Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or the StarCraft franchise, both are owned by their own respective owners, Rooster Teeth and Blizzard.
"Normal talk"
'Thoughts'
"Telepathic communication/shouting"
Chapter 2: Discovery
Location: Abandoned Mine, Ceres Brood
Snow flurried down from the grey skies above, showering the cold lands and towering mountains in a thick blizzard of light snow.
Ceres stood in the midst of this light snowstorm, observing the continuous stream of Drones entering and exiting the mines, one line on their way to harvest more Dust minerals while the other returning with said minerals towards his Lair.
Ceres watched the assembly line with silent satisfaction. The minerals within the mine have proven to be of great value and a more than perfect replacement for Vespene gas in terms of fueling Ceres's growing Brood with the caloric energy it needs.
He then turned his attention towards his Hive Cluster, or at least the beginnings of one. There is a Spawning Pool, an Evolutionary Chamber, a Roach Warren, a Hydralisk Den, a Baneling Nest, Spore/Spine Crawlers placed strategically around the cluster, and finally, the Lair itself sitting in the middle of it all.
Ceres's inspected his Lair, the massive Zerg Structure towering over him even from a distance. Fortunately, the surrounding mountains are approximately larger than a fully grown Hive, thus the Lair, as well as the rest of the Hive Cluster, is safely concealed from the outside world.
Ceres noted that today marks the third day since his sudden arrival to this unknown world, and in the past two days he made much progress.
On the first day, he found the abandoned mines and its precious minerals.
On the second day, he established the foundations for his Hive Cluster and started securing the mines as well as the surrounding area, putting all the safety measures in case of an unknown danger.
And just this morning, Ceres saw the world in all its entirety for the very first time.
Ceres tilted his head upwards as an Overlord, one of many, floated almost aimlessly near the mountain the Dust mine currently housed in it. Like the other Overlords spawned in the passing days, this one is floating just low enough beneath the mountain peaks to not give away the Hive Cluster's location, Ceres's orders.
After fully establishing the foundations of the Hive Cluster on the night of the second day, Ceres sent a group of Overlords high into this world's atmosphere and into space, sending a total of six Overlords. It took some time with their relatively slow speed but come the dawn of this past morning the Overlords were finally in position. Ceres, seeing through the eyes of his Overlords, laid his sight on the very lands of this world.
What Ceres saw just mere hours ago were five distinct landmasses on this planet. A frozen continent to the north where Ceres is currently located, a moderate-sized continent to the east, a larger continent to the northwest, a small continent to the southeast, and by far the largest continent in the middle stretching around towards the west just below the first and third continent.
Through the Overlord's eyes, Ceres then saw this planet's very moon, or what remains of it at least. A significant portion of the moon was clearly destroyed, the remaining pieces of the lunar satellite seem to be drifting aimlessly away from the main body.
Whatever caused the moon to be in such a state piqued Ceres's curiosity for a short while before he thought better of it and moved onto more important tasks.
Ceres also noticed that there were no man-made satellites or even space debris of human origin. To Ceres, this shows that the humans of this world did not advance far enough for simple space exploration, much less leaving their planet for another.
Despite humanity's lack of presence in space, Ceres believes that there are still humans somewhere on this planet. However, this doesn't mean he will actively seek out humanity, the ramifications of being discovered by humans will only lead to unnecessary interference, something that Ceres cannot afford with his Brood still in it's infancy.
However, humans would provide an archive of information that he desperately needs to have a better understanding of this world and its denizens. Especially the Dark creatures.
Until his Brood grows to full strength to face any potential opposition from humanity with ease, Ceres will keep hidden as long as he possibly can and find other opportunities to gather information.
Speaking of his Brood, on the second day before he sent the Overlords to orbit, Ceres spawned the first of his Zerg warrior sub-strains.
The Zergling. Scouts and the very backbone of any Zerg forces. Whether a Brood is attacking or defending, Zerglings are always present and are often seen in small scouting packs or in overwhelming numbers. Though seemingly weak individually, their power comes in their numbers, speed and ferocity, many times the enemies of the Swarm fell to the endless tide of fanged teeth and sharp claws of the Zerglings.
During the second day, Ceres spawned a small army of 400 Zerglings and sent them pouring into and around the mines to clear out any of the Dark creatures that dwelled. Within the first hour, his Zerglings hunted down any creatures they could find, hunting Centipedes within the mines and slaughtering the Bi-pedal Wolves that strayed near the main entrance into the mine.
Though the wolves were easily dealt with, the Centipedes, however, proven themselves to be a challenge to his Zerglings. Killing them was a simple matter for his Zerglings but finding them and flushing them out from within the mountain itself proven to be a difficult challenge later on. During the first hour of the hunt, the Centipedes would ambush and attack his Zerglings swarming through the tunnels, saving Ceres's forces the time of hunting them down themselves.
However, the Centipedes adapted. After the second hour of that same day, Ceres's Zerglings soon faced difficulty hunting down the rest of the Centipede creatures. The Centipedes became far more elusive as the ambushes became less frequent and more focused; many times Ceres would receive mental alerts of a group of his Zerglings being attacked in an isolated part of the mine.
There was a strategy behind their new behavior and movements. Which only meant one thing.
An Alpha variant, a simple term he uses to call the more evolved Dark creatures, is directing the Centipedes. This suspicion proven more and more likely as the hours of the second day passed, the Centipedes became much more difficult to find as his forces searched through the tunnels constantly, even burrowing through the mountain walls itself with little success.
This game of cat and mouse continued to the present time today, with the Centipedes becoming more bolder and more focused in their attacks as Ceres's forces continued to hunt down for both the Centipedes as well as the Alpha.
Ceres frowned at the thought, just this morning a small group of Centipedes attacked his Drones while they were harvesting, wounding three Drones in the attempt before a contingent of Zerg killed the ambushing creatures.
After what occurred this morning, Ceres decided to once and for all bring an end to these Centipede creatures. To find the Alpha and cut off the very head leading these creatures.
Ceres first increased security around his Drones and morphed six spare Overlords into Overseers before sending them towards the mountain.
Overseers are the Swarm's biological detectors, their powerful optical senses and hypersensitive retinas can detect the most elusive of Dark Templars, the stealth technology of Terran Ghosts, or in this case dark creatures hiding and burrow deep within the mountain itself.
Ceres drew his attention towards the Overseers circling around the large mountain. Ceres can sense through the Hive mind the Overseers finding and pinpointing each group of Centipedes they find to the rest of his forces within the mountain. With the Overseers a total of 60 of the elusive creatures were hunted down and slaughtered by Ceres's forces within the first hour.
The Overseers weren't the only Zerg Ceres spawned to assist with the hunt. With the completion of his Lair and the Roach Warren as well as the Hydralisk Den, Ceres spawned two of some of the deadliest units of the Zerg Swarm.
The first is the Roach, it's armored carapace and ability to rapidly regenerate any wounds makes it near impossible to kill by small arms fire. The Roach's saliva is highly acidic, used as a dangerous projectile weapon that can melt through the toughest armor and turn most living organisms into a pool of melted flesh in a matter of seconds.
The second is the Hydralisk, the amalgamation of everything that makes the Zerg deadly. Four meters of dense muscle fibers and armored carapace, deadly scything claws able to cleave through flesh and bone with ease, and deadly barbed spines that can pierce through the toughest armor and fired at sub-sonic speeds.
After first spawning 50 of each variant, Ceres sent the Zerg into the mines to join the hunt. With the assistance of the Overseers, the hunt for the remaining Centipedes became a full-on slaughter.
