Speak to self
Speak to Ghost
Joseph materializes his Foetracers on his head and looks at Fitoria, "Shit, Fitoria, get all the filolials out of here! Filo and Melty help Fitoria, Naofumi and Raphtalia, with me! We need to push the Vex back!" Joseph said.
"Okay!" said Fitoria, she begins to lead the Filolials away from the threat as Filo and Melty assist her.
Naofumi and Raphtalia make their way to Joseph as he puts out a small crate of ammo as he places a some weapons on the floor, ready to fight, "what should we do Joseph?" asked Naofumi
Joseph immediately makes a ward of dawn to protect them from the Vex. Joseph then thinks, "Naofumi, uh… shit, here, show me your shield." Joseph said.
"Sure," Naofumi said, putting his shield up and showing it to Joseph.
Joseph examines the green gem on Naofumi's shield and then nods, "right, now touch my ward," Joseph said.
"What?" said Naofumi,
"Just do it," Joseph said.
Naofumi approaches the ward and then touches it. The ward begins to glow and is then consumed by the green jem.
Joseph looks ahead as the Vex begins to spawn in, "Here they come!" Joseph said, "If it works, meet me over there!" Joseph points to an open area.
Raphtalia was confused about the rendezvous point "But!-" before she could ask Joseph, he immediately left. She turns to Naofumi and his shield is glowing.
"What's this?" said Naofumi as the shield began to take form. The shield's glow began to diminish and what it presented amazed Naofumi and Raphtalia.
The shield is circular, with purple edges with a weird logo in the center of the shield.
"Woah," both Naofumi and Raphtalia said in astonishment. Naofumi puts up his shield as if to protect himself and the shield begins to glow purple. The shield then emits a purple field allowing Naofumi to cover a much larger area. "I'll be damned Joseph…" Naofumi said. He looks at Raphtalia and nods, "right, let's go Raphtalia." he said.
"Okay Master Naofumi!" said Raphtalia.
Joseph fires upon a bunched up group of Goblins and a Hydra with Xenophage, only using a couple of shots to wipe them out.
Xeno materializes next to Joseph as he examines the portal, "Incredible… but how did the Vex manage to set a portal to this world?" he asked.
"The hell if I know, where are we? In a book? Y'know, the more we discuss about this, the more logic is thrown out the window then being punted by a Titan off the Tower…" said Joseph
"Agreed…" Xeno replied, "this is just too confusing…"
Joseph spots a Cyclopes spawning but before he could aim towards it, a sudden voidless Sentinel Shield hits the Cyclopes. Joseph turns to see Naofumi wielding only what he believed a Guardian can wield, a Sentinel Shield. Joseph grins and laughs, "so it did work!"
"But how?" said Xeno.
"That green gem," Joseph said, "I noticed that the shield consumed lots of shit, such as that Dinosaur Dragon thing and that piece of hair that Fitoria gave Naofumi." Joseph explained
"So Naofumi thought that Ward allowed him to use the Sentinel Shield? That's… incredible!" said Xeno
Joseph stands up and forges a Sentinel Shield with his Void Light, and gestures towards Naofumi, inviting him. "Lets go Naofumi! Show me what that shield can do!" Joseph said.
Naofumi nods and turns to Raphtalia, "Lets go," he said.
The three charged towards the Vex army attempting to push the offensive.
Joseph Shield Bashes a Minotaur, shattering it's shield in the process and stunning it and the nearby Vex. Joseph lowers his back as Raphtalia uses Joseph to boost her jump and cuts down the stunned Vex as Naofumi rushes in to protect her from any shots.
A Hydra was about to attack Naofumi but Joseph threw his shield toward the Hydra, destroying it. The shield then ricochets to nearby Vex, Joseph rushes towards an Ultra Minotaur as he throws a magnetic grenade on the center of the Minotaur. The grenade explodes twice and Joseph blocks a ground slam from the Minotaur.
