Act V - The Dark Below

Chapter 20 - Crota's End: Surpass the Dark

Snowfall blanketed the Tower, it was unnaturally quiet, today most were out on missions or haven't started their routine yet, so I strolled toward the entry to the Hall of Guardians alone, passing by a few Guardians that browsed Banshee's wares or the Eververse, the money-grabbing scheme that it is. My boots finally stopped crunching on snow as I made my way downstairs, weapons and armor equipped for what lay ahead.

"Nervous?" I asked Ghost, the two of us passing by Eris' vacant lot, makes sense she would be at the meeting too

"A little, of course, staring down the Hive Prince responsible for countless Guardian deaths does help boost confidence," Ghost replied simply, my hand patting his shell

"I'm glad... because I honestly need all the confidence I can get." My mirthless tone only matched my resolve at the message sent by the Commander himself, asking me to once more be the leader of what will be the Raid on Crota's Ascendant Realm, and... I still haven't answered. With an anxious sigh, I glanced to my companion. "Ghost... am I... really the right person to lead a Raid Team again?"

The Vault of Glass was by far the biggest task I have taken on thus far, heck, the only reason I could lead anyone through that temporal Hell was due to the Raid Team before us and their notes on the tasks, if not for them I doubt we could have made it past the Templar. And that creature, Revenant, I couldn't do anything to stop it from taking Harrow's life. I'm not fearful of leading, but... unsure if I'm the right person for the job.

We stopped just before the meeting room, Ghost having remained silent through-out my own thoughts, slowly, his shell twisted to me, completely eye-level with me as his shell narrowed. "I've seen Guardians lose so much before I found you, some were fortunate to save everyone, and others, like you, doubted whether they had a right to guide Guardians through any situation," I felt a little dishearted, but he was right- "But your position as a leader of our Fireteam isn't a mistake, without you, I don't think we'd be talking right now."

I blinked, surprised that even he agreed with the others, I guess that shouldn't be a surprise, out of everyone here, he knows me inside and out, and yesterday, those voices... I replayed the last few words on a loop in my head. Each time I recited them, it gave me butterflies. There was no room for uncertainty there, that voice had to have been a memory, what I couldn't grasp is how, when we're reincarnated our memories are gone, was this false after all?

With a kind smile, I pressed on with more gusto. "I can always count on you to cheer me up, Ghost." He bobbed his shell close to my shoulder

"Honestly, someone has to take care of you." He added with hidden mirth in his tone

"Ah, there's our Guardian! Now we can finally get this meeting over and done with..." Cayde welcomed me with a sense he really didn't want to be here, can't blame him, meetings like this can be... tense, I should know better than anyone. Standing beside him was Zane and Dimitri, alongside Eris who I now stood with. Morbin, Reiner, and Taka all spread themselves out too. "Yo, Z, we're ready!"

"Glad you could join us, Guardian, let's not waste a moment and point to the serious issue of today," Zavala spoke sternly, bringing up a projection of the Hellmouth for us. "Crota, Son of Oryx. For the last week has had his forces infest Earth, his Generals gathered and conspiring to await their master's return, however, thanks to Fireteam Horizon's efforts he is left without any means to return."

"'This' would be our best chance to strike down this Hive Prince before he can undo your victories," Ikora joined in straight after Zavala, motioning to Eris, Zane quickly moving to stand on her end with the Book of Sorrows at the ready, that casual smile of his never faltering once

"Crota is left without his protectors, this leaves him vulnerable but alert, if we strike now, he will be ready with his spawn," Eris pressed the weight of the situation down, hand gliding over her rock. "My Informant has seen what lies beyond our world, he has found a way for us to enter his realm and slew this 'God'."

"Using the Ascendant Realm entry at the bottom of the Hellmouth, right?" Morbin inquired, and Zane nodded vigorously, flicking the book open

"Yep! You see - ahem - the Ascendant Realm is built upon the Sword Logic, the more a Hive who is connected to this world kills, the larger there pocket of the realm will grow, Crota's brutal crusade during the Great Disaster fueled him and his world massively," Zane ran through the basics of this other world, then grinned devilishly. "So we'll fight fire with fire." His fingers clicked to point at Eris again

"We shall turn the Hive's Sword Logic against them, the destruction of Crota's corporeal sword had given us insight into their powers, and within this realm lies more of these accursed blades," For once, Eris let a small grin slip onto her face, though it did make me shuddered at how creepy it was. "To end this threat once and for all, the six of you must enter the deepest pit of the Hellmouth and infiltrate his realm, find his Oversoul Throne. Use Crota's own strength - the soul-sucking power of the Ascendant Swords - to end his reign."

