The ship was ripping itself apart, explosions happened every 3 seconds, the time to leave the Shadow behind for good was now! The elites were coming out of the lift that would soon deactivate, flying out and landing on the shaking floor. Tesk was carrying Yapflop in his arms, noticing the fatal damage to his armour and methane pack. He was desperate to get this little Grunt to the dropship.
"C'mon little Unggoy, just hang on, we can get you meds as soon as we board!" he tried to speak to him, but the explosions was blocking out his voice. Yapflop coughed up the methane in his small lungs. He was going to suffocate without it.
Ventor carried Spyro on his hunched back, holding the dragon's arms in front to keep a good grip. His front paws was just hanging against the sides of the captain's neck. The red armoured elite couldn't feel any breathing from the purple dragon. He also felt Spyro's blood from his abdomen trickle down the back of his armour, but he ignored it entirely. This was indeed a dire situation.
"Thel or the black creature is going to kill me if this one doesn't survive! ARGH! WHERE IS THAT BLOODY HANGER?" Ventor shouted, running alongside his comrades.
The blue elite that was right in front of the group was carrying Jabjab, the less injured of the wounded. Like Tesk, he was carrying the Grunt in his arms. This lower ranked Sangheili spotted the entry to the hanger, where came from. The door was damaged from an explosion, disabled, unable to move, but at least it was open.
"NOT FAR NOW, KEEP GOING! WE HAVE TO OFF THE SHADOW, OTHERWISE WE'RE ALL GOING TO END UP DEAD!" Ventor yelled at the very pinpoint of his lungs, almost feeling that his voice could've been lost.
These moments were of desperation, all the elites desired to get off the ship that was tearing itself apart, explosion by explosion, falling metal bars by collapsing plasma batteries. Everything was going to be lost in this ship, it would all be disintegrated. The Shadow of Intent's destruction is an explosion that will be 50 times the size of a nuclear mushroom cloud and a thousand times more destructive than a nuclear explosion at that. The weapons, the vehicles, the architecture, the beauty...the memories, all will be lost at any given minute now. The reactor explosions were dangerously getting closer to main ship reactor. Time was of the essence!
The other elites aboard the dropship activated the grav lift, watching as their brothers and allies, as well as their fatally and life threatened companions, were just mere metres away. The minor classed ranked elites boarded first, finally getting Jabjab onto it. They rested him against the back of the transport bay, making sure he got comfortable.
Tesk was the next to board the Brute captured Phantom, just as he got tired of running and he placed Yapflop right next to Jabjab. Both Grunts were still either unconscious or almost dead. Jabjab's armour damage is significant, but his wounds were not life threatening, so he should've been fine for the return journey, but not Yapflop. Yapflop's injuries needed to be treated right away, or risk losing him for eternity. The methane pack was undeniably ruined and all his methane will soon be gone.
"Someone put pressure on his back! don't let him lose all his breathing gas!" Tesk told the other 3 Sangheili, who were just standing around doing nothing. One of them grabbed the med kit to treat his burns from the flame grenade earlier, whist the other 2 listened to Tesk and tried to stop methane from leaking out, but it will still be just a lost cause.
Ventor then came out of the grav lift, panting heavily and gently placing Spyro on the smooth cargo floor. He got the purple dragon to lay on his back to have a look at the energy dagger wound. It was an absolute abomination of a sight, way too much blood just kept on coming out. Ignoring all the Dragon blood that will drench them, Odesa placed his hand and what's left of his other hand to stop the blood.
"C'mon purple dragon, now's NOT the time to become a lifeless corpse!" Ventor growled trying to do everything in his power to keep Spyro alive. He could've been in shock, or worse...
Ventor jerked his head to the right so suddenly at the hanger door, watching Arbiter run out of the long corridor with the power drained Cynder in his arms, using the last of his strength to get her on board. Ventor's eyes widened immediately at the sight.
"C'MON THEL! HURRY!" he yelled out to the Arbiter, watching a violent, bluish explosion aflame the area behind Vadam.
Thel started to think, giving himself one simple objective.
"Cynder's safety comes first, then mine! I hope she lands in it!".
Arbiter was thinking of throwing the dragoness into the Phantom, to make sure she was aboard and ready to go. After all, he made it his duty protect the dragoness ever since he made that commitment, to her in person, a few days ago. This was a chance to prove just that. Breathing in all the air he could muster, with such a damaged chest structure from his fight, he called out to the elites about the incoming package.
