Chapter 28: Revenge of the Guardians
Songs to listen to during everyone's turns:
Vulcan: Lion Sin by Divide Music, Alex: Dragon Sin by Divide Music, Cortona: Serpent Sin By Divide Music, Gon: Goat Sin by Divide Music.
A month and a half had passed since the four Sins had destroyed Crota's soul crystal. They had taken some time off since then, but it was swiftly ruined when Eris had told them that they were too slow in destroying the crystal. Because of that, Crota was back. The team of four weren't fools, they knew how strong Crota was. It was why they had decided to stock up as much as their Ghosts could store.
Alex in particular was really looking forward to this. He had heard of how bad things were during The Great Disaster, and he wanted to pay the Hive back for what they had done.
"Today I made a memorial to all the Titans who lost their lives in each of the cities great battles, at the top I placed Wei Ning's mark. When we kill Crota, I will mount his armor there as well." Vulcan said as they were preparing.
"Yeah, me and Ana did the same thing for the Hunters and Warlocks, Eris seemed to appreciate how much care we put into the memorials of her teammates too." Cortona nodded. "We placed all three of them in front of the Tower, it's been getting a lot of visitors lately."
"Good. Then they will be remembered forever. I plan to build something to commemorate our victory over Crota." Alex chimed as he looked over his supplies.
"Oh?" Vulcan inquired curiously.
"I plan to build a statue of him laying at our feet, broken. All the while, we'll stand above him with our favored melee weapons pointed at the air." He revealed, getting impressed looks from everyone.
"That sounds pretty good." Ana nodded before she remembered something. "Oh, by the way I think I know someone who can be a part of our fire team. If I remember correctly we still need three sins, right? Sloth, Greed and Lust."
"Yeah, that's right. Who'd you have in mind?" Alex asked.
"There's a Warlock I know who's actually acquired the title of The Goat Sin of Lust. His name is Gon, he's really smart and he's really good with this new kind of weapon called combat bows, but he's also autistic. I say that because he has symptoms common to that condition from the Golden Age archives. He has no concept of humor, can sometimes come off as blunt or frank, really likes reading, and has a hard time navigating social norms and recognizing even his own emotions and those of others, so naturally he's always curious about emotions when he feels or sees them… Giving him the emotional maturity of an infant…" She explained.
Alex took in this information and ran it through his head. He had no problems with autism since it wasn't the fault of people who had it for having it to begin with, but Gon's inability to navigate social norms could use a bit of help. What had him feeling a little concerned was his inability to recognize his own emotions, which could be a problem in a fight like the one they were preparing for.
"Has his curiosity about his own emotions ever given him problems in a fight?" He asked the female Bray.
"Well, one time he got his head chopped off, but that's about it. He's a quick learner." The Hunter shrugged. Alex just nodded.
"Alright, give him a call so the rest of us can meet him." The male Exo said. Later on, they did meet him. He was a rather thin Human Warlock with reddish-pink hair, and burgundy colored eyes, as well as a pale complexion. His face was mostly expressionless and he also seemed to wear a pair of rectangular glasses with rounded edges. His armor was the Philomath set.
"Zing!" Gon said, striking a cheery salute pose. Cortona almost started gushing over how cute he looked when he did that, but managed to catch herself.
"He seems… A bit odd." Vulcan whispered to Alex.
"Yeah, but that's not his fault." The male Exo whispered back. Before turning back to the Warlock. "Well Gon, it's nice to meet you, welcome to the Seven Deadly Sins. Now how about you tell us about yourself, got any special abilities we should know about?"
Gon cocked his head to the left, as if trying to process what was asked before the realization came to him. "Oh, yes, I do actually. It's an ability called 'Invasion'." He replied, his voice seemingly having a natural monotone.
"What's it do?" The female Exo of the group asked curiously.
"It's a power that allows me to entrap my opponents within their own memories, using my Void Walker melee ability. It also grants me the ability to read the thoughts and memories of others as well as alter them." The Warlock explained.
"Wow. That sounds helpful for making an enemy fall apart from within." The Lion Sin commented.
"Well then Gon, what's your most used primary weapon?" Alex asked.