That's possible? Use his own weapons and logic against him? I mean, no one said it wasn't out of the question, after all, weapons as powerful as these swords had to have a catch, this was its double-edge. "If we can turn his own power against himself and his Oversoul, he'd have no way to return from death, we'll break the cycle."

"I have absolutely no idea what the hell an 'Oversoul' or 'Ascendant Realm' is, just point me toward this so-called 'Prince' and I'll see for myself if he's all that's cracked up to be," Dimitri blew a few locks from her eyes dismissively but shrugged after catching her knife. "This is why I stuck to the Crucible... so I don't get dragged into this crap, but fine, whatever, if you need my help I'll give it - Not that Zane would leave me alone otherwise..."

"Thanks, Dimi..." Ray whispered timidly, Dimitri herself finding it hard to stay irritated under his eye

"Honestly, if you looked up 'Stubborn' in the dictionary I'm sure they have you as an example." CT sighed with a shake

Taka stifled a small laugh, winking my way. "If our leader says she's in I suppose that means we'll be joining you, Ceres." Her gaze slowly panned to Reiner, himself retaining his frown while his eyebrow twitched at the two looks he got from his Fireteam. After a short growl, he slammed his hand into the table

"Fine! Want me to come then stay out of my way and I'll kill every last one of them!" Dimitri smirked at his outburst

"Geez, didn't take you long to get on board..." Her remark was met with fire in the Guardian's eyes. Rolling her own eyes my way with a slight sweatdrop she grinned. "I'll do what I can, counting on you, of course."

"Really? Me?" Why is this happening again? All eyes were on me, with Dimitri's Fireteam on board, all that was left were a wink and thumbs up from Cayde, Morbin motioned with his hand graciously, Ikora bowed her head gently, and Zane, as always, offered me a smile that had my doubts melt away. How did he do that...?

"Guardian," My eyes followed Eris, her free hand holding onto her ghost's dead shell. "You have given me not only closure, but in turn a gift of revenge against Crota and his generals, it is selfish of me to burden you, but you have what I once felt myself, his presence looms over you, he fears your Light, show him that even Gods can feel fear - Make him pay."

"Feel like we just got sidelined." Morbin murmured behind me but only I and Ikora heard him. Sighing, I turned to face everyone with my eyes closed

"Honestly... you guys put so much on my shoulders, I'm not stressed to live up to those expectations, just... overwhelmed, after the Vault I... can't be certain I'm the right choice for any of this, to face Crota, to lead all of you... but..." Opening my eyes I put a fist to my heart, frown deepened with conviction. "Even so, If you all truly put your faith in me, I'll exceed your expectations."

"Then we're in agreement?" Cayde piped up, and I let out a small laugh under a breath

"Of course, we'll descend into the Hellmouth, and face whatever Crota has waiting for us," This is it, time to put an end to this 'Eater of Hope'

[Ocean of Storms | Moon | Hellmouth]

"Aaaaaaaand - We're back." Zane stuck the landing with his hands to the sky, myself and the others dropping in with our weapons and gear at the ready. We appeared on a slope leading toward the edge of the Hellmouth, a sync plate of the Hive's facing two large pillars leading off into the pit below

~Alright, Guardians you know the drill, get down into that pit, find a way to Crota and put him down like his so-called generals, piece of cake!~ Cayde offered chipperly but quickly cleared his throat, voice a little hushed. ~You guys get back here safely, don't think the Vanguard will be the same otherwise~

I smiled. "Of course, Cayde, leave it to us."