"SANGHEILI, CATCH HER!" Thel threw the dragoness at the dropship, alerting them about her unexpected arrival.
Tesk turned around and saw the dragoness coming in. Desperate to grab her, Raskar stood up and caught her, making him fall on his backside, but Cynder was finally secured and prepped to leave the Shadow. Thel smiled happily that she was aboard now, but suddenly, an explosion blew through the floor right behind Arby, sending him flying just above the floor and sliding across it. The Arbiter actually yelped from this unexpected surprise.
He stopped sliding, almost blacked out from the powerful blast. He grunted, pushing himself slowly back on his knees, struggling and desperately trying to get up. He heard Tesk's faint shouting through his temporarily deafened hearing.
"HURRY ARBITER! WE CAN'T LEAVE YOU BEHIND! GET UP, GET UP" Tesk cried out as he laid the dragoness on the dropship's smooth floor.
Thel just realised the ship was still blowing up, shaking off the blast. He stood up and ran to the Phantom, with a dreadful pain in his chest and extremely tired legs. The explosions were catching up to him, just trailing his running. All the Sangheili saw the blue blasts coming towards them all. Arbiter jumped into the grav lift, entering the cargo and running up to the pilot's seat.
He deactivated the grav lift and closed the side doors, pressing multiple switches to ignite the engines. His heavy panting, broken up chest and the speed of how he was activating the engines just shown how desperate he was to get everybody off the Shadow. When the small core of the ship finally gave Arbiter the green light, the time to leave was now.
"HANG ON, THIS IS GOING TO BE CLOSE!" Arbiter shouted out to them, signalling them brace for the detonation,
With the entire plasma reactor explosion right behind it, the Phantom sped with all its might and flew out of the hanger, with the enormous destruction coming out just a second after it. Thel made a sharp right and ascended high in the sky, above the Shadow's wreck. The Phantom flew as far away as it could to escape the blast radius. Meanwhile, the Battle cruiser saw the Assault Carrier just below, but Magnaruckus and his Brutes noticed small blue dots coming out of it.
The highly ranked Jiralhanae, including Mag and Jikartus, noticed it and wondered what was wrong with their nemesis's ship. There was talk amongst them, unable to identify what was happening down there.
"What's wrong with that wretched Sangheili ship! Why hasn't Drektus and Shenko reported in yet?" Mag was impatient. He wanted that Carrier information right now. A Brute on a console nearby zoomed in on the ship, noticing the explosions that came from the interior of the ship.
"My pack master...the ship...its blowing up from the inside..." The Stalker turned to his masters. Magnaruckus instantly widened his eyes.
"Blowing up from the inside? that means...WRETCHED FREAKS! EVERYONE BRACE FOR A BLAST WAVE!" he grabbed onto the console in front of him and held tightly. Everyone else just threw themselves on the ground and braced the inevitable.
At that moment...a giant, blue, shiny sphere engulfed the Shadow instantly, slowly swallowing the beautiful land around it, accompanied by the loudest noise that could be heard from hundreds and thousands of miles away, a noise that could be heard all over the planet. The blue sphere of destruction continued expanding, sending a blast wave to blow away absolutely everything, like a giant hurricane of absolute terror, annihilating everything in its path. The trees were torn from the trunks and sent flying for miles on end, the grass was ripped from the dirt, even the Brute cruiser was slowly being pushed away from where the Shadow used to be. The entire anomaly was a cataclysmic disaster.
All the Brutes roared, yelled and screamed as the Cruiser started listing its entire mass to the starboard side, with the Seraphs slipping out of hangers, with nothing to stop them falling out. Some Jiralhanae were even trying to grab onto something stable, but those who couldn't suffered a fall to the ground, eventually causing their deaths. The Scarab was also getting dangerously close to going with those Brutes, but the thin, spiked legs kept it on the ship. Seraphs and Brutes fell through the air, with the Cruiser almost about to touch the ground, about to drag along the skinned forest.
On the dropship, they barely escaped the shiny sphere, almost becoming disintegrated. If that wasn't going to kill them, the incredible amount of turbulence and shaking will cause them to crash. The Sangheili kept the wounded in the corner, to keep them stable. What they were experiencing was something no one ever wants to go through, not even for these brave warriors.
"I DON'T HAVE CONTROL OF THE DROPSHIP! C'MON, DON'T GO OUT ON US RIGHT NOW!" Arbiter shouted at the pinpoint of his voice, but the explosion was so loud, the other elites couldn't hear him.