Ceres passively watched through the eyes of a Roach as it burrowed deep through the mountain rock, chasing down a fleeing Centipede. The Roach's vision was filled with nothing but crumbling rocks as it tunneled after the Centipede, but an Overseer from outside the mountain continued to show the Roach as well as many of Ceres's forces a distinct orange outline of the Centipede through the shared Hive mind. The Roach continued to chase the Centipede until another Roach intercepted the Centipede, catching the creature in its acid-filled maw before dissolving it's body into evaporating black mist.
Ceres then switched his attention to another Zerg, a Hydralisk quickly burrowing into a side of a tunnel wall before tearing out a flailing Centipede in it's fang-filled maw. As the creature continued to flail about, the Hydralisk then bit down, it's powerful jaws and razor-sharp fangs easily broke through the Centipede's carapace and tore the creature into two. The Hydralisk roared over the Centipede's evaporating remains before resuming its hunt.
Ceres once more switched his attention to a pack of twenty Zerglings in another part of the mine who are currently in a small but frantic melee with a group of ten Centipedes. Through the eyes of one of the Zerglings, Ceres watched as the Zergling let out an ear-piercing roar before stabbing both of its dagger-like limbs into the head of the Centipede underneath it, killing the creature into dark mist.
As the Centipede evaporated, Ceres then sensed danger coming from above the Zergling, bringing the Zergling's attention to the impending danger. As expected, a Centipede burst out from above, it's segmented body rapidly rotating in different directions as it dove straight for the Zergling under Ceres's attention.
The Zergling quickly dodged to the side as the Centipede crashed headfirst into the spot the Zergling last occupied. The Centipede burrowed halfway into the ground before the Zergling under Ceres's supervision rushed forward and bit down onto the tail end of the still spinning creature. The Zergling then started to pull and wrestle the burrowing Centipede out of the ground, clearly struggling as the dark creature continued to resist against the Zergling's pull.
Ceres then ordered three nearby Zerglings to assist, soon all four Zerglings tore the still spinning Centipede out of the ground before immediately descending upon the creature and proceeded to tear into the creature.
Ceres then turned his attention to the rest of the ongoing skirmish. Four of his Zerglings laid dead on the tunnel floor, their throats and bellies ripped open as blood continued to pool underneath each of the bodies. The battle soon came to an end as the last Centipede was swiftly torn apart into black mist.
With the small skirmish finished and sensing many more just like it all around the mines, Ceres then withdrew his sight from the mines and back to his original body. He then stared stoically at the towering mountain before him, the falling snow noticeably becoming heavier.
Despite the recent success of hunting down these Centipedes, their numbers had not dwindled as fast as Ceres initially predicted. The dark creatures were going into hiding as his forces continue to root out and kill any of the Centipede creatures they could find. The movement patterns of the dark creatures are particularly interesting. They are spreading themselves apart to the far corners of the mine where his forces have the least amount of presence. Groups of Centipedes are becoming bolder, ambushing his scouting packs and even suicidality attacking his Drones from time to time with no distinct pattern or motives.
Another aspect of these dark creatures that caught Ceres's interest is that these creatures can sense his forces through untold meters of rock and stone despite their clear lack of eyes and other noticeable sensory organs. These creatures can transverse through the mountain and set up ambushes and attacks with what appears to be little difficulty. Ceres suspects the Centipedes having some form of an evolved seismic sensory organ or a glandular system capable of pulse detection. Unfortunately, Ceres would be unable to find out due to these creature's nature to disintegrate almost instantly upon death, leaving nothing for him to experiment with.
Ceres frowned. The issue of obtaining these creature's essences was not lost on Ceres. Since their bodies disintegrate upon death, it would be near impossible for his Zerg to obtain any sort of useful essence from these creatures.
But there is more than one way of gaining new evolutionary traits for his Brood that doesn't solely rely on consuming these dark creatures. Ceres will have to find alternatives after he finishes establishing and fully securing his Hive Cluster from these dark creatures.
Back to the matter on hand, these creatures are clearly trying to distract and divide his forces, trying to spread his Zerg thin across the mine and mountain. Of course, Ceres rectified this by spawning more Zerg and sending them into the mines, but no matter how many he sent the Centipedes remain an unignorable nuisance. If this continues, Ceres will spend more valuable resources in this tedious endeavor then necessary.
He needed to end this problem once and for all.
'Where are these Centipedes coming from? Their attacks aren't dwindling and It's clear they are being steadily reinforced. Is as if-' Ceres paused as he came to a sudden realization, one that seemed more then plausible.
What if these creatures have their own nest somewhere within the mountain?
Immediately Ceres commanded all six Overseers to search the mountain from the very peak to beneath the very ground underneath the mountain. Even Ceres himself assisted with the search, taking personal control of one of the Overseers and boosting it's senses further with his own psionics.
Eventually, after nearly an hour of constant searching, Ceres has found it. Through the eyes of the Overseer Ceres can see a massive isolated chamber high into the mountain, nearly four miles above the mine. The chamber is nearly a mile long and half the length high, all supported by large pillars of stalagmites that connects the chamber ceiling to the ground.
However, the size of the chamber wasn't what Ceres was focusing on but what is currently occupying the chamber. Centipedes in the hundreds filled the chamber, the majority crawling all over the chamber ground, walls, ceiling or burrowing around and away from the chamber towards the very mine below.
But what caught Ceres's attention is what lay within the chamber amongst this nest of Centipedes. From what Ceres could discern through the Overseer's eyes, it was a large Centipede, it's glowing outline shows a size and length considerably larger than any of the other Centipede within the chamber, nearly reaching half the height of an Ultralisk in terms of length alone.
There is no doubt in Ceres's mind that this large creature is the Alpha variant of the Centipedes. Plus judging from it's size the Alpha has evolved and grew considerably compared to it's smaller kin. Unfortunately, Ceres could not discern the exact features of the giant Centipede. Even with the highly evolved senses of the Overseer, Ceres can only see psionic outlines of the Centipedes at such depth and in such numbers, it's like looking at a shifting mass of illuminated light. However, he can still discern the number, size and location of his targets.
For the Zerg, that's all he needs.
Ceres gave the telepathic command. Soon his forces, those not guarding his Drones, started burrowing their way into the nearest surface of rock all throughout the mines and made their ascent towards the nest. Ceres watched through the eyes of his Overseer as hundreds of his Zerg converged towards the nest of Centipedes, the dark creatures in question are unaware of the fate that will soon befall on them.
As the first of his Zerg neared the nest, Ceres saw rapid activity within the nest. The large swarm of Centipedes became more agitated, the Alpha visibly raising it's head from amongst the shifting mass.
It sensed his Zerg was coming, but it was already too late.
Boof! "SKRREEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIII!"
Letting loose a shrill war cry, the first Zergling to arrive was soon joined by many more of Ceres's vanguards as they immediately threw themselves at the surrounding dark creatures. The Centipedes were momentarily caught off guard, dozens already killed and disintegrating into black smoke while others still tangled viciously with the Zerglings. Eventually, the dark creatures retaliated in kind, letting loose their own chittering cries as the chamber air was soon filled with the sounds of battle. Sharp mandible and bladed legs of the dark creatures soon clashed against dagger-like claws and fanged teeth of Ceres's Zerg.
'INTRUDERS! KILL!' The Alpha, it's very thoughts made known to Ceres, let loose an ear-piercing shriek, throwing it's smaller kin into a primal frenzy.
