames charring his ashes. Alec turned and swung, creating a vortex of fire which seared the hive around them, killing even more hive. And then someone from Damascus's unit threw a grenade, which caused the fire to ignite in a massive explosion. Alec leaped away from the ball of fire, the malicious green licking the ceiling.

"Banuk, Prince of Ur is down and out," Alec yelled, running through the circle. "I'm providing our friends some relief!" Alec ran until he saw fallen firing at the guardians cornered in the middle of the save. He leaped once, and then twice on the air, flying twelve feet in the air. And when he was over the group of fallen, he slammed his sword down toward the ground, letting momentum carry him. He crashed into the ground, fire rising up like two unholy waves. And the fallen were disorganized and confused, and it felt like it happened in an instant. Alec ran to join the group in the center.

Damascus was firing at some hive a decent set away, keeping his head down. Ava was nearby, also firing, but her hand cannon was keeping her rather restrained, and she couldn't move before due to the constant influx of fire. Artemis was doing as well as possible to lay down the fury with her machine gun, but she was also limited by the poor sight of the cave and the constant crossfire. Alec approached them, and noticed their armor looked worse for wear.

"'Bout damn time, Alec," Artemis shouted. "What's your plan on this one?"

"Cause some chaos," Alec shouted. "We look for the last Swarm Prince and clear this place out! We'll go down in history if we pull this off."

"So, Mr. History," Ava says, getting back into cover and reloading. "Do you happen to have any heavy ammunition?" Damascus hands her a heavy ammo pack and Ava heads to reloading her fancy rocket launcher.

"Scatter, and don't let them hit you," Damascus yells. "We win this fight today!"

"Send their souls screaming back to hell!" Alec adds in, leaping into action with the rest of the guardians. He watches at Ava fires a rocket blast into a hive platoon and the rocket disperses into multiple rockets. The rocket barrage throws a ton of hive off guard as the mini-rockets track down specific hive and cause chaos over a fourth of the battlefield. Alec carves through hive and fallen for a solid amount of time, and does not think. He simply moves and kills, spreading fire throughout the cave. It isn't until five minutes into the battle that Alec hears the best news he's heard all night.

"Alec, I've got our Prince here," Damascus shouts through the radio. "Sending you a signal as to where." Suddenly, the ground shakes as electricity fills the air and a massive electrical surge hits a section of hive against the far side of the field. Damascus had used his Fist of Havoc to take out a hive sect on that side of the field. Alec laughs, and runs to where the explosion came from, feeling electricity flow through the air. Eventually, he sees his foe. Merok, Prince of Eir. The knight look the same as his colleagues, except younger, and less dead. His crest happens to look horns stretching out to kill the next opponent. Alec sweeps through the remaining hive in his way, stepping through the leaping static on the ground, turning the ground bright blue. He swings around him, killing a wave of hive with the fire. And then again, killing more with fire. Merok covers his head, walking through the chaos. And Alec takes advantage, stepping forward and running the Sword of Crota through Merok's chest. Merok groans in metallic, and then his eyes stop groaning. Alec pulls the sword out, and Merok is sliced into bone and ash. And before Alec knew it, the Sword of Crota dissipated in the air. It was gone before Alec knew that the Sword had vanished.

"All right people, let's end this with a bang," Alec shouts, pulling out his Monte Carlo and mowing down the remaining hive. "We need all arc users who are charged and ready to go to show these bastards what our light can do!"

"FOR THE CITY!" Ava, Damascus, and Artemis shout. Alec runs back to the center, where all the guardians started meeting up. From there in the center, they started killing all of the fallen and hive that started approaching them. And while they held off their enemies, Damascus was throwing an absurd amount of grenades out into the ranks of the hive and fallen, laying puddles of arc energy just waiting to be ignited. And then, Artemis leaped into the air and called on her own Fist of Havoc, igniting a puddle in a bright explosion of electricity. And then, the ring ignited into a swirling vortex of sparks and fire. And to top it all off, Ava fired her rocket launcher twice, sending mini-rockets out all over the battlefield and tracing all of the hive and fallen. Explosions went off all around them, and the firing stopped as the explosions died. Any of the foes that weren't killed in the blast were picked off by the guardians immediately afterward.

They won.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The people who survived went back to the Burg Eltz and tended to the wounded. After two hours of getting settled back into the Burg Eltz, the command of the base settled everyone and sent them back into the barracks. Waiting there was Alec, Chloe, Titus, Artemis, Damascus and Ava. And they were sharing a drink.

"A toast to the Swarm Princes, burning in the brimstone pits!" Damascus shouted cheerily, gulping wine. Alec could not help but think that the action could not have been good for his exo body.

"Here-here!" Artemis shouted, downing her glass.

"A toast to those fallen, who thought they could catch us off guard! And died trying to do so, eh?!" Ava shouted, pouring and slamming another glass.

"Damn straight!" Alec shouted, downing his second glass.

"More importantly," Titus said, his voice level. "A toast to the guardians who died on this moon, watching the protectors of humanity fight against all odds. And when…while they couldn't. A toast to the men and women who died so we and any guardians born in future days could continue to fight. And could ensure that the men and women in the City can continue to comfortably have children without the threat of the Hive every time they look into the sky at night."

"I'll drink to that." Chloe said. Everyone drank to the toast. Minutes later, the forces of the moon gathered in the barracks and waited silently to hear their leaders speak. Alec, Titus and Damascus walked onto the stage, with Chloe staying behind to hear the speech. Titus and Damascus step back, leaving Alec in the center of the stage. Alec looks back at them, with his arms in a 'what gives' position.

"Real mature." Alec says. The crowd actually laughs. On the moon. Alec turns to look at the soldiers they brought here. He makes eye contact with some of them.

"We needed this win," Alec says. "We needed to take out the leadership keeping us from the rest of this moon, and we made it happen. We needed to set up a position from which to enter the cavern system, and we made it happen. We needed a way to keep ourselves hidden from the hive while operating inside the hive, and we made it happen. We needed to make the fallen creep off of our shore, and we made it happen. We needed to make broad strokes to take back this moon, and god damn it, we made it happen!" The crowd cheers, and Alec waits for them to calm down. Alec sees Chloe glance up at him, smiling.

"Because of these victories, we are one step closer to taking down Obeck and shutting down hive operations on the moon," Alec says, once the crowd calms. "So don't falter now. We keep aiming big, keep going for the next target. Strike operations are classified on Threat Level Wolf. We made history today, so let's keep going. Here's what we need from you. Artemis, I need you and Ava to track the fallen and start campaigns against them. They came dangerously close to wiping us out today and I want that to be the last time that happens. Understood?"

"Understood." Artemis shouts, her voice loud and confident.

"Ava, I need patrols out on the lunar surface continuing to make life hell for our friends on the surface. Am I clear?" Alec asks.

"Crystal, sir." Ava says.

"As for the rest of you, I want you going into the moon and fucking up all their shit. Is that clear?" Alec receives a loud applause in response, with whistling and cheering in the background. Alec nods. "Right then. You know your objectives. Dismissed." The crowd disperses and Alec goes to see Chloe, Titus right behind him.

"What's the plan, Alec?" Chloe asks.

"We go in first thing tomorrow," Alec says. "And we kill Kranox."

That was fun. That was A LOT of fun. Don't you guys agree? Ah. Nothing like insomnia keeping me awake until I finish writing a chapter.