"Haven't been back here for months... still looks as depressing as ever." Dimitri wandered down the slope, the majority of us running toward the pit as I realized that the bridge was semi-translucent, shimmering with Hive magic toward the center of the monumental gorge

"Wait, guys, I don't think-" Zane, Morbin, and Dimitri all took the lead, jogging over to the bridge as I put my hand out for Taka and Reiner to cease their pursuit. "Guys, the bridge I think-"

"What's uuuuuaaaaaaahhh...!" Zane fell right through the bridge, Morbin and Dimitri jumped to avoid the same fate quickly

"Huh? Oh no..." Morbin slowly floofed into the air, the three of us watching the Warlock and Hunter struggle to make back from jumping so far across the bridge in some attempt to get to the Hellmouth first, I just facepalmed. "No-no-no-no... n-n-n-noooo!" Morbin's body vanished just an inch from the edge, his hand dragging Dimitri along with him as she let out the girliest cry I've heard from her

"You bastard!" All three of their ghosts flew back up, summoning their bodies back seconds later before us. Taka was giggling, Reiner was clutching his sides in a fit of mocking laughter, and I did my best to remain stoic despite how hilarious it was

"How have we made it this far..." Don't ask me, Ghost, I'm just rolling the dice at this point

"Next time, please listen." My exasperated sigh earned a combined groan from the three, the plate beneath us reacting with a hum and glow matching that of the now materializing bridge

"Okay... bridge... wasn't bridge..." Zane flopped onto the sync plate, Dimitri not saying anything while crossing her arms, obviously, she wasn't happy with how she sounded

"I wanna blow the Exo up, lemme blow him up?" I shook my head at her growl, and Dimitri deflated. "...Well I'm gonna..."

"Save my end for later..." Morbin waved, standing back up as we waited for the bridge to finally form

After only a minute the bridge came to life, a large funnel of energy piercing the center of the hole, but Zane held us back, slowly tapping a foot past the bridge, his foot tapped against metal and he sighed. "Bridge is Bridge."

Traversing the walkway all of us surrounded the hole filled with a strange, downward force of energy. It might have been the Hive's equivalent to an elevator to reach the bottom faster, not really knowing how deep this pit was would explain how they died before, terminal velocity and the fact many protrusions stuck out of the edges would make it harder to scale the length on foot.

"Guess I'll go first," Gulping, I hopped over the rim and was immediately pulled down by a strong gravitational force, my ears filled with a scream of wind as the light of the sun completely vanished, leaving only my body in complete darkness, say for the pale green wisps that made up the lights of the Hellmouth and the energy

"We're here... The Stills... and a Darkness Zone," Ghost whispered, my eyes narrowed on the world under me coming rapidly toward my feet. Instinctively I jumped, narrowly avoiding a fatal pulverization of my legs as I slammed into a pillar, wincing as several yells cried out from above the light of the small circle with four paths stretching out into the abyss

Taka flew down, with Dimitri colliding with her, Reiner managed to survive as well, his face planted in the floor, Morbin landed atop him then bounced off and onto the ground, Zane was the last to be dropped in by the light, himself slamming into me as I coughed at the sharp pressure added. "Ow... sorry..."

"It's fine... that's a vicious elevator," I coughed, himself sitting atop me before quickly pushing off my stomach, his hand held for me to take. Everyone else groaned and recovered, Dimitri dragged to her feet by Taka. "Despite the rough landing... we're here, the deepest level of the Hellmouth."

"I can barely see two feet ahead of the paths..." Taka hummed, Reiner scoffing

"Look behind you, idiots," Following his insult, his finger jabbed in the direction of a lantern containing a brilliant, silver glow, illuminating another pathway forward, and several gleaming eyes that shifted around the rocks and unseen structures. "They won't come near us, must be light-sensitive Thrall."

"That's a first," Dimitri replied casually surprised, and true to his words, the Thrall hissed and shambled in the darkness, not once coming close to our small safe zone. "Yo, Zane, didn't you say something about Crota's 'Ascendant stuff' seeping over this place? How's that gonna affect us?"

The Hunter tilted his head as if he forgot, then clicked his fingers and stepped into the darkness, the Thrall screamed and immediately scampered toward Zane, our weapons raised for a fight all while a strange, red glow flowed sharply down his back. A second later and Zane stepped back into the circle, the Thrall quickly lost interest and retreated. That was rather worrisome.