With his Zerg providing a clearer vision within the nest itself as well as the actual sound of the battle, Ceres saw the total numbers of the enemy before him. Hundreds of these Centipedes are currently fighting his Zerg all along the massive chamber. The vanguard of his forces was almost immediately overwhelmed and wiped out, but as more of his forces emerged from below and joined the fray, the tide of battle eventually even out.
Ceres's Zerg and the dark creatures within are currently tearing into each other in a chaotic battle for dominance over the nest. Zerglings tackling and viciously wrestled with the Centipedes in a tangled frenzy of fanged teeth and chitinous claws. Hydralisks arriving into the nest started firing volleys of armor-piercing spines indiscriminately into the surrounding swarm or engaging directly in melee, tearing into the Centipede's numbers.
Ceres held back his Roaches and instead diverted them to surround the large chamber to form a subterranean blockade, preventing any of the Centipedes within their nest from escaping or any Centipedes from other parts of the mountains from reinforcing the nest. His Roaches held the blockade and with the support of his Overseers, no Centipede entered or exited the nest.
Eventually, the chaos of battle started to even out in Ceres's favor as the main portion of his forces started reinforcing the ones currently fighting within the nest. The body count was already stacking high for both sides as corpses of eviscerated Zerg littered the ground while the air was constantly thick with black smoke from disintegrating Centipedes.
The Centipedes within their nest did not run nor did they try to flee when finally faced against his Zerg. The Alpha towered over the swarm of Centipedes from the farthest end of the nest on the opposite side of his forces. It splayed out it's bladed legs and man-sized mandibles wide before letting loose another shrill cry that drowned out everything else. The mass swarm of Centipedes surrounding it suddenly surged forward, crawling all along the walls as well as the very ceiling and crashed into his Zerg in a rolling tide of sharp mandibles and bladed legs.
The battle was suddenly renewed as Ceres's forces buckled against the mass charge of the Centipedes as the dark creatures tore into his Zerg in a frenzied storm of mandibles, teeth, claws, blood and black smoke.
However, Ceres remained calm as his forces held against this renewed assault. He then started focusing his efforts on the renewed chaos by gathering and directing his forces while exploiting openings and exposed flanks. Small packs of Zerglings gathered and started attacking with other formed packs, Hydralisks that arrived into the nest were protected by small pockets of Zerglings, and the steady stream of reinforcements was diverted and concentrated in three different areas. This all came into fruition as he created a large enough space on the other end of the nest for his reinforcements to safely arrive in, a secured foothold. Soon enough a battle line was finally drawn with his forces surrounded nearly on all sides as reinforcing Zerg continued to emerge from the secured foothold and charged into the fray of battle.
Part of Ceres's attention observed the newly formed battle line if one could call it one. Zerglings continued to throw themselves against the Centipedes in a frantic melee of mandibles and chitinous claws while the dark creatures would reply with the same vicious vigor in return. Both sides were dying in droves as the bloodied bodies of eviscerated Zerglings littered the cavern floor and the air is constantly filled with a fog of black smoke from the dark creatures.
Zerglings reinforcements emerging from the foothold would immediately rush to the front and threw themselves into the battle, viciously tangling with the dark creatures and quickly replacing the numbers lost. Those that continued to burst from beneath the Centipede ranks fought and killed as many as they could before perishing, further ensuing chaos amongst the mass of Centipedes and giving ground to his forces.
As the Zerglings held off the surrounding swarm of Centipedes, Ceres ordered the surviving Hydralisks as well as diverting the remaining Hydralisk reinforcements towards the secured foothold behind the front lines. With forty Hydralisks in total and thirty more on the way, Ceres formed them into a wide firing line a good distance behind the Zerglings. Then with a single, mental command all forty Hydralisk's dipped their heads and fired a virtual storm of spines into the Centipede ranks. The armor-piercing projectiles tearing through ranks of the shrieking creatures as dozens upon dozens of bodies evaporated within the first second of the barrage. The torrent of spines continued as the ground was quickly taken by his forces as eventually, a good third of the nest belonged to the Zerg as the Centipedes continued to die in droves.
"SHHEEEEEIIIIIAAAA!" The Alpha let loose another piercing shriek as dozens of Centipedes nearest towards the walls and high above on the ceiling started to spin and burrow into the chamber walls and free-falling down respectively.
Ceres's Roaches blockading the nest immediately intercepted the Centipedes burrowing through the mountain rock. Catching and killing all the Centipedes trying to flank his force.
However, the creatures that were free falling from high above were met with a barrage of spines as half the Hydralisks focused their attention on these falling Centipedes. Despite dozens perishing to the barrage of spines, a few dozen managed to land all around the Hydralisks or directly on top of them and immediately engaging in close combat.
Ceres watched as a Hydralisk caught one of the Centipedes in it's powerful jaws before tearing it forcefully in two. It then used it's deadly scything claws to cleave three other Centipedes into black mist before firing a burst of spines into a fourth.
Another Hydralisk is being torn into by three of the dark creatures, their sharp mandibles cutting into the thick muscle of the Hydralisk as their segmented bodies tangled and restrained the larger Zerg. Suddenly two reinforcing Hydralisks burst from the ground and immediately tore off two of the Centipedes from the Zerg before the third is then caught and torn in two by the Hydralisk itself.
Another Hydralisk slashed and swung its scything claws in an adrenaline-fueled frenzy, catching and eviscerating four of the attacking Centipedes. However, an unseen Centipede managed to crawl up the Hydralisk's back before diving it's mandibles down into the Hydralisk's left arm, bright green venom seeping into the seized appendage. The Hydralisk roared in both pain and fury as it forcefully swung it's left arm downwards and smashed the offending Centipede onto the ground before skewering the Centipede with a swift stab of it's right claw.
With the last of the flanking Centipedes killed, Ceres's Hydralisks, now 70 in full strength, resumed their barrage of spines upon the dark creatures. With the Hydralisk's resuming their supporting fire, Ceres's forces started to rapidly push back the dark creatures. Taking even more ground as the constant stream of reinforcing Zerglings and the variable torrent of spines from the Hydralisks tore into the creatures ranks and limited numbers.
Soon Ceres is winning the battle of attrition as more than half of the chamber belonged to the Zerg and the hundreds of Centipedes that filled this nest are now cut down to less than a third in their original number.
However, the remaining Centipedes are still putting up a fierce resistance despite their dwindling numbers as the Alpha let loose another piercing cry. Ceres attributed the Centipede's continued resistance to the Alpha itself, the very creature holding the rest of it's smaller kin together.
For Ceres, he can see the obvious way to quickly bring an end to this battle. The Alpha dies then the rest of these creatures will fall to his Zerg and the mountain and mine will be finally secured and uncontested.
With the Alpha backed into a proverbial corner, Ceres ordered the Hydralisks to focus their attack on the Alpha. Soon a torrent of spines started pelting the massive Centipede, riddling it's large body with an untold number of spines.
"SHHEIIIIIAAAA-A-A-A-A!" The Alpha Centipede cried out in pain, it's large body bearing the torrent of spines with surprising tenacity as it rose it's long body higher into the air. Suddenly each segment of the Alpha's body suddenly started rotating rapidly, deflecting the torrent of spines pelting it's body. The unrelenting barrage of spines continues to ricochet off the spinning body of the Alpha, but many still finding its mark.
"SHHEIIIIIAAAA!" The Alpha cried out as it ached it's still rotating body backward.
Ceres, foreseeing what the Alpha is going to do, immediately ordered his Hydralisks to break the firing line and spread themselves apart. With a shrill cry the Alpha dove and crashed through the battleline and into the Zergling's ranks, crushing dozens of Zerglings and Centipedes on the initial impact alone and decimating many more with it's still rotating body.