The weapons and equipment were locked against the wall nearest to the cockpit, so they weren't going anywhere. Outside, the Ghost and the Spectre were quite stable, hanging onto the holders that projected under the dropship, but if this Phantom goes down, so does everything else aboard, and all the searching would've been a total waste.
"STOP IT! STOP IT NOW! I HATE IT!" Tesk begged for all this shaking to end now, but the sphere was still expanding, reaching 30 kilometres wide.
The destruction was so tense, even the rising morning sun was blocked out, enshrouding the entire area of a blue darkness. The explosion could even be seen from Warfang, almost everyone was at the wall, holding onto something as the wave was laying down on them all. Darst, Hunter, Terrador, Prowlus, Meadow, Cyril, Volteer, the 2 Lekgolos, and Sparx who holding onto one of the spines of the bigger Lekgolo, and everyone else covered themselves from the wave, while also looking the giant sphere.
"BY THE UNIVERSE! WHAT ON THIS PLANET COULD CAUSE THIS KIND OF CHAOS?" Darst was shielding himself from the dust and the wave, holding his right arm up and making sure none of it got in his eyes.
"WHATEVER IT IS, IT COULD NEVER HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY ANYTHING WE HAVE HERE ON OUR WORLD!" Terrador shouted out.
"THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSS IIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSS WAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY TOOOOOOOO MUUUUUCCCCCCHHHH WIIIIIIIIIND! WHAAAAAA!" Sparx lost his grip on the spine and was blown away, crashing into a stone wall just near the thousands of crowds. He was almost knocked out, but he stayed with the smart decision and just his position on the wall he landed on.
"Ow...jeez, when Spyro and Cynder gets back, they're gonna pay for leaving me here...THEY ALWAYS LEAVE ME NOW! HAS ANYONE ELSE NOTICED THAT?".
The explosion could be seen from orbit, spotting a small, blue light. From this area, it didn't look like much, but it certainly started changing the landscape around the destruction. In those forests, Grublin homes were eradicated as the trees were blown away, some of them were even sent flying through the air, screaming their freaky heads off. Lakes that were nearby created tidal waves that were hit by the blast, flooding areas and habitats, destroying the wildlife around it. Even the cliff that Cynder used sit on was destroyed.
The Battlecruiser skidded along the ground, just getting back into its position the whole thing was on its side, but mass scrapped its paintjob off, heading straight for a mountain. With nothing to stop it, the Prophet's vengeance smashed its starboard side against the rocky, spiky mountain, destroying so much of its design and pride. It was unclear of what was going on inside of the ship, but the Brutes were not going to clean this mess up. Not in a hundred years.
The sphere finally started to extinguish, to almost everyone who survived it, this was the biggest relief in a long time. The blast wave's force died down, with the sun breaching through the smoke and dust once more. The clear skies slowly returned to normal after such a life traumatizing event. No one would ever forget an explosion like that. The Shadow of Intent...was not there anymore. No sign of it remained, not piece of metal, weapons, not high tech piece of equipment, nothing. The glorious, beautiful, incredible Assault Carrier...was nothing but a memory. Rtas and the crew's mutilated remains were also obliterated, the destroyed vehicles in the hangers, the pathways Arbiter and Cynder took to find the bridge and the elites was lost. Shenko and Drektus were eradicated from existence. Was it all worth it?
Onboard the Phantom, which now flew smoothly through the clear skies, Arbiter two hearts were beating so fast, his chest could be seen going up and down very clearly. The shaking caused him to hit parts of the pilot seat, and now he was bleeding in small parts of his armour, showing dark purple stains on his armour and face. Ventor was faced down on the cargo bay floor, but he looked up and noticed that they were still in the air. He observed the area around him to see the Locust power core, the weapons and equipment were still in decent shape. No damage was done to them. Cynder, Spyro, Yapflop and Jabjab were still laying at the back, but they all had to get back to Warfang for medical treatment, or risk losing them forever.
Asking about the vehicles later, Odesa jumped up and got to Thel's cockpit. The captain noticed Vadam was in a very bad state, the Sangheili Arbiter needed to rest right now.
"Thel! THEL!...your bleeding..." he placed his right hand on Arbiter's left shoulder.
"I know...I...I'll live..." Thel just wanted to get back to Warfang now, still in control of dropship, but his hands were shaking.
"Thel, it does have an auto pilot...please, for the sake of your life, sit in the cargo bay and rest, I'll make sure we get there safely" Odesa pressed a holo button, making the Phantom control itself from here on.