Naofumi comes in and throws another shield and as the Minotaur was going in for a swing, Naofumi yells out "Air Strike Shield!" A green energy shield blocks and stuns the Minotaur as Raphtalia uses the Air Strike Shield to leap towards the Minotaur's Torch Cannon and cuts it clean off.
"Keep it still!" Joseph said.
"Right!" Naofumi said, he extended his arm forward and opened his hand, "Prison Shield!" Naofumi said as a bunch of shields trap the Minotaur.
Joseph runs towards the Minotaur, in front of him a Hobgoblin is in the way, he pulls out his M1911 and shoots the Hobgoblin until it starts to heal itself, Joseph then uses the Hobgoblin to boost him up in the air to where he is above the Minotaur.
Naofumi notices this and releases the Minotaur, in which Joseph retaliates with a Nova Bomb, destroying the Minotaur and spawning miniature projectiles killing nearby Vex.
Joseph lands and scans the area, "alright we cleared the area but the Vex are not yet finished!" Joseph said.
"Naofumi!" Said Fitoria as she makes her way towards him with Melty and Filo. The three sees Naofumi's new shield,
"Woah! Where did you get that shield Master?" Asked Filo in astonishment.
"I gave it to him." Joseph said, "but it won't last long." He continued.
Suddenly Naofumi's Sentinel Shield then returns to his original shield. "I see… yeah, I noticed something new in my vision, it looks like I need more mana." Naofumi said.
Joseph nods and notices more Vex are about to spawn. "Alright, you guys have done enough. Let me take care of the rest of the Vex." Joseph said.
Raphtalia was confused with his decision, "but you don't need to fight by yourself Joseph," Raphtalia said.
"Yeah but the Vex are dangerous, the Vex you just fought were the weaker variants, who knows what else they have in their arsenal." Joseph explained. "They learn as they fight, that's how they'd eventually kill a Guardian legend named Saint-14." Joseph forms a Ward of Dawn and leaves the Ward, "this will be enough to keep you guys safe." He said.
Joseph sees the Vex spawning and is slightly irritated from what he sees before him, "Champions…" Joseph said. He makes a Rally Barricade and re-adjust his equipment. He keeps Ace and his M1911, and materializes his Outlast and his favored Antiope-D when he used to compete in Trials of The Nine. "Alright Joseph, they're just Champions, they are just like those Guardians who desperately need a Spare Rations and Mindbenders as a Loadout in Competitive."
"Sounds Personal…" said Xeno
"Eh, so so." Joseph said as he pops out of cover and opens fire with Outlast. He notices that an Overload Minotaur is beginning to charge towards him so he dodges to go invisible, going to its side, Joseph opens fire with his Antiope-D stunning the champion, Joseph then switches to Xenophage, to finish the Minotaur off. Joseph looks behind him as Three Barrier Hobgoblins begin to attack him. Joseph quickly dodges a Line Rifle shot and Thunder Crashes toward them, activating their defensive mechanism. Joseph then draws Ace to break their barrier as fast as possible, as all three are stunned Joseph boosts himself up in the air by using one of the stunned Barrier Hobgoblin, and uses Blade Barrage to kill all three.
He lands and continues to fight the Vex.
The five watch Joseph closing in on the Vex, where they slowly advance towards Joseph as well.
"Joseph really knows how to handle himself." Said Melty as they see Joseph finishes a Harpy with a kick
"Like a one man army…" Raphtalia said.
They watch Joseph as he crouches and throws his knife to a Goblin then emptying his submachine gun to three other goblins. He then changed his submachine gun with another submachine gun. Joseph then kills a headless Goblin which then explodes and leaves an arc pool. He heads towards the pool while consuming something which spawns a blue orb next to him shooting balls of lightning towards the Vex. Joseph stands in the pool as he takes damage but also seems like he empowered his gun, shooting and chaining lightning to nearby vex.
As they watch, Xeno suddenly materializes in front of them, "hello," said Xeno. "Joseph said to keep an eye on the bubble, just in case." He said
"Hi Xeno," said Melty. "Can Joseph really take on all of them?" she asked.