The human then reached behind him and pulled out a combat bow. It was large and black with pink accents, with its two ends looking almost like blades, it's design was also very sleek. "This is my weapon, The Whispering Bow, Harriet." He told them.
"I have to admit, that is an odd looking bow." Sentry spoke up. Her words got nods all around. This was soon met by a retort from Gon's Ghost.
"Don't be fooled by its design. It's actually quite effective." The Ghost, who's name was Nadja, spoke up in a female voice. She had a beautiful Reef Flower shell that was colored purple, platinum and pink.
"In anycase, we're heading to the moon to put Crota in the ground for good. Are you willing to help us out?" The Dragon Sin asked.
"It would be interesting to see the rituals of the Hive up close, so yes, I'll help." The Goat Sin nodded.
"Okay, welcome aboard." Alex inaugurated, so to speak. "Now come on, we have a Hive God to kill." He added as they all got into their ships after Alex called Joker and Byf.
-Later, the moon-
The raid team transmatted down to the moon. They were in a different portion of the Hellmouth, more specifically a point in which they would venture down to its lowest levels to find Crota.
"Okay, this is our insertion point. Let's activate that plate and see what happens." Alex said as he went toward the circle. As he stood at the center of the circle, it lit up and formed a ritual rune that seemed to carve itself into the plate. Soon, it began to summon a bridge one segment at a time. After a minute or so, it was complete and they were able to descend to the depths of the Hive stronghold.
"Alright, this is where we go down. Is everyone ready?" The Dragon Sin asked as he readied his Red Death for action.
"I will make the Hive once more fear the Sun." Vulcan said as he loaded his Sunshot.
"I'm ready to riddle this bastard full of holes for what he did to us at Mara Ibrium." Ana nodded, favorite weapon in hand.
"Let's shock 'em good." Cortona grinned under her helmet as she readied Atheon's Gift.
"Zing!" Gon said as he readied Harriet.
"Let's make 'em scream in fear." Joker said with a smile of anticipation as she readied her own Suros Regime.
"The time of our revenge is now." Byf said as he readied his shotgun, Felwinter's Lie.
"Alright. Let's go, everyone!" Alex shouted as he stepped into the gravity lift with everyone else following suit.
The descent into the abyss that is the Hellmouth was a long one, but not that long. It lasted for roughly fifteen seconds or so. When everyone reached the bottom, they nearly collapsed in pain from the impact their legs had just sustained.
"Son of a bitch, that hurts!" Joker exclaimed as she tried to stay standing.
"No shit! Even I felt that!" Cortona whined as she fell to one knee.
"Same…!" Alex got out in a strained voice.
After a moment, their Ghosts managed to heal their injuries and allowed them to be able to stand comfortably. Once they had regained their bearings, they looked around and saw nothing but darkness while their landing zone had some lamps to illuminate their current area along with another one up ahead. Oh, and there were bones lying around.
"Fascinating. It seems like the deeper we go, the weaker our light becomes." Gon noted.
"That's going to be a problem." Byf noted warily.
Vulcan, however, seemed to be mostly unaffected by the phenomenon, his Divine Grace seemingly still going through its cycle, even sharing its light with the others.
"It matters not. We must press forward to avenge those that fell to Crota." He said confidently as he began walking forward. Everyone else began following suit before they felt an oppressive force suddenly weigh them down, only for it to vanish due to Vulcan's presence. They also took notice of well over a dozen Thrall that they assumed were on the verge of becoming Acolytes appear, but keep their distance. The reason? Vulcan.
"Wow, they really are afraid of you." Cortona told Vulcan as she looked at the Thrall around them trying to stay away from the large Titan.
"Perhaps they recognize the power that has slain so many of their kin." The man said as a Thrall, desperate to eat, jumped at him, only to immediately burst into flames before it even made contact.
"And then there's the ones with no common sense." Alex deadpanned as the ashes of the Thrall landed on him.
That's when things changed. They were soon met by odd looking black and green Hive as well as Hybrids with similar color pallets, the designations they had were Swarm and Flood respectively.