With it's body still spinning, the Alpha started weaving through Ceres's forces. Blood, gore and torn corpses flew and showered across the chamber as the Alpha continued to wreak havoc through his forces. Ceres's Zerglings tried to halt the large Alpha and bog it down, but it's considerable bulk in conjunction to it's rotating body made it near impossible for his Zerglings to tie the creature down.
A few Hydralisks were soon amongst the eviscerated as the Alpha started targeting and chasing down the nearest group of Hydralisks in a blender of gore and blood. Fortunately, Ceres had the foresight to spread out his Hydralisks beforehand, minimizing the casualties amongst his elite units.
However, the destruction the Alpha wrought on his forces left a large bloody gap through his forces and his Zerg scattered and in disarray, one which the last remnants of the Centipedes used by surging through and engaging his disorganized Zerg. Once more the battle returned to a chaotic melee but with the Alpha now amongst the frenzy. It's piercing cries can still be heard above the chaotic battle as it's personal retinue of Centipede are throwing themselves at any of Ceres's Zerg that attacked the Alpha directly.
Ceres did not panic. Despite the losses, his forces still held the number's advantage and most of his Hydralisks are still active. The Alpha was nothing but a creature backed to a corner and is attacking everything indiscriminately on instinct.
The Alpha is desperate, lashing out and killing anything it can reach. It's time to end this creature.
With the dark creatures wreaking havoc among his forces, Ceres commanded his Hydralisks to concentrate their fire and strafe the Alpha, keeping each Hydralisk on the move around the chamber. The Alpha, in turn, charged towards the nearest Hydralisk, smashing through a stalagmite pillar in the process.
Ceres watched as the Alpha bodily smashed into the Hydralisk and scattered it's decimated remains with it's still rotating body. The Alpha is clearly targeting the Hydralisks over all else, this Ceres can use to his advantage as he already formulated a strategy to end the creature once and for all.
Ceres, taking personal control of all his remaining Hydralisks, started moving them away from the Alpha while temporarily halting their attacks. Simultaneously he gathered four Hydralisks in a single spot on the other side of the chamber across from the Alpha.
Ceres then ordered the four Hydralisks to fire at the Alpha, to draw it's attention.
Ceres's strategy worked as intended, the Alpha suddenly swerved towards the four Hydralisks, cutting another bloody swath through both his forces as well as what remained of it's smaller kin.
With the Alpha nearly upon them, Ceres quickly ordered the four Hydralisks to burrow deep into the ground below. However, as the last Hydralisk vanished the Alpha dove headfirst into the spot where his Hydralisks occupied just seconds ago. The Alpha dug deeper into the ground before tearing out one of the Hydralisks from the ground in it's large mandibles.
The Hydralisk roared in primal fury, caught and restrained in the Alpha's large mandibles. After a few seconds, the Hydralisk roared out in pain as the Alpha fully clenched it's mandibles, bisecting the Hydralisk at the waist.
Both pieces of the Hydralisk fell and crashed onto the ground, however, a testament to Zerg tenacity the Hydralisk still lives. The bisected Hydralisk lifted it's head and fired a single burst of spines directly up towards the Alpha's head.
Whether it was the Hydralisk's intention or luck, the spines managed to hit and tore through the vulnerable joint of the Alpha's left mandible, tearing the appendage off completely.
"SHHEEEEEIIIIIAAAA!" The Alpha cried out in a pain-filled wail, flailing it's head from side to side as the stump of it's now dismembered mandible smoked and bled a bright green fluid. It soon halted it's flailing before looking down at the bisected Hydralisk, it's maw salivating with green venom.
Ceres ordered his forces to retreat a safe distance away from the Alpha. The Alpha, in turn, noticed his forces retreating and let loose a furious shriek at the surrounding Zerg, no doubt for intimidation and challenging any to attack it directly.
Ceres then gave the mental command, springing the trap.
Booofff! "PiiiGGIIIIIIIIIIAAAAA!"
On Ceres's command, thirty Roaches popped their heads out from the nest's ceiling directly above the Alpha, all thirty Roaches looking down directly at the dark creature. As the Alpha whipped it's head up towards the ceiling above it, the Roaches all simultaneously opened their webbed jaws and spat a near downpour of acid directly on top of the Alpha.
PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH! "SHHEEEEIIIIIIAAAAAAAAA-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!"
The Alpha shrieked out a pain-filled cry as the shower of highly corrosive acid washed over the creature's form, the acid already dissolving and eating it's way through it's armored carapace and into it's black flesh. The Alpha started to flail about, thrashing it's entire body in the throes of pain. Eventually, parts of the Alpha started to corrode and fly off the creature as it continued to thrash about underneath the downpour of acid. It's remaining mandible as well as the majority of it's legs either corroded off and melted on the ground or was launched across the chamber.
The Alpha was also having it's death throes in a growing pool of accumulated Roach acid, further bathing itself in acid as well as splashing acid to other parts of the chamber. Many of his Zerg were within the splash zone, giving out their own pained filled roars that were drowned out by the Alpha's own cries.
As Ceres retreated his Zerg further back to avoid the splash zone of the acid, the Alpha continued to twist and flail in abject pain underneath the continued downpour of acid. A testament to it's own tenacity that it has survived this long underneath a literal shower of Zerg acid.
Eventually, the Alpha tried desperately to escape, to move away from the Roach acid shower. However, it's legs are now gone, either corroding off and breaking when used or completely melting into the pool of acid-forming underneath it along with it's lower half.
As the last of its white carapace corroded away to reveal its acid ruined innards and horribly disfigured head, the Alpha threw it's upper half away from the acid shower in a last desperate attempt of escape. However, with the sound of tearing flesh, it's corroded body was then systematically torn in two as the upper half flew a few feet into the air while the lower half was left behind, already evaporating/melting away.
The remains of the Alpha soon crashed onto the ground, it's head as well as the upper portions of it's segmented body was terribly disfigured, acid burns and corrosion marred it's entire body, bubbling liquids of liquefied black flesh slopped off it's body and pooled onto the ground, and head disfigured to the point of being nearly unrecognizable.
'Pain… pain… pain…' Yet to Ceres's small surprise the Alpha still lives. Barely hanging onto life from what Ceres could sense from it's dying body.
The Roaches halted their attack and burrowed back into the ceiling on Ceres's command. Ceres then ordered his remaining Zerg within the chamber to surround the now crippled Alpha, it's corroded black flesh and dissolved innards still bubbling from leftover acid.
Ceres, taking personal control of a Hydralisk, approached the Alpha from the front. As Ceres came face to face with the large, disfigured head of the Alpha he then looked down at this dying creature but not out of contempt nor pity.
Ceres knew from the very beginning he would win. It is, after all, an inevitable outcome for the Zerg lead personally by him. This is how it has always been with Ceres, by assessing the situation, employing the best strategy, he will tear down the enemy of the Swarm and drive them into destruction.
For Ceres, claiming victory for the Zerg comes all comes down to utilizing the most powerful weapon he has. Vision.
With vision, Ceres can utilize the full potential of the Zerg under his direct command. With vision, Ceres brought ruin to armies many times more powerful than his own and brought victory for the Zerg Swarm. With vision, Ceres made the Zerg a force to be reckoned with and feared throughout the universe.
With vision, he taught the most powerful being in the universe that has led her down the path to godhood.
This… creature. This so-called Alpha doesn't even possess the intelligence necessary to grasp even the basic concept of vision; thus why it is now laid down low and at his very mercy.
So with those last thoughts, Ceres gave the mental order to execute the Alpha before drawing his vision away from the chamber, the last thing he heard was his Zerg descending upon the Alpha's remains.