"No...I need to...I need to get Cynder and...and Spyro...and the Grunts...to the infirmary...(coughs) to the city!" Thel was being pulled from the seat and was supported by the veteran Sangheili, escorting him to the bay.
"Thel, the Shadow is gone...it's gone from reality. Everything we had on that Carrier, everything that reminded us about Sangehilios...all of it has been lost my friend. Nothing of it remains right now" Ventor sat him next to Cynder. Thel's eyes widened, remembering the time he was aboard the Shadow. Rtas, the crew, the surroundings...disintegrated into absolutely nothing.
Thel wrapped his arms around his legs, almost creating a fetal position like an unborn baby. He doesn't know what just happened was a good thing or a disastrous consequence that he would live to regret. There is no way to get off this planet now. They were all stranded for good. The only thing that will them alive is the city, in which, the next morning, the Brutes attack, if there is still any left that survived the crash.
Tesk and the other Sangheili looked, relieved they were still among the living. They all noticed Thel crouched up in the corner next to Cyn, with Ventor looking down upon him
"G-gone...oh by the rings...Ventor...what if there were any more survivors, survivors that we missed? th-they would be dead! all because of us!" Thel covered his face miserably, it was unknown if there were more survivors of the crash besides these elites.
"Arbiter, just pretend there was only us that survived".
"There was more, wasn't there? more of our crew! more of our brothers, who died in a horrible explosion!" Vadam stood up angrily.
"If there was...at least they didn't suffer. They didn't die by Jiralhanae hands. They wouldn't have wanted that...would you?" Ventor's face revealed a much lighter side to him. He wasn't as patriotic as Thel though he was. That still cheer him up.
"I almost got killed by one of them Odesa. And...and he had a family back on Doisac, the Jiralhanae home world. I killed a father of 3 children, a beloved mate for a female. Does that make me a cold blooded killer like Magnaruckus?" a tear dropped from Thel's left eye, sliding down onto his mandible armour, that was covered in his blood.
"Of course it doesn't, that Brute thought of killing us first and his family second. If It were up to me, I would've stayed with my family of younglings, raise them to make them perfect warriors. If I had one, but I didn't, which is why I joined the Covenant".
"What about the Carrier crew? some of them had families and yet they still joined the lies of the Prophets".
Ventor sighed deeply, "I guess fanaticism and zealousness just got to them. Growing up without a father is hard, I feel sorry for the young warriors back on Sangehilios".
Thel looked at the dragons, "Can't say the same for Spyro and Cynder...they never knew both their parents. They were killed before they ever got to see their little hatchlings...Instead they were both dragged into a bloodshed of violence and war, made to fight and fight and fight! It's unbelievable that two fights were going on at the same time" Thel still couldn't get over what Cynder, Spyro and Terrador told him about their war against the Dark master. It's like war is a common thing now, and battles are just small parts of it. Ventor slowly started to share pity for them.
Thel noticed the blood was still coming out of Spyro, nothing has been done with it. Thel got over to him and pulled him to the centre of the bay, as well as Yapflop, so he and the other Sangheili could off death until they got back to the city.
"Ventor, for our bloody sake, get me the kit, share the supplies for the grunt as well! Tesk, you and the others just help as much as you can with Yapflop, we need to hold off their demise for as long as we can" Thel demanded the minor ranked Elites, and with no argument, they grabbed bandages and syringes to help Yapflop with. Ventor still just stood behind Thel, knowing there was no way to save Spyro from a wound like this one.
"Arbiter, he was impaled in the abdomen by an energy dagger! a Human could not live through that, what makes you think a dragon can?" Ventor didn't have any faith in Thel's objective to save the purple dragon.
"Ventor, this is the reason why I punched you before I left the dropship to save them! I'm not going to tell Cynder when she wakes up that the savior of this world and her future mate has died by a simple impale from an ENERGY DAGGER! GET OVER HERE AND HELP! NO ARGUEMENT CAPTAIN! THAT'S A DEMAND FROM YOUR SUPERIOR!" Thel placed a dark blue cloth like material to keep pressure on Spyro's wound, soaking up the blood, but sooner or later, he will die by blood loss. Ventor moaned but he did as he was told and kneeled across from Thel on the other side of Spyro.
He helped by pulling a syringe from the kit, grabbing a small vial containing a green fluid and injected it into Spyro's neck. It spread into his body, calming him down and stopping the trembles the purple dragon was having.