"Weight of Darkness, the longer we spend away from a light source the greater the suppression of our mobility, that's when those Thrall will choose to attack in a large force, atleast, that's what I expect them to do," Zane elaborated, tapping a finger to his chin. "Most likely these lanterns are scattered across this place, more than likely containing the remnants of other Guardians' Light."

"So we use them as a means to traverse this abyss?" Taka inquired with a quick nod from our Hive expert, though from Taka's uncomfortable shift she shared some doubts. "But there's no clear sign this will work of if there are enough lanterns, right?"

Zane flinched. "Hehe... yeah it's a gamble."

~Not particularly!~ All of us looked around at the sudden connection to our coms, a raspy, highly optimistic voice spoke clearly to us, and I recognized it. ~Oh please, I've waited hours for them to arrive, so don't you start - Hello again! Dusty says 'Hi'~

"Wait, John?" I asked, surprised to have him talk to us again, he hummed happily

~Welcome to the closest thing to Hell! I'm watching from the Ascendant Gateway, Thrall really don't like me, can't blame them, I hate myself too! Ermm... right-right, so Dusty says you should follow the lanterns they'll lead to us, we've got a large portion of the Thrall under control~ John spoke happily, gunshots rattling his mic

I felt a little at ease. "You really don't need to, but I appreciate your help." He laughed

~When someone as nice as you is willing to murder a Deathsinger via incineration for me, the least I can do is be a pest to Crota even more!~ Again, gunshots and screams echoed into our ears while he grunted. ~Want my advice, be like you Titans, bulldoze through the enemy and don't ever stop running - Oh, watch out for pits too - gotta go!~ His connection died and we were left to face the abyss alone

"He's... eccentric." Dimitri drawled

"But kind enough to lend us a hand, we shouldn't keep him waiting." Taka nudged my side, I agreed wholeheartedly. The best way forward was to keep on running and to avoid staying exposed to the darkness for long, those Thrall might prove to be alot given our situation but no one said this was supposed to be easy

"So then, make your move," Morbin spoke up, all of us were tense, especially since an unknown number of Thrall waited in ambush. With a slow exhale, my foot crept over the line of the light, and I felt a strange wave gently pull my feet into the stone. My eyes shot open and my hold on Stranger's Rifle tensed

"Let's go!"

"Right!" "Yeah!" In agreement, the six of us booked it across the gap, Thrall screams stretching over the abyss as their white hide came into view past the lantern. With the butt of my stock at slammed it against the first Thrall, firing at the hip alongside several other firearms that sent trails of rounds into the darkness, Thrall falling apart at our feet

Gradually, the Weight of Darkness lifted, the Thrall continued to pour in through the darkness, a seemingly endless amount. However, a shiver ran along my back, and I turned to see the color of silver within the lamp slowly dilute a bright orange. "Guys... the lamp."

Zane and Dimitri were the first to react properly after disposing of an army of Thrall. "Run for your lives!" The siblings took off ahead of me, both knocking back the Thrall that advanced. None of us dared to question it further as the lamp suddenly turned a dark shade of orange. Sprinting to the next lamp while avoiding a pitfall directly ahead of us I heard something shatter with a rumble behind us.

~The lamps explode!? Of course, they explode...~ Ghost gaped with a tired sigh

~That's the Hive for you, if we can't have it you can't have it~ Rika's blunt observation rang true as we arrived at the next lantern, fending off the scratches that painfully dug into our armor, but together we could hold the line thanks to Dimitri bringing down a powerful Shadowshot to pin the horde, the second lantern suddenly dipping into the orange like the first

"Keep going!" I called as the cycle continued with us sprinting to unrun the Weight of Darkness and the infestation of chitin and claws from catching us

"Don't look back, for the love of God don't look back!" Morbin himself sounded afraid, and of course, that only made me want to look behind me as I rounded a pitfall, my speed beginning to slow as I approached the lamp. Behind me, my heart plummeted, and for untold reasons, I suddenly moved faster than the Weight of Darkness. There were dozens upon dozens of Thrall piling in from the shadows, even our gunfire did little to whittle their numbers

"Why would you say that, of course, I'd look back!" I screamed, my back to the lamp as we both threw our grenades with the others, erecting a large wall of pulsating elements to hold back the army from behind as more flanked and crawled out from the very pits were told to avoid

"Everyone run, I got us covered!" Dimitri yelled, firing another lingering Shadowshot with a shaky breath, it aided in keeping them at bay as our CLGS ate away at their numbers. We finally made it to the forth as the third tore the Thrall to pieces, but now Knights were pursuing us. "Straight, go completely straight!"