"Those look new." Gon noted rather bluntly while cocking his head to the right. One of the Flood tried to charge at them, but it just burst into flames, though the thing about it was that it didn't die right away. Alex was forced to send a burst of bullets into its head before it could possibly get too close.
"These things must be stronger than normal Hive and Hybrids, cuz they seem to be tanking Vulcan's heat like it's just an annoyance!" Ana said as she threw one of her knives at a Thrall and popped its head open, suddenly causing ether to spew out! "What the hell?!" She exclaimed with wide eyes.
"Okay, why are there suddenly normal Hive with ether in their bodies?!" Joker barked as she shot an Acolyte in the head, causing ether to spill out.
"Hyrax must be supplying the Hive with ether and they're feeding it to the worms, causing them to give the same life sustaining substance the Traveler gave the Eliksni to improve their soldiers!" Alex said, shooting in every direction as Vulcan threw a fusion grenade past his head and made it latch onto a Knight before it blew a massive cluster of both Swarm and Flood up.
"We'll have to address that sometime!" Cortona shouted as she popped the heads of a few Floods open in rapid succession. Sure enough just like Hive and Fallen, they had both worms and ether.
After a grueling twenty minutes of slaughter, they finally reached a large hallway bathed in a bright light.
"Everyone into the light!" Alex shouted as he started sprinting towards it. Everyone else followed him into it.
When their vision cleared, they were in a room of sorts. Walking out, their eyes/optics widened when they saw that they had passed into another dimension entirely. Looking up, they saw no sun. Instead, all they found was a shattered moon containing dark energies that made it look like an eyeball, oddly enough.
Vulcan's seal seemingly became weakened and it caused the full fury of his Divine Grace to appear at the forefront, shining like an actual sun.
"Gack…! What the hell is happening?!" Alex grunted, swearing he could feel the metal making up his body melt as he backed up.
"This heat is insane!" Cortona said, quickly backing away from the Titan. Everyone else did the same and as they walked towards the giant castle in the center of the dimension they were in, a loud war horn suddenly sounded as several Knights and Paladins stepped out. Leading the knights was a Hive Sword bearer, and leading the Paladins was a very familiar looking Paladin. It had a large X shaped scar in the center of its two right eyes. It was Hy'rrak, Omnigul's adopted son!
[You dare invade this realm, worthless motes of light?!] He growled.
"Look who's talking." Alex said, Lostvayne at the ready. "Ya know, for a Paladin, he sure is scrawny." He said to his team.
[I'm still growing!] Said Paladin exclaimed indignantly.
"Let's put a stop to that, shall we?" Vulcan said, summoning his Ax, Divine Ax Rhitta.
With a roar, Hy'rrak ordered the Knights and Paladins to charge. The Guardians stood ready for the fight. Vulcan was the first to attack as he sliced a Knight in half while everyone else engaged their own Knight or Paladin.
Alex squared off against a Paladin that tried to slice him in half, but was met with the Dragon Sin leaping over him and literally stabbing him in the back.
Cortona faced a Paladin that tried to smash her into the ground but she simply glided over him and dropped down before grabbing its head and frying its brain (or whatever counts as one with them) with a large burst of Arc energy.
Byf tossed a solar grenade at Knight and a Paladin that thought they could take him. He then got up close and personal with them and gave them two shotgun shells each.
A Knight tried to take on Joker, but was given a fist of havoc for his trouble. Enough said.
Ana was confronted by a Paladin that looked like he wanted to make her his next meal. She apparently caught that and sent several bullets to his head.
Gon's fighting session was… Interesting. He seemingly forewent any kind of combat at first, instead deciding to use his Void ability Invasion to cause his Paladin to essentially think it's Hive comrade next to it was the enemy and attack it instead, getting them both killed in the process.
While this was going on, Hy'rrak decided to retreat for the time being upon seeing that his forces weren't going to survive. Of course the Guardians didn't blame him, he wasn't quite strong enough to fight them yet.
After they decimated the remaining forces, the fire team continued forward, but as soon as they reached the hall leading to Crota's throne room, they saw an Ascendant Troll in the way.