Ceres's vision returned to his own body, still facing the snowy mountain. He then noticed snow had accumulated on his head as well as his shoulders, both rectified by a firm shake of his body.
After brushing off the last bit of accumulated snow from his shoulders, Ceres then took one last look through the eyes of his Overseers. As expected, with the death of their Alpha the remaining Centipedes were in visible disarray. His forces are already hunting down the last of the Centipedes, finally securing the entirety of this mountain for his Brood.
Ceres gave a satisfied hum. 'With the mountain secured as well as the mine. The Brood can now grow unimpeded.' Ceres thought before turning from the mountains and slowly made his way towards his Lair.
Today marks the third day in this world. Despite what occurred today, there is still much to do if he is to return to the Koprulu Sector. Any more distractions from the dark creatures will not be-
Ceres's suddenly stopped in his tracks. He just received an alert from one of his Overseers, multiple life signs are rapidly approaching the mining compound in front of the mountain.
Ceres immediately looked through the eyes of the same Overseer that alerted him. Through the cover of the now light but thick blizzard of snow, Ceres could see multiple figures rapidly approaching in the far distance.
What Ceres saw brought a small, almost eager smile to his face. 'It looks like I will be receiving guests. I must prepare. Afterall…' Ceres's eyes glowed as his Drones started exiting the mine while his Lair spawned more Larvae, most which morphed immediately into eggs on Ceres's command.
'This is the opportunity I was waiting for.'
Location: Solitas, 300 km from Huntsman Outpost 2
"Arrived at destination."
"Stay on standby until we return."
"Affirmative. Standby mode protocols activated." The Drone driver announced for the occupants of the truck to hear.
Jack adjusted his Kevlar vest before grabbed his weapon and looking to the others occupying the back of the Atlesian Cargo Transport Truck. "NIKL Squad! You heard the tin can! Check your gear and let's move out!" Jack ordered as he opened the passenger door and hopped off the truck. As his boots crunched into the snow-covered ground, Jack then immediately surveyed the area with his weapon in hand for any hostiles. When he saw no immediate threat, Jack lowered his weapon as he closed the passenger door and made his way towards the back of the transport truck.
The air was forever cold, and a heavy shower of snow fell from the grey skies above. Jack like every Atlesian learned to live with the cold, especially with his profession.
Soon three separate sounds of feet crunching snow were heard, followed by the slam of the truck's doors just as Jack reached the back.
"Mggggaaah! Man that was a long drive! My butt feels all numb!"
"Can it Ivory! We're on a mission, can you not complain for one moment?"
"Come on Kendra! That was a long drive and I swear that bucket of bolts was purposely driving over every bump on the road."
"Kurrrr… Ivory. There is nothing but flat snow for miles."
"Was I talking to you Luc?! Didn't think so!"
"ALRIGHT!" Jack shouted at the other three members of NIKL Squad. Immediately all three members gave him their undivided attention. "You all know why we're here! Something here has caught the eyes of nearly every soldier, Huntsman, and Specialist, back at the outpost. Specialist Frost has so kindly given us the mission of finding out what exactly caused the unknown phenomenon. So let's keep this quick, simple and by the books, alright?" Jack explained and recounting their briefing as simply as he can.
"Question!"
Jack sighed. "What is it Ivory?"
Ivory Hill, the most cheerful member of NIKL Squad. She's short, pale white in complexion, bright blue eyes, light blonde hair tied into a ponytail and wears a custom made Atlas military coat completed with casual wear underneath. A combination of a black tank top, standard white Atlesian military cargo shorts and long black boots.
Ivory is known for her laid back attitude and cheerful demeanor that often brings her to butt heads with her superior officers and with Jack apologizing on her behalf all those times. But with NIKL Squad, Ivory is as competent as any trained Specialist and Jack will always trust her to get the job done. Even if he finds himself reminding her time and time again about appropriate behavior.
Now said woman spun on her heel and gestured to the vast field of snow before them. "Where exactly are we going to start?" Ivory asked, the usual cheer in her tone expressing just how much she didn't want to search through the vast white landscape.
Before Jack could answer, someone else beat him to the punch. "Ivory you are not the one doing the searching. So stop being a brat and fall in line."
Standing next to Ivory is NIKL Squad's unofficial second-in-command and Jack's own partner, Kendra Obsidian. She is taller than Ivory by a good four inches, give or take an inch or two. Dark tanned skin, jet black hair and dark brown eyes. Kendra is currently wearing a white short coat uniform that goes down no longer than her waist, black tights for pants, white knee-high combat boots, a black standard military undershirt and a black and white military beret to top it all off.
If Jack can describe his partner in two words, it would be serious and seriouser. Kendra's focus is always on the mission and she takes it upon herself to make sure everyone else is focused on the mission going so far as taking command half the time, not that Jack is complaining. She will follow the orders of her superiors like any good soldier. However, Jack, as well as the rest of NIKL Squad, knows she will always put the safety of the squad before anything else. Even if she comes off as serious with a no-nonsense attitude, Kendra proved herself time and time again why she is the unofficial second-in-command of NIKL Squad.
Like right now, trying to scowl Ivory into submission. "Alright! Alright! Jeez, what crawled up your butt today Kendy? You're not usually this bossy." Ivory said, pointing out Kendra's unusually bad mood.
"Kurrrr… Kendra usually is. She's just hungover from last night's outing." Answered the last member of their motley squad as well as earning a scowling glare from Kendra herself.
The target of Kendra's ire is the last member of NIKL Squad, Luc Schwarz. Luc is a giant of a man, standing a good two heads taller than Jack himself at a towering seven feet and some inches. Like the rest of the squad, Luc is wearing a full military garb. Military trench coat, thick cargo pants, large combat boots, and combat gloves, all black in color. The only portion of skin he shows is his bald head, marred with burn scars like some horribly designed globe of Remnant. But his most defining feature is the gas mask he wears at all times. Black in color to match his clothes and covers his entire face with dark-tinted goggles and a large tube attached to an unseen respirator hidden within his coat.
The reason behind the mask is entirely medical in nature. During his time with NIKL Squad, Luc took a nasty hit from a Sphinx's fireball without the protection of aura. Suffice to say the fire left Luc with some nasty scars and permanently damaged lungs; now he uses a special respirator just to breathe normally, hence the gas mask. Regardless of his injury, Luc can still fight like the stubborn giant he is.
"I wouldn't have this hangover if SOMEONE didn't give me vodka instead of the water I asked for!" Kendra shouted, directing an accusing glare towards the only perpetrator of their squad courageous, or in this case stupid enough to commit such an act.
Ivory gave an innocent smile. "What do you ever mean Kendy? How am I supposed to know the difference between water and hard Atlesian Vodka? They practically look the same!" Ivory explained, her tone is literally oozing with cheeky innocence.
Kendra pointed an accusing finger towards the cheeky woman. "You did that on purpose! If we're not currently on a mission right now, then I would've dragged you out and raked your AS-"
"ALRIGHT! That's enough out of you two!" Jack interrupted. "No matter how much I love to see you two arguing, I have yet had my morning smoke no thanks to that robot nagging me about smoking regulations. So suck it up for now and let's just get this mission done as soon as possible and return to base." Jack said as he reached into his pocket before bringing out his pack of cigarettes.
Kendra leveled her ever-present scowl towards him. "Jack is this really the time to be smoking. While on a mission?" Kendra questioned, ever on his back about his smoking habits.