"Why!?" I asked, waiting by the lamp until it turned color, no point in running if the Weight of Darkness takes away our speed right off the bat

"Trust me and go!" The Huntress snapped, kicking a Thrall from her face while a Void Blast atomized the Thrall surrounding us, Morbin pulling me to the front of the group again, the lamp changing colors

Dimitri's call was correct, from lamp four to seven was a straight line, or as straight as the pitfalls and Thrall allowed, and we were starting to get into a rhythm, and with the Thralls numbers final;ly starting to lessen I had the time to organize our squad. I and Taka handled the Thrall that approached from the front, Reiner and Morbin took the left and right sides, while Dimitri held back the amassing forces alongside her brother, both using Handcannons, although I never expected Dimitri to be a user to two.

The map changed again. "Keep going. We're halfway!" I didn't know for sure, but a gut feeling told me the end wasn't so far now, even with shifting shadows and the ever-persistent Hive, this had to end soon, right? Again, I used a Knight that stood before a pit as leverage, his sword slammed down and I ran up the blade, kicking its face while using the height to dive over the hole, landing next to Taka who sent explosive payloads into the darkness, striking down unseen Thrall with a single shot

"That... makes nine." Taka breathed, as this back-and-forth Weight of Darkness had all of us feeling less than a hundred percent, shaking the strange wave that kept fluctuating over us, we kept up our assault. This was only the beginning so there wasn't a moment to lose

"Thank Christ we made it!" Zane yelled, running to latch onto the lantern as we finished off the last Ogre, my armor having sustained a number of burns alongside the rest, but with the armor values I increased before we came back to the Luna it took far more than a few scratches and Void beams to dent my defense

Ahead of us, I blinked as a light flickered across a bottomless trench, the shadowy silhouette of a human knelt on the other side cleared a line of Thrall that clawed away at the gap in vain. It was John! He gave us a wave while aimed down the sights of his scope, picking off a Thrall that snuck up on me.

~...I got your back...~ His voice was lower than normal, clearly thrown into a state of focus while we moved away from the lamp and onto a final sync plate, crackling white runes coming to life while the Hive amassed in the darkness ahead of us, roars and screams of all kinds drowned out our voices

Behind us was the largest gateway I've seen. It was carved into the wall, metal pillars jutted across a webbed ground overflowing with blinding white light, the entry was a wall of silver too, illuminating the spot we held down with our lives, the strange aura that leaked behind me felt so familiar, almost akin to what infected Zane when he took Crota's corporeal sword. Strange, spacial energy.

This seemed like the best time, given the Weight of Darkness had us near rooted into the platform, we had to hold on against the abrasive horde that crawled out from hiding. I summoned forth fire across my body, several flashes of the same Light dotted the area. All of us now enhanced, say for Dimitri who needed time to recover what Light she had expended to hold the Thrall back for us.

My hammer clanked together with Reiner's, both of us nodded while Morbin threw his Nova Blast high above the crowd, the arc of his throw having aimed for two Hollowed Ogres approaching from the bank, the large flash of amethyst consuming them as our hammers rained from the abyss above, both conjuring torrents of swirling fire to funnel the Knights toward a wave of crashing thunder and Lightning, Taka overflowed with plasma, her fist digging through the ground to send another force of nature rippling through the earth.

Zane was a blip in my eyes, appearing as a flash of lightning to send an arc of a blade through lines of Thrall before his body dove into the sky, vanishing without a trace, while our bodies stung from stray bolts of Wizards and Acolytes our Light more than held its own against Crota's spawn, drawing a fine line between us that only coupled together with our CLGs, the whole of The Stills was bathed in blues, golds, and purples for nearly a minute and a half.