"... Can someone please kill this thing? It reminds me of Ogres way too much." Alex growled, trying to stop himself from lashing out.
The troll clicked its mandibles and looked at them with its four glowing purple eyes, then it's gaze settled on Vulcan, the most obvious target. With a guttural roar like that of an Ogre and an Archon combined, it pounded its chest with its four arms and taunted the Titan to come forward, slamming its fists on the ground like a male gorilla would.
Vulcan accepted the challenge and stepped forward. He gazed up at the massive beast, who gazed back down at him with contempt.
[Me Li'Zarak, Lion Slayer.] It spoke in broken English, causing Vulcan to scoff as it sent a punch towards him, which he effortlessly caught. The impact caused a shockwave that caused everyone to block their faces from the winds it generated.
"For you to speak the name of the King of the Jungle in my presence, is quite the joke!" The man said before he swung his ax and a blade of Solar energy sliced the Troll in half and traveled down the hall and cleaved the door open while leaving a trench in its wake, and as it settled, the two halves of the now dead 'Lion Slayer' fell to the ground with a thud.
"... Not much of a Lion Slayer, was he?" Cortona commented.
"Nope." Ana said, shaking her head.
"I honestly can't help but feel pity for him." Byf said, much to Gon's confusion.
"Why have pity for an enemy?" He asked with his head tilted to the side.
"I think it has to do with the lack of a fight he put up, Gon." Joker tried to supply.
"Oh." Said The Goat Sin in realization before he kneeled down and patted the corpse in pity. "Sorry that it was so one sided." He apologized.
'He is too precious for this world.' Cortona thought.
'He really is like an infant.' Everyone else thought, save Ana. They then continued forward to the throne room and then at that moment, Eris decided to contact them, Cayde also joined in.
"Hey gang. How's the assassination going?" Cayde asked jovially.
"I don't think we started yet." Gon replied.
"That's a rhetorical question, Gon." Ana told him.
"Oh." Was his only response.
"Be careful. Crota was the sole reason so many died in The Great Disaster. We cannot afford to lose any of you to his blade." Eris cautioned.
"Not before he falls to my Ax first." Vulcan stated pridefully.
Everyone stood at the circle in the center of the doorway and another war horn sounded, and as it did, a massive green/blue Hive came stomping towards them. It was a Knight with a crown made of many horns atop its head, and it had a truly titanic sword in his hand. Crota, the eater of hope, had arrived.
He gazed upon the intruders of his realm as if they were nothing to take seriously. [Hmph, these are the whelps that killed so many of my brood?] He scoffed in a bored tone. But then he noticed that one of them wasn't being affected by his oversoul's fear feeding or the darkness of his throne world, and another seemingly wasn't scared, but angry. [It does not work on him? How?] He got out, angered by what he viewed as an act of defiance in his domain.
"A Divine Grace given to me by the Traveler. I am different from the other Guardians you have faced." Vulcan stated, while he stepped forward, Ax in hand. "And of course your fearful presence doesn't work, why should I feel fear towards someone who is so obviously weaker than myself? All I feel is pity."
[You dare insult me?! You will pay for your arrogance!] Crota roared as he called his ilk to his side.
"That is exactly who I am, as of this moment, you're face to face with Vulcan Sol, the Lion Sin of Pride." Vulcan said before stepping aside for Alex. "I'll let you do the honors, captain."
"In that case…" The Exo began before he shot an Acolyte in the head. "HAVE AT 'EM, LADS!" He yelled.
"Alright! The Seven Deadly Sins are back in business!" Cortona cheered as she hurled an arc bolt grenade at a swarm of Thrall.
Vulcan was next, he summoned a Cruel Sun to the flat of his hand before sending it at a line of Knights, instantly killing them before it was caught by Crota, who struggled to keep himself in place with the sun pushing against him.
"Pride Flare!" The Sunbreaker yelled as he closed his hand, causing the sun to explode. Crota screamed in agony as the powerful Solar energy covered his body. He had never felt anything like this in his entire existence!