"Apart from the Champions, he handles the situations pretty well, although we never knew how Champions became a thing…" Xeno said
"Champions? What are Champions?" asked Filo,
"Joseph once called them, 'Darkness's Middle Finger'" Xeno said, "they suddenly appeared on the moon and on strike operations." He explained, "there are three different variants, Barrier, Overload and Unstoppable." Xeno explained.
"What do they do?" Naofumi asked.
"According to gathered research and intel from Guardians who have encountered Champions, Barrier and Overload are more frequently seen. When Damaged to a certain point, Barrier Champions protect themselves with a protective field enough to protect themselves from a Nighthawk Golden Gunner. The main problem with Barrier Champions is when they use their Barrier, they will also automatically heal themselves." Xeno explained
"Ah, so are they invincible?" Asked Melty
Xeno motions his shell as if a person shook their head to say 'no', "Guardians were given a Gate Lord's Eye Artifact. Within its data, there were modifications for our weapons to combat these Champions." Xeno explained, "for a Guardian to prevent a Barrier Champion from 'auto healing,' Joseph calls it, is to modify your gun to convert your ammunition to Anti-Barrier rounds. The same goes for Overload and Unstoppable, they too have their own individual modifications." He said
"I see…" said Naofumi, "what do Overloads do?" He asked Xeno.
"Our friend Verik, he can't stand Overload Champions." Xeno said. "Overloads, when they are damaged, they automatically heal after a certain amount of time if not damaged. I actually have an audio log from Joseph and I's Exo Titan friend, Echo-3.
Xeno began to play the audio log, the voice was like a human but with a robotic filter, but it was fairly obvious that he was drunk…
"Joseph, I gotta owe you for taking care of that tab of mine," he laughs as he takes another sip of what Naofumi suspects was alcohol. The laugh was boorish and loud, enough to make the area around him shake, "You should really try out Michael's special Ginger Beer Whiskey! You will keep to that promise right?" he laughs again. "Anyway, I found another of those strange Vex, this time it's a Minotaur…" he grunts as if he threw something, a second later a distant sound of glass breaking and then gunshots.
"Woah! This guy is advancing pretty aggressively!" The sound of fighting continued as they heard an explosion. "Huh? Shit, really?" He said as if he was talking to someone, "Joseph, Kilo said that these Champions are regenerating everytime I damage it. Hey, that artifact that we got from Ikora, wasn't there anti… uh, anti-whateveryoucallit, shit i don't know… we should play around with these modifications see which Champion is weak against." Echo said. The sound of a Thundercrash is heard as a loud explosion with the addition of a Vex shutting down.
Then the sound of Echo dusting off his hands is heard, "alright that should do it." he said, "Verik said that he and his Fireteam are heading to Michael's Bar, oh with the addition of Taro and Shiro. Jarachi, Riley and I plan on visiting them, hey, you should join and bring Lillie! I want a rematch! damn, how can a human gal like her have such a high intake of alcohol it's nuts… and I'm an Exo! Hah! I'll see you there brother," the audio log ends as everyone has a bit of a better understanding of an Overload Champion.
"Is Echo Joseph's brother?" asked Fitoria
Joseph suddenly appears in the Ward, he begins to reload all of his weapons, "damn, Overloads." Joseph said.
Filo calls his name but Joseph was busy murmuring to himself and charging back towards the army of Vex.
"Uh… sorry about him, he's a little too focused." Xeno said. "But in a sense, the two are like brothers, but not by blood." Xeno explains.
"I am confused, please elaborate," said Fitoria
Naofumi cuts off Xeno before he could speak, "what Xeno means is that Echo and Joseph are very good friends" Naofumi said
Xeno continues Naofumi's sentence, "and despite being in different Fireteams, Echo was one of the first few Guardians who befriended Joseph after the incident of the Hellmouth and Crota…" Xeno said, "it was a dark moment that time for Joseph even before the Prison of Elders incident, and Echo? He just drunkenly stumbled upon Joseph and talked to him for literally 10 hours, next he drank so much he threw up off the edge of the Tower which made Joseph chuckle then to laughter." Xeno said.