Our own counterattack held the line, but we couldn't keep up our constant use of Light, but that didn't matter, as sniper fire from both John and Dimitri, we had time to slowly step toward the edge of the bridge, the wave of translucent magic finally solidified in our reality, and without delay, we stormed the bridge as I stood back with Morbin to wait for Dimitri, herself slowly back peddling to us while plucking every arrow she had at the leaping Thrall, Knights gathering to catch up with us.

"Thanks for the assist!" Dimitri patted my back, the three of us taking off in a low jog while the strange light of the gateway lifted this Weight from our shoulders, finally regaining our ability to sprint far from the army that stopped at the edge of the trench, releasing a hail of rounds our way, the six of us using the pillars as cover

"Wait!" I stopped, looking out from cover toward the still sniping John. "What about you!?" I was worried how he'd escape this place on his own, especially with all those Hive

All he did was wave back, still keeping his head focused on the Hive. "Go send Crota my regards; Afterall, I did escape that place with a buddy too, remember?" He chuckled, tapping his forearms, more directly, the Ahamkara bones that he argued with crazily

Sighing with a hidden smile I took off after the shadows that vanished through the light's glare, only managing to catch the pull of a trigger with a hearty laugh. "What's say we grant them a wish, Muninn?"

[? | Ascendant Realm | ?]

"...wake up, come on, Boss." Ugh, that was... strangely unpleasant. I shook my head, eyes adjusting from the bright light of that tunnel as Dimitri knelt beside me, pulling me to my feet again as I saw the rest reloading and prepping for whatever sat ahead of the tower we resided in, a pillar obscuring the doorway ahead. "Good, we're all actually alive."

"You had doubts too?" I sheepishly asked her, and Dimitri just said 'meh', grabbing her bow as I took the lead, stepping out into the world that I never knew existed

This nether realm was much like our Light, paracausal, we molded our fate with the Light, bending reality to us, but in here, in this world, Crota would break it. John's words were strange, almost abstract and that made it hard to understand what he was saying, but I had an idea. The Sword Logic is the most powerful weapon, and Crota was the ruler maker, what he instigates goes and we have no say in the matter.

We were in a tower between two others, overlooking an area filled with lopsided pillars containing a bright, silver light, two statues sat beneath the towers, while the stairway ahead led down to another sync plate, again, a bridge was yet to be forged from nothing to cross the massive gap between us and the fortress ahead. Although this one was lined with embers tracing the edge, curving to elevate to the Keep's height.

Many distant spires of stone resided in the air around the keep, with a strange, dark blue sky as though it were an eternal night, while dark, wispy clouds of darkness flowed through the air, almost converging in and around the keep that produced a solid green glow from the center and out the spires at the top, the walls were steep and connected to towers branched off by slanted archways. Etched into the top of a doorway was the symbol of Crota.

But there, off to the right was what records told appeared to turn the skies to emerald fire. In three large, segmented pieces of black rock, unstable amounts of greenish-blue power, a strange, beating black core held it all together. Gulping I was as stuck as Dimitri while footsteps joined us in awe. "That's... Crota's Oversoul."

"Aye..." Zane murmured, then clapped his hands loudly. "Welp, time to kill it... but... how do we cross?"

He was right, while there was a plate to stand on I felt as though the two eerie statues facing the center had more to do with this than just appearance, although they did fit the mystical Ascendant Realm's theme of the unknown. Not wanting to rush into this I turned at the top of the steps. "Okay, so far we've been lucky to have someone guide us this far, but now we're on our own in a world almost no other Guardian has seen before,"

"I want Reiner and Dimitri to investigate the right statue, while Morbin and Taka take the left," All three nodded, while Reiner already trudged his way over without a word, say for something incoherent under his breath. "Right, Zane, I need you to help me with this sync plate."

"On it!" He joined my side and all of us took our leave, to my confusion and paranoid senses, no Hive came to attack us... yet

"Ghost, monitor the radar, this place is far too quiet for my liking."

"On it, the others got the message too." Ghost replied as we came to the edge of the plate, as triggering it may cause something to happen, though that was me being overly cautious of the situation. We're in another world controlled by a powerful Hive, I wasn't taking any chances, not ever again in places I had no understanding of

"Zane, any ideas?" I was really open to anything he had, right now, Zane was the only person I could rely on for in-depth information on the Hive and their Realm. With a hand on his chin, he investigated the surrounding structures and runes that were carved into them, especially the ones lining the plate. With a calm smile, I took the time to lower my guard. "Sorry if I'm relying on you so much."