Alex blasted an Ogre to pieces with his Gjallarhorn before he threw a vortex grenade at some approaching Acolytes and pulled out his shotgun to kill a Wizard that he had spotted. He saw Vulcan use his Pride Flare on Crota and smiled at the Hive Prince getting his just desserts.
"Death Singer incoming!" Ana yelled as she used Telesto to fire at Hive in her way.
"I'll deal with her!" Byf called out as he shot a Knight dead before going after the Death Singer. "Wait, that's Ir Yut!" He said before backpedaling it back towards the group. "Cover your ears!"
"Shit, this isn't good." Joker said as they took cover. That was when she saw a sword floating above a pool of pure untouched light.
"What is that?" The Serpent Sin wondered.
"Let's find out." Joker said as she picked up the sword and all the light poured over her. She then turned towards Alex and Vulcan, who were duking it out with Crota, and then Vulcan struck the Hive God with his ax in the leg, causing him to drop to his hands and knees. Joker quickly ran over to them with the sword and called out to them as she bashed several Hive that were in her way aside. "Hey guys!" She called, causing them to turn to her and notice the sword of light she was carrying.
"Well don't just stand there, you got a weapon, use it!" Vulcan told her.
She did so and proceeded to land a series of blows that made Crota let out cries of pain. He growled and managed to get back to his feet.
Everyone jumped back and then the Hive's oversoul started to glow. "I got it!" Ana yelled as she conjured her golden gun and fired six shots at it, causing the glowing to stop.
"Good shit, Ana!" Alex called. Next was Byf's turn with the sword after Vulcan was able to weaken Crota again, then it went to Gon, who actually used his Invasion ability to confuse Crota long enough to deal much more damage before he recovered.
Cortona, meanwhile, was fighting Ir Yut with Joker, and now the two ladies had the witch cornered. The Death Singer fired a blast of energy at the Stormcaller but she simply tilted her head to the side and let it fly by her harmlessly.
"Is that all you got?" She taunted like a boss.
"Double arc combo?" Joker suggested, starting up her fist of havoc.
"It's like you read my mind." Cortona replied with a grin as she readied her Chaos Reach. "On the count of ten. One, two, TEN!" She yelled before she fired Chaos Reach, which did serious damage to the Death Singer before Joker lept in the air and then let gravity do its thing and slammed her fists into the witch's face, causing her to crack the ground as they hit it and cause a tremor to happen.
With the others, they were fighting before a tremor caused it all to stop momentarily.
"Uh, Crota? Does your throne world experience tremors like that regularly?" Alex couldn't help but ask.
[No it does not.] The Ascendant Hive Knight replied.
Cortona and Joker then came walking back, with the corpse of Ir Yut with them before tossing her dead body to the ground, the Witch's face clearly caved in.
"Was that you girls?" Byf asked.
"Yep. The bitch didn't stand a chance." Joker smirked under her helmet.
"At least we know what caused the tremor." The Nightstalker muttered.
Crota slowly got up as he glared at the two women, then he noticed how Alex's gaze lingered on Cortona before the Exo faced him. Raising his hand, he charged a massive dark bolt and aimed it at Cortona before he fired it. The bolt hit her and sent her flying back, shattering her shields and making her critically injured.
Kicking Alex out of the way, Crota raised his sword before he struck it down on the female Warlock, killing her instantly.
Alex got up and saw Crota kill Cortona. He remained silent due to his horrified state before…
FWOOSH!
His entire body became covered in Void light, his right arm almost resembling a wing as he entered his Assault Mode. Crota whirled around at the noise and froze in actual fear when Alex's deathly gaze bored into his soul.
"You… Will… Die." He whispered, his voice carrying an ethereal echo. He then lashed his arm out and grabbed Crota by the leg before he threw him into a wall.
"What is that?!" Ana gasped.
"His Assault Mode! Only it seems partial…" Vulcan said.
Alex's arms then turned into giant claws as he charged at Crota and started beating him senseless. As soon as the prince was down, Vulcan took the Chalice of light and the sword and attacked him while Alex held him down before passing it on to Ana who did the same. Joker, meanwhile, was checking with Hawk for an update on Cortona.
"Hawk, can you bring her back?" She asked.