"There, that should stop him from going into shock, it will keep him calm until we get there" Ventor explained the liquid's task. Thel looked at the brave dragon, hoping that they could save him, but a small part told Thel that he wasn't going to make it. He wasn't going to give up, he wouldn't until this dragon was back up and healthy once again, or this will stain on Vadam's mind forever.
Spyro opened his mouth for moment to let a mild groan out, at least confirming that he was still alive. This relieved the Arbiter, but it wasn't going to help with the wound Shenko has created. He growled remembering what that traitor said, never in Sangheili history has any elite done that. Thel made sure that once he gets back to Sangehilios, he will make sure that the traitor's name goes down as one of the worst war criminals in their line of history, it will not only dishonour the Special Operations rank, but it will also disgrace the Shenko family line. For betraying his own race, for fatally wounding Spyro and Yapflop, for hurting Jabjab, for attacking Cynder, for telling the Brutes the location and course of the Shadow, the bastard deserved every bit of it, maybe even more.
"Shenko...he betrayed us all! he caused all of this! the crash! the Brutes finding us! for trying to kill the Grunts and Spyro! for attacking and spitting on Cynder's life! Rargh! If he was still here, I rip his arms off and feast him to the Flood!" Thel let go of the cloth and clenched, still enraged by his betrayal.
Ventor, Tesk and everyone else stared at him, stunned that they just heard those words. One of their own kind? betraying them and allying with the Jiralhanae? It didn't seem possible for something like this to occur.
Meanwhile, at the wreck of the Prophet's vengeance, a giant, body wrecking hand covered in blood grabbed the console in front, pulling himself up, Magnaruckus inspected the damage. Everywhere he looked, he saw Jiralhanae getting up everywhere. A couple were even dead, and the captains and jet pack Brutes were cleaning them up, finding ways to dispose of the bodies. Jikartus stood up, stumbling for a bit and turn to stare at his boss, who was just freaked that the Battlecruiser has crashed.
"GARGH! MY SHIP! MY BEAUTIFUL SHIP! DESTROYED BY THE FORCES OF THE BLAST WAVE! BY THE PROPHETS, BY THE RINGS, BY THE HOLY CORPSE OF TARTARUS! HOW COULD A CARRIER EXPLODE INTO SOMETHING LIKE THAT, WHAT KIND OF FORCE WOULD BE NEEDED TO CREATE AN EXPLOSION LIKE THAT!" Mag's eyes were as wide as gumballs, exposing the huge skin tearing teeth. Jikartus afraid the moment he shouted, having no way to explain what happened. He needed one quickly, or end up like the Brute that got his ripped off by the Chieftain back when the encampment was up.
"M-M-Maybe it was the plasma reactor! it's the only piece of equipment that's able to start a chain reaction to create an explosion of that size!" he trembled before the giant Brute, even falling onto his bottom when Mag yelled again.
"BUT A MANUAL DETONATION WOULD NOT BE ENOUGH! NO WEAPON IN OUR ARSRENAL, NOT EVEN A SCARAB OR ANOTHER CARRIER, COULD NOT DO THAT CRAP! THERE IS NOTHING IN THIS GALAXY THAT COULD DO THAT!" he pointed out the smoke that could be seen from miles. The next reply from Jikartus will be enough enrage him for the whole day.
"The purple and black freak flyers could, you remember their powers, you know from the encampment and...the...meadows...".
Magnaruckus was about to break a blood vessel in his eyes left eye.
"Did...we...get...the...Carrier..info?" he tilted his head, as blood slowly leaked out of his nose.
"Drektus and Shenko...didn't...send it" Jikartus replied with a light voice. His eyes turned scared and helpless when the Chieftain's muscles tensed up, he took up a ton of breath, still having clenched fists, and let out a deafening noise.
"BLAAAAAASSSTTT YOOOOOOOU FREEEEEEAAAAK FLLLLYYYYERSSSSS, BLAAAAST YOOOOOU ARRRBBIIITTTER, CUUUURRSSEEE ALLLLL YOOOUUU SAAANGGHEILLLI!".
Magnaruckus really needs to attend anger management class, don't he? maybe a bit of yoga as well and maybe attend MORE ANGER MANAGEMENT CLASS...well, invasion plans foiled, the Shadow is gone for good and the Battlecruiser is out of the fight. Thel and the other elites still need to get back to the city before things turn really sour because well, you know that spoiler I mentioned back in chapter 35? well that could ripe for change...oh dear.
Anyway's, you might be pleasantly surprised about what happens in number 38, or you can somehow tell the future, in which you do, you might as well just stop reading this story, lol, have a great day friends and fans!