He kept his back to me, down on his knees to inspect both the Book of Sorrows and the plate. "Eh, that's what it means to be a team, and friends, you rely on each other when you're unsure, just all part of the job, and what fun it is," He replied, muttering for a second before adding, "I never would have gotten the chance to see the Ascendant Realm myself if not for you, so really I'm grateful... even if I never got to see this place, I'm just grateful I got to be apart of your Fireteam."

I wasn't quite expecting that, my face grew a little hot as I tried to keep my focus on the others that talked among themselves and of the world around them. Zane was sweet and hearing him say that was really nice to hear at a time like this. "Oh, Ceres?" I flinched, quickly turning my head to him, and out of a daze, his finger pointed at the rune as I knelt down close to him. "See this? Says this plate helps to maintain the bridge alongside the connected statues, if one is inactive then it causes a feedback loop to reset whatever is controlling them, that's all I could get."

"So all we need is for three people to maintain the bridge while three cross?" He nodded and I squinted at the keep ahead. "Perhaps there's another across the way too?"

"Must be, otherwise only three people would face Crota, not that it wouldn't be terrifying." This was a problem, if I was wrong, how would the others cross? Would they be stuck here until a select three would face the toughest Hive to date? "Should we trigger it?"

We really had our backs to the wall here, so I sat up and took my place beside Zane on the plate, Dimitri was under the statue to the right, while Taka took the left. "Both of you say under those statues, the rest defend them! The Hive are coming!"

Ghost? "They're coming, good call," With that, the second stage of the Raid had begun. And from the chamber we arrived in came a Hive Knight I've never seen before. "That's not good."

Its chitin was black with strange, orange markings across its entire body, snaking across the sword dripping with dark energy. "Careful, it's one of the swords," Zane warned as we took aim and unleashed a hail of bullets across the gap as the unstoppable Knight sped up to reach us

Our bombardment slowly sunk through its armor, sword crashing down between us as we pressed our boots up against two walls and sprung upon the 'Swordbearer', my right shin cracked against his nape while Zane's caved in the Swordbearer's face, reducing the Knight to rubble. The sword now floated before me, and with an encouraging nudge from Zane, I picked up the blade, feeling an instant wave of dread wash over me, eyes poured into my own and toward my soul.

．．．Ｍｙ Ｔｈｒｏｎｅ Ｉｓ．．． Ｕｎｓｈａｋｅｎ．．

Crota's gaze left immediately, popping my neck I saw the bridge construct at my toes. "We'll see, Prince."

I took off across the abyss, the sword radiating with untold power that pulled me toward the keep, drawing up the lip I was greeted by another strange Knight, this one had blue energy radiating from its hide, a 'Gatekeeper', deciding to test this Ascendant Sword I found my body fly across the expanse just as I did with the last sword I used. The shockwave was far more powerful, stunning the Knight, again I struck the ground, forcing the Gatekeeper against a pillar as I lunged upright, slicing its head clean off. Moments later the blade dissipated from my fingers. "Aww."

*Boom-Boom-Boom*

Recoiling from the blast radius, a Hollow Knight had me hiding behind a wall bracing the very edge of the area, my eyes avoiding the urge to look down as I held my spot and peeked out every second or so to counterattack the Knight and his Acolytes. Behind me the others had to work out a system as I waited by the plate on my end, thankfully there was one, however, my presence didn't activate it and I was too busy dealing with a periodic appearance of a Knight and two Acolytes.

My annoying stalemate with the Hive finally met an end at the hands of a wave of Arc to tear apart the ground, the shockwave blasting apart the Hive, the sword spiraling toward the Gatekeeper who had it now lodged in his throat, taking it down in the process while Taka gave me a wave, the second I stepped onto the plate, it came to life, just as her own sword vanished. We turned our heads down the others, seeing that Zane was making some crazy motions with his hands, sadly, our coms had yet to adjust properly to this realm so we were relying on trust to see us through this for now.