Jack popped a cigar between his lips. "Kendra. You know me long enough to know that anytime is the right time to have a smoke." Jack shot back before taking out his zippo lighter and thumbed the igniter a few times before a candle-like flame finally appeared.
As he was about to bring the lighter towards his cigarette, a large gloved hand shut the zippo lid, snuffing out the lighter. "Jack. Smoking kills and we have a mission to focus on." Luc said in a lecturing tone.
Jack closed his eyes as he let out an explosive sigh, cigarette still between his lips. "Luc. The cold of Solitas will kill me long before lung cancer or the Grimm will." When Jack opened his eyes, he is then met the unwavering glare of Luc's goggles, knowing the giant is giving him a disapproving look behind that mask of his.
Jack sighed. "Fine." Spitting out his cigar, Jack slid the stick back into the box before stuffing his cigarettes back into his pant's pocket. "Alright, we dallied long enough. Kendra! You're up!"
Kendra gave a curt nod before turning around to gaze out into the field of whiteness before them. As the snow fell all around them, Kendra closed her eyes for a few seconds before slowly crouching down and placing her left hand onto the snowy ground.
As Jack anticipated, a bright yellow field of aura expanded from his partner's left hand, bright glowing aura flowing where her hand met the ground. The field of aura rapidly expanded past Jack and the rest of NIKL Squad as well as the six-wheeler they used as transport. Soon enough the field expanded a good several dozen meters from Kendra's position, expanding to encompass a very wide area around NIKL Squad.
This was Kendra's semblance, a special type of tracking semblance and a very rare variant of it. How the semblance works is Kendra creates a large field around her, if an event of interest has occurred within a week's time then her field will manifest aura constructs to replay the event as it happened.
Suffice to say, Kendra's semblance is the very reason why his team was chosen for this mission. Her semblance is very useful in tracking down key targets or finding out exactly what has occurred at a certain location, something they are doing now for instance.
"Look! Over there! I see something forming!" Ivory exclaimed, pointing towards the far edge of the field of aura.
It was a figure of aura lying on the ground, but only a portion of it from what Jack could see through the small blizzard of snow. They need to get Kendra closer as it's on the very edge of her semblance's limited range.
"Kendra stop. We need to get closer." Jack ordered.
Kendra nodded as she stopped to flow of aura. Soon the large field of aura disappeared, along with the figure.
Luckily for them, they already know where to look so Jack took the lead and headed towards where the figure was last seen.
He soon stopped, looking down at the very spot where he saw the unknown figure lay. "Kendra."
"Got it." Kendra then placed her hand on the ground and activated her semblance once again. Soon a basic humanoid figure made of aura appeared as Kendra's semblance expanded. Unfortunately, Kendra's semblance can only make rudimentary shapes for certain figures with no distinct features such as clothes, faces or weapons. Such as right now as a vague human-shaped construct of aura laid out on the ground, seemingly unconscious.
Regardless, Jack, as well as the rest of NIKL Squad, now know that someone was out here three days ago when the bright light was seen. This vague construct only shows that very someone was here three days ago, lying down on this very spot.
"Well… we now know someone was here. But why are they just lying here? Were they unconscious?" Kendra asked as she leaned down to have a closer look at their unknown friend.
"No Kendra, they were just taking a nice nap here in the middle of nowhere. What else would this guy be doing?" Jack answered rather sarcastically, earning him a scowl from his partner one that he outright ignored.
He hadn't had his smoke yet. So she could just stuff it.
"You're making a lot of assumptions Jacky. How do we even know this person is a guy? For all we know, he may be a she." Ivory pointed out, adding her own two lien to the guessing game they have going on.
Jack sighed for what seems to be the tenth time today. "How about we skip the argument about what gender our friend here is supposed to be and skip straight to the part where we figure out why our friend is here in the first place." Jack then leveled a stern gaze on his partner. "Kendra."
Kendra took the hint as she focused. Her semblance has a nifty ability to fast forward in case they ever come across a scene where the figure is doing nothing for hours on end, such as their unconscious friend. Laying in the snow for god knows how long.
As the tell-tale sign of the construct being fast-forwarded by the sudden rapid rate of aura flowing from Kendra's hand, the aura construct suddenly started to move it's right hand at a rapid pace, like a fast-forwarding a video. "Kendra!"
"Got it!" Soon the figure started moving back into real-time, it's right and left hands were grasping at the ground as if their unknown friend is feeling the snow beneath them. Soon enough the figure slowly lifted itself off the ground in almost a mechanical way, their head turning left and right in a familiar motion of surveying an unfamiliar area.
Soon their unknown friend picked themselves off the ground and is standing on both legs, standing an inch smaller than Jack himself and roughly face to face with Kendra, being the taller of the two.
Jack watched the construct as Ivory decided to walk around their unknown friend, her ever-curious eyes roaming the constructs figure for any noticeable movements.
However, the construct hadn't moved an inch from their spot. The only movements it made were it's head and even then it was to either look at different spots on the ground in front of it or surveying it's surrounding area. The construct then went still for a few moments before slowly lifting it's featureless face towards the grey clouds above.
It held it's unseen gaze towards the sky above, seemingly staring at something. "What is he staring at now? There is nothing in the sky." Ivory asked the question that was on Jack's mind.
"Kurrr… It was night when the light appeared. The skies were clear, and the moon was full." Luc answered. Leave it to Luc to be the serene one of the group.
"He's looking at the moon. But why?" Kendra asked, trying to dig deep into something that may or may not have any meaning at all. "Why wouldn't he? If I were in the middle of this wasteland of snow I would also stare at the moon and wonder where I am and why I am here." Ivory interjected. Ivory then turned to the still construct. "Afterall. This person is clearly lost." Ivory pointed out.
For once Jack had to agree, anyone can tell whoever this person is they were clearly not where they were supposed to be. It was also clear to assume that their friend was somehow knocked unconscious and was left here in the middle of Solitas, only to wake up in an unknown environment.
Jack frowned. 'But that still doesn't explain the bright light. And if someone had left him here, then Kendra's semblance would've shown us. This is giving me a headache.' Jack thought as he rubbed the stress out of his eyes.
"Hey! Something's happening!"
Jack opened his eyes just in time to see a construct of black aura charge their friend.
Jack immediately knew the construct just by the outline and color, it was a Grimm a Beowolf more specifically and one that appeared three days ago.
And from what Kendra's semblance is showing, there was a full pack of nine Beowolves plus three Manticores to boot. All charging their unknown and seemingly unaware friend.
"Come on move!" Ivory shouted. As if their unknown friend has heard her, the construct jumped back, dodging the Beowolf by the skin of his feet. After dodging the first Beowolf, a series of close dodges followed soon afterward as their friend seemingly dodged all the attacking Beowolves with practiced ease and an almost inhuman amount of reaction time, as if their friend predicted the Grimm attacks before they even land. Possibly a semblance of some kind?
After dodging the last Beowolf, their friend threw his right arm to the side, hand clenched into a fist, and drove his fist into the chest of a Beowolf that was charging towards his left side.
Suddenly the constructs froze, with their unknown friend's fist driven into the chest of the Beowolf construct. "Jack. I believe our suspect has a weapon. A wrist blade of some sort." Kendra voiced.
"What makes you say that Kendra?" Jack asked. Kendra pointed towards the frozen constructs. "There is a small space between the suspect's fist and the Beowolf's chest. It could be something else, but my best guess is a blade or weapon of some sort." Jack looked towards the two constructs and as his partner said there was a small but noticeable space between their friend's fist and the Beowolf's chest.
This plus with the surprising agility and reaction time of their unknown friend, it all added up to one conclusion. "It looks like our friend has Huntsman training." Luc said, speaking what is on everyone's minds.