"I can, but with all the Darkness surrounding us, it'll take me longer than normal." He replied.
"Let me help." The Titan said as Gon attacked the Oversoul with a Nova bomb. Vulcan and Alex now had Crota cornered and in critical health. Taking the chalice and sword, Vulcan charged and started attacking after Alex knocked him down with A Thousand Divine Slashes.
After this, it was Alex's turn, he was now in his full Assault Mode and as Crota tried to attack him, he conjured a dome of Dark Bullets that riddled the Knight's sword full of holes and caused it to fall apart before he sent them at him, causing the Hive god to drop to his knees again.
Alex roughly grabbed him by his horns and forced the Son of Oryx to look him in the optics, and was pleased by the absolute terror in the larger Hive's eyes.
[Who… Who are you?] Crota asked as Alex took the sword and chalice, Assault Mode still active.
"I… Am… The Dragon Sin." The Sin of Wrath said before he raised the sword into the air. With one stroke, he cleaved Crota in half. The dying Hive let out a death scream as his life left him, the sound echoing throughout the realm.
"Crota is dead… Thank you, Alex. You have helped me achieve the goal I have been dreaming of for so long: Avenging my friends." Eris said in a relieved tone.
"Ya know, this actually reminds me of the time Saint-14 said he actually met a team of Seven Guardians from the future back in the Dark Age who apparently killed Crota. Guess he wasn't going crazy after all." Cayde chimed in.
"You think it was us?" Vulcan asked as Alex calmed down and contained his Wrath again.
"Who knows?" The Exo male groaned.
"Well whatever the case, we should probably get Gon here to the Reef to get a seal tattoo." Cortona said as she finally came back. "Yeesh, what is it with me and getting killed by Knights?"
Alex responded by glomping her. "I hate it when you die!" He cried as he tightened his hold on her.
"Mph!" The girl said in a muffled tone. 'Ah… This is nice…' She thought as the two hugged. Vulcan and the others chuckled while Gon seemed confused.
"What exactly is this supposed to mean?" He asked as he tilted his head to the side.
"If you happen to find someone you love one day, Gon, you'll understand." Byf told him.
Vulcan nodded. "Speaking of, I just remembered I have a wedding to plan." He said as they finally left, causing everyone (save Cortona and Alex) to look at him with wide eyes.
"You're getting married?!" Joker shouted in shock.
"Indeed." The man nodded.
"To who?" Byf and Ana asked.
"Queen Mara Sov." He replied, shocking them further.
"Wait, I mean I knew you guys were together, but are you seriously gonna get married now?!" Ana questioned as they got into their ships.
"Not exactly right now. We just killed Crota, for Pete's sake. A wedding immediately afterwards feels too stressful when you think about it. No offense, Vulcan." Alex said before addressing his Awoken friend as they traveled.
"None taken. No, our wedding will take place in three months time, during the Crimson Days celebrations." The Titan told them as they landed in the Tower's courtyard. "And all of you are invited, this includes the Vanguard, the Lore masters round table, Lord Shaxx, Amanda, all of our friends. In fact, Mara has even requested that Cortona, Eris, Ana, and Joker be her bridesmaids." He added as well as they went down to see Eris and the Vanguard for the mission report. His words caused the females present to squeal in delight.
Right now, though, they would report their success and bask in their victory afterwards.
ThermalsniperN7: AAAAAAAAAAAAAND DONE! Man that was more work than I thought it would be, but I don't care! It was worth it! Also, please give a warm welcome for the cinnamon roll that is named Gon.
Dragon Emperor0: Yep. He's based off of the version of Gowther pre memory wipe when he was first given his title of the Sin of Lust, basically an aloof little bundle of positivity that's like a baby in a Guardian's body. And his Combat bow is based off of the bow Whispering Slab, only it's exotic and has an Exotic perk called 'Automatic Tracking Mode' which allows the arrows to do critical damage even if you weren't aiming for a critical area.
ThermalsniperN7: And you know a perk like that is going to make a lot of people rage in the Crucible. Anyway, see you guys next chapter!
Dragon Emperor0: Yeah because next chapter, it's wedding time! *Wedding bells sound*