"I see…" said Fitoria. She watches Joseph as he guns down another group of Vex with his Xenophage
Joseph finishes the last Overload Minotaur with a drop kick, quickly getting up, he surveys the surrounding area. Another Vex cloud appears.
"It's the Gate Lord!" Xeno yelled, "Joseph! Take it down but keep its head alive! We'll need the eye!" He said.
"Alright." Joseph said. Joseph readies himself, he begins to run towards the Vex cloud as the moss covered Gate Lord appears.
Joseph slides to dodge a Hobgoblin's shot and throws a sentinel shield at a Minotaur ricocheting to nearby Harpies and Goblins. As he gets close to the Gate Lord, Joseph makes a barricade to protect himself from the Gate Lords stomp. Joseph looks behind him to see an advancing headless minotaur. Joseph rolls towards the minotaur and jumps to the Minotaur's shoulder, using it as a spring, he jumps up and turns to the Gate Lord and proceeds to Blade barrage the Gate Lord but as his second wave of knives begin to attach on to the Gate Lord a protective barrier begins to surround the Gate Lord and two Barrier Hobgoblin begin to spawn in.
"Shit!" Joseph said. He dodges backwards, going invisible and heads to cover. Joseph reloads his rifle and hand cannon, swapping his Xenophage for his Deathbringer, "Xeno, this Gate Lord is using the Barrier Hobgoblins to protect it, i'm pinned down. Is the Bubble still there?" asked Joseph
"Yes, but I don't think it will last long." Xeno replied.
"Alright, I think the Gate Lord is half way done, got a good hit from my first flurry of Blades. I need Naofumi to draw its attention and then once he gets the Vex's attention, run out of the bubble in the opposite direction and get behind a tree, this might be enough to take out those Champions." Joseph said
"Alright." Xeno said he turned to Naofumi and asked him, "can you do that Naofumi?"
"Yeah." he said, he raises his shield up to his chest and says, "change shield!" His shield then changes into a voidless Sentinel Shield, "Raphtalia, get everyone behind those tree's so no one can get hurt." he said.
"But what about you Master?" asks Filo,
"I'll be fine, Joseph knows what he's doing, I think" he says with a bit of uncertainty.
"Hey…" Xeno said. He turns to Filo and Raphtalia, "you shouldn't worry, Joseph and I know a thing or two when batting the Vex, Joseph will keep Naofumi safe." Xeno assured.
"Okay, be safe Naofumi! You too Xeno!" said Raphtalia, the four then tuns out of the bubble hiding from the Vex.
"Naofumi," said Xeno, "touch the ward again to gain Void Light energy. You're not a Guardian but it seems that shield of yours can consume elemental light and use it for your shield." he said. "Once you consume the Ward, use that void light to throw a shield at the Hobgoblin who are shooting Joseph, once you grab their attention, shield yourself, until Joseph clears out those Hobgoblins." he said
"Okay," he said.
Joseph notices that the Vex weren't shooting him, he peeks out of cover and notices Naofumi protecting himself with a void field emitting from his shield. "Nice going you two," he said, Joseph shoots his Deathbringer in the sky as it splits slowly falling down onto the Barrier Hobgoblins. He hurdles out of cover and begins to push forward, he draws Ace and begins to shoot the Barrier Hobgoblins barrier. When they were stunned Joseph notices Naofumi throwing a void shield towards the Vex, Joseph notices and follows up on Naofumi's attack with a Shadowshot towards the Gate Lord.
The tether snares eight surrounding Vex and when the Void Shield begins to hit the tethered Vex and a mass amount of void explosion decimates the surrounding Vex and severely damages the Gate Lord. Joseph draws his Dawnblade