"Or… they could be a Huntsman themselves? Or maybe a Specialist from Atlas?" Ivory suggested.
Jack gave a silent sigh. "At this point, I don't care whether our friend here is a Huntsman or a Specialist. What does matter is why he is here in the first place. Kendra, continue." Jack ordered as his partner resumed the fight.
The Beowolf construct soon went limp on their friend's unseen weapon before disappearing completely as all Grimm does upon death. Their unknown friend then turned to face the pack of Grimm before him, weapon no doubt at the ready and standing with the confidence of any Huntsman or Specialist worth their sweat.
Soon there was a standoff between their friend and the pack of Grimm. The Grimm, specifically the Beowolves, were slowly prowling in front of their friend as the three Manticores stayed a fair distance behind the Beowolves.
Their friend, on the other hand, stood his ground. The tell-tale movements of his head showed he was focused on all the Grimm before him, no doubt preparing his next few moves.
Suddenly the middlemost Manticore construct let loose a silent roar, something Kendra's semblance cannot replicate, before lifting off into the air followed by the other two Manticores. The Beowolf pack charged straight for their friend, who simply stood in the face of a charging Grimm pack.
Jack and no doubt the rest of his squad, silently waited to see what happens next. To see how their unknown friend is going to face the Grimm before him.
As if on cue, their friend lifted his head towards the two Beowolves that leaped the last bit of distance towards him. Suddenly said Beowolves were halted in mid-air, the black constructs of aura seemingly frozen in time as did the rest of the charging Beowolves.
Jack's eyes widened as he immediately met Kendra's gaze. His partner simply shook her head basically saying that she did not freeze the fight.
Jack's attention is then drawn back to the fight as their friend lifted the Beowolves that were still on the ground almost helplessly up into the air to join the two other Beowolves. All seemingly with an unseen force.
Their friend then waved their hand to the side as the floating Beowolves followed in tandem, stopping right between their friend and the flying Manticores.
Jack then saw the floating Beowolves suddenly disappear out of existence, something was killing them, could it be their unknown friend.
He soon got his answer when he drew his attention towards the trio of Manticores flying high in the air. Their mouths open and seemingly bobbing their heads back and forth as if they were spitting something.
It was then Jack was reminded that Manticores have the annoying ability to spit fireballs. Now it all made sense, their friend is using the Beowolves as living shields against a Manticore barrage. How clever of their friend.
"Well it looks like our friend is a telekinetic." Jack simply stated with a smile. A telekinesis semblance is considered a very rare and VERY powerful semblance with numerous utilities. The first person to pop into his mind when the subject of telekinesis comes up is the teacher from Beacon, Glynda Goodwitch and the Headmaster's right-hand woman.
Jack saw her fight before and during the Fall of Beacon Academy. Suffice to say, Goodwitch is no doubt a very powerful Huntress with her powerful semblance. Hell, she doesn't even use a proper weapon, not that she needs one with that semblance of hers.
But as a Specialist of Atlas, Jack couldn't help but analyze Goodwitch for certain weaknesses and habits to her combat, a force of habit if you will. What he noticed is how she telegraphs her attacks; the simple gestures of her riding crop are in tandem with the directions of her telekinetic attacks. But suffice the use of hand gestures, it doesn't seem she can just willy nilly float someone up with just a stare alone or without doing anything. Plus there seems to be a limit of how much she can continuously use her semblance if her nearly collapsing during the reconstructions efforts of Vale were any indication.
So if Goodwitch is anything to go by, then just how powerful is their friend here? Who can lift an entire pack of Beowolves with but a thought?
Suffice to say, Jack knows now that the violent approach is definitely a bad idea. Not that he was going to use such an approach in the first place.
"A telekinesis semblance. That does explain the floating Beowolves." Ivory said, finger pointing towards said constructs.
"And by the looks of it, he's a skilled user of it. Haven't you all noticed how he barely used any hand gestures for his attacks? His concentration must be considerably precise." Kendra pointed out.
Jack nodded. "Yes I did noticed Kendra. I suggest we use the peaceful approach if we ever run into our friend here." Jack said, earning voices of agreements from his squad.
As the last of the floating Beowolf constructs disappeared, the three Manticores dove straight for their friend, seemingly had enough of their friend's continued existence.
However, about halfway towards their friend all three Manticores were suddenly smashed onto the ground by an unseen force, no doubt their friend's semblance, and were seemingly held down and restrained by that same force. With the Manticores restrained, their unknown friend clasped their hands behind their back and leisurely walked towards the middlemost Manticore.
Jack raised an eyebrow at this. Why is their friend approaching the Grimm so casually? Is it because he won? A need to feed his ego like many of the top brass who had sticks shoved up their butts.
Jack's contemplating expression soon turned into a suspicious frown as their friend started walking around the lead Manticore, his featureless face never turning away from the Manticore's restrained form. It was as if their friend was inspecting the Grimm like a fisherman who caught a shark, not knowing exactly what they are looking at but at the same time taking in what they caught like a prize.
"What is the suspect doing?" Kendra asked in a suspicious tone, watching as their friend/suspect completed a full round around the Manticore. "He is inspecting the Grimm. For what reason I do not know." Luc replied.
"He's like some sort of evil scientist looking at his latest experiment. Do you think…"
Jack shook his head. "I don't know Ivory. But what I do know is that-"
Jack was suddenly interrupted when their unknown friend lifted his hand as the three restrained Manticores slowly floated up into the air in tandem. Then in a cruel show of power, all three Manticores slowly started to bend and contort inwards in ways where if they were not currently Kendra's aura constructs then Jack no doubt will have lost his morning breakfast.
Jack couldn't break his eyes from what was no doubt a sickening scene. And from what he could hear, the rest of his squad were deadly silent, watching the same spectacle unfold in front of them.
The sickening show was soon over as the now three basketball-sized remains of the crushed Manticores immediately disappeared as their friend clasped his hands behind his back and turned from the scene without a care of what he just did.
Kendra paused her semblance as everyone slowly digested what they saw. An awkward silence descended on NIKL Squad.
Jack swallowed a lump in his throat. "-our friend here is very dangerous and as we saw, very sadistic towards the Grimm." Jack finished, not knowing what to really say after seeing such a gruesome spectacle.
"I know they're Grimm and all… But that was just messed up." Ivory stated. Her voice clearly stating how disturbed she is by their unknown friend.
"Indeed. Let's pray he's kind to human beings." Luc added. Even the normally calm giant of their squad found what they all just saw disturbing.
"The suspect is dangerous. If left alone who knows what he might do." Kendra said, seeing the negatives traits of others as always, especially those that she perceives as a threat.
Jack let out a hard sigh as he pulled out his cigarettes and lighter. This time no one stopped him as he lit his first stick and practically inhaled it.
"Fwoooooo!" Jack blew out a large cloud of smoke, already feeling the stress subside. "Now let's not get ahead of ourselves Kendra. The mission given to us was to strictly survey the site of the light and report back any findings." Jack said, reminding everyone about their mission. He then took another drag of his cigar before speaking. "Now that we know that our sadistic friend here WAS here three days ago. All we need to do now is find out the general direction of where he went. Kendra resume please."
Kendra gave a curt nod before resuming her semblance. Soon their unknown friend surveyed the area once more, seemingly staring off into distance despite the light blizzard showering around them.
Then suddenly the construct took off. And when Jack meant took off, he meant TOOK OFF. Their unknown friend in a single bound exited Kendra's range at speeds that can match a snowmobile going at full speed.