"Whatever he's doing seems to be working," Taka mused, turning me around while raising her rifle to scatter the Acolytes with a few warning shots. "Let's not let them worry for us."

"Alright," I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Titan against the reinforcements, rifles clicking at our combined, confident huffs. The Hive came in full force but despite the Boomers causing some damage to our bodies and armor we remained standing long enough for Reiner to appear, himself yelling angrily while smashing his sword against the Gatekeeper's face, using its hunched over form to plunge the sword through its back and out the stomach. "That was something."

He slowly turned to us. "Striker, go to the totem to our right, I got the left." He barked his order while grabbing an Acolyte by the face and promptly shoving it over the edge and into the endless realm below

"I have a name and its Taka," She answered back bitterly but still complied and ran off toward the glowing statue, thankfully keeping the bridge stable and all of us alive from whatever the 'reset' did if left unchecked

After a near-endless struggle against the Hive, we finally had Zane be the last to cross over, defeating his Gatekeeper was child's play, but with no need to maintain the bridge, to our surprise, six Ascendant Swords conjured themselves at the foot of the doorway, humming in light at our approach. We did look to each other for an answer of some kind, but a loud roar on both ends cut that thought out.

"Grab a sword and go wild I guess ~LET THE SONGS OF THEIR SCREAMS BE OUR THEME!~." Morbin/Krieg answered, taking a sword while the doorways crept open, releasing Gatekeepers and two Ogres alongside a number of Acolytes

"It's Morphin Time!" Zane all but cheered, slamming his blade through a Gatekeeper's head while demolishing the Acolytes, with a large build-up of might his sword sent a rippling shockwave across the area, tearing through another Gatekeeper and several Acolytes, launching a guarding Gatekeeper into Morbin's own sword, his smack the Knight flying into Taka's, her's impaling two together for me to leap over, decapitating the two with a ground slam to an Ogre, three more swords joined me in obliterating the poor Hive in a circle of blades.

"I may not like using swords but!" Dimitri giggled childishly, her blade creating enough of an airblast to throw two Knights up and over the cliff-face. "This is so much fun~!"

"Die you extras!" Reiner bellowed, his cleaver hooked to an Acolyte that was swung so hard its body shattered against another, pinning it to the wall with a Gatekeeper, he charged, driving his sword through their chests with a laugh. "That's more like it!"

I dove under the legs of an Ogre, someone's sword stunning it as I bent at my knees and tackled it with a large uppercut, splitting the mutated Thrall in-two. With the sword beginning to fade, I swung it up high then did a barrel roll to kick it sharply into a Gatekeeper that tried to flee, the sword pierced its nape. The rest finished with their own ground attacks, waves of white light tearing apart the entrance and any Hive that dared to stick around as the six of us laughed with cheers.

"That was honestly alot of fun." I smiled, the rest agreeing while sitting down on the steps, hearing the doorway releasing a loud horn, a strange gust of wind blowing outward from within the stronghold. "Guess we passed, that makes it easier than guessing how to break in."

"Perhaps he wants us to come in?" Morbin suggested

Yet our answer came clearly with a low, dark growl that caused the pebbles under my hand to tremble. A whisper carried itself far from the keep, reaching out into the sealed realm's darkened skies. A challenging howl echoed from within the temple. My eyes lost that blissful moment under the weight of a world dictated by a Knight-God, through this twisted keep, he was waiting.

"No time to look back now..." I stood up, grabbing my rifle as a low wind brushed past me, pulling at my mark of a Sunbreaker that hugged my thigh. "Time to roll the dice."

To Be Continued...

I like this Raid, and no I'm not like those that call it a 'Strike' but whatever. Also, love adding more Crota lines to give him a little more toward the story since he's the big bad this time around. Anywho, since good ol' Deathsinger is out of the picture early we can jump straight into the main man himself. I hope you enjoyed, seeya in the next chapter Guardians!

Next Chapter: Crota's End: Bathe in Light

No other challenges stand before the Raid Team. Crota, Son of Oryx now waits under the light of his Oversoul, willing to put all he had on the line to defend it, Ceres was prepared to face the one who tormented her mind for too long and to bring about an end to the Breaker of Worlds.

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