Kendra shouted out a surprise as did Ivory, but it was too late, the construct was gone.
"Damn that was fast! Where is he going in such a hurry?" Ivory asked in a surprised tone.
It was Luc who answered. "Judging by the direction. Our unknown friend is heading further north towards the mountains."
Ivory visibly frowned. "But why go to the mountains? There's nothing but Grimm there?" Ivory stated, clearly confused as to their unknown friend's motives.
Jack spoke as he flicked away the bud of his cigarette. "Does it matter? All we know is by the speed he was going at, I dare say he could be anywhere in the mountains by now. But still, we should head back to the outpost and tell Frost about this." Jack said as he turned towards their transport truck.
"Alright everyone lets pack it up and head on back." Jack said as he reached the passenger door of the cargo truck. "Kendra we're leaving. What's the matter?" Ivory piped up as Jack turned around to see what's going on.
Kendra is still kneeling on the ground, her semblance still active. "I sense something else happened here. It happened very recently from what I could tell, just this morning actually."
Now his partner caught his attention. Jack started walking back towards Kendra with a concerned expression. "Show us."
His partner complied and suddenly multiple humanoid constructs started speeding past them, all of them seemingly flying through the air in a sitting position in either pairs or entire groups. Jack could take a good guess that these constructs were riding in unseen vehicles, something that Kendra's semblance could not replicate.
Though the constructs flying by in a sitting position seemed comically stupid. It was very concerning to Jack as the number of people that Kendra's semblance picked up from the past did not seem to dwindle. Jack saw what seems to be large groups in one unseen van, pairs that were no doubt riding snowmobiles, and finally pairs driving what appears to be trucks.
And as quickly as they appeared, the last of the constructs soon sped past their squad and out of Kendra's range. Only then did Kendra canceled her semblance.
"Wow, that was a large group of people! Did the morning patrol come by here?" Ivory asked. "The morning patrol doesn't venture this far out and does not have the numbers to match what Kendra's semblance showed us. I counted a full company. Maybe more." Luc answered worry laced his usually calm tone.
Jack frowned as he met his partner's serious gaze. "Jack. There is only one group with that kind of numbers out here in the northern parts of Solitas." Kendra said as Jack knew exactly what she was insinuating.
Jack pulled out another cigarette. "Yup. We just saw an entire bandit clan. And I can bet my two functioning lungs that these bandits are the Tundra Wolves." Jack replied as he lit his cigar and took a long drag.
Yup. The Tundra Wolves, the largest and only bandit clan roaming around in these parts of Solitas. Usually, the hostile environment of Solitas alongside the Grimm would mean the eventual end to any bandit clan due to the venerable lack of resources. Plus there are little to no villages for these same clans to raid to make anything worthwhile to take. The only sources of actual valuable resources are Atlas itself and it's outposts and even the dumbest bandit out there know why raiding those places would be a bad idea.
The only real choice would be the supply convoys coming to and from Atlas and it's outposts, but even then those are heavily guarded to dissuade would-be bandits from attacking them.
However, from what Jack had learned through the military grapevine, the Tundra Wolves are led by some rogue Huntsmen who had left the kingdom due to some crime they have committed, seeking to make a profit in a less charitable means, or just straight up exiled. The most notorious among them banded together and formed the clan, and eventually absorbed every other bandit clan until they were the only clan left.
And with this clan, they started their raids on the supply convoys coming to and from Atlas. Jack should know, he and his squad defended many of these convoys from these same bandits.
Lucky for his squad they hadn't run into any of the rogue Huntsmen leading those raids, just chaff and grunts. But from he has heard, the raids lead by the leaders of the Tundra Wolves always ended with the deaths of soldiers and the convoy stripped clean of everything. Only the naked bodies of the dead soldiers and smoking wreckage were ever found, the bandits were long gone then.
And that's what makes the Tundra Wolves so dangerous. They not only survived out here in the cold hostile lands of Solitas. They thrived.
"Wait… the direction those bandits are going… they're heading north as well." Ivory said, realization dawning on Jack's mind as to what Ivory is insinuating.
"In the same direction where our friend is." Luc said in a serious tone.
Jack blew out a large cloud of smoke. "It doesn't matter at this point. It is unlikely our friend will run into the bandits. Whatever the bandits are looking for, I highly doubt it has anything to do with our friend." Jack stated as he took another drag from his cigar before exhaling the smoke. "We should head back to the outpost and inform Frost about what we discovered here. He would want to know about the bandits as well as our friend." Jack said as he turned and made his way back to their transport.
As he opened the passenger door, he couldn't help but take one last look back towards the direction where their unknown friend went as well as the same direction the large bandit clan had headed off to.
For some reason, he couldn't shake off this nervous feeling. As if something big is going to happen.
Ceres's Brood
Total Population: 928
Drones: 80
Overlords: 40
Zerglings: 663
Hydralisks: 65
Roaches: 80
AN:
And that's the third chapter. I want to thank you all for supporting this story and are eager to see what will happen next. There is still three more chapters to go before I switch back to my other story.
Now to answer some questions you readers may have:
1)Why are Zerg dying to Centipede Grimm? Zerg is superior and should not die.
The reason for this is simple. Though Zerg are definitely more powerful then the Grimm in terms of evolution and sheer ability to adapt to any situation, the Grimm themselves are no push overs, the show has showed Grimm that are significantly powerful and have the initial numbers advantage over the Zerg since the Grimm POPULATES MOST OF REMNANT.
Also I am portraying Zerg as realistic as they could be being living breathing organisms of flesh and blood. The Zerg can still bleed and die from reasonable means (Such as being attacked in their exposed areas, crushed by elephant sized Grimm, etc.). No matter how evolved a Hydralisk may be, a Grimm larger than it by a good few stories can realistically kill it with sheer weight alone, not including what natural/unnatural weapons it may have.
And that's what makes the Zerg so scary to face against, not their tenacity but the fact that you kill one Zerg and ten takes its place.
2)Will Ceres be using Dust as evolutionary upgrades like in the last story?
Yes, but he has yet to discover the use of Dust just yet. He will definitely experiment with the Dust but for now he's going to focus on base building and growing his Brood.
3)Why hadn't Atlas noticed the floating Overlords?
Easy, continuous snowstorms and very tall mountains. Plus Atlas has no idea about the Zerg thus they are not actively looking for them.
4)Will Ceres use Grimm for potential evolution upgrades?
He would if he could, but as of now he has no way of obtaining any useful essences from the Grimm due to how they disintegrate upon death.
5)Does Ceres know about Grimm's attraction to negative emotions?
No. since he cannot experiment with the Grimm's biology because of their disintegration upon death. Ceres can only make assumptions from what he knows are common traits amongst his Zerg. But he will eventually find out.
6)Are those the bandits Ceres saw?
Yes. You just have to wait for the next chapter to see what happens. I'm sure you readers will enjoy it.
7)What happened with Kendra the semblance was confusing?
The Kendra's semblance is basically she can reply a past event of her choice as long as it occurred within a week's time. However she is limited to only showing bland and vague aura constructs of either people or Grimm and cannot show things like weapons, clothes or vehicles. She can fast forwards, pause, rewind, all that you can do with a television.
However, she must immobilize herself in order to create the field necessary to show the event.
8)Will we see NIKL Squad in Action?
I have plans for them. So don't worry.
Once again I thank you all for supporting this story. Please leave a review, suggestion, or any questions in the comment box below.
Also what did you think about the very first battle the Zerg had? Did I write it well? Was there anything I could've done to improve my writing? Feedback would be appreciated.
Thank you and see you in the next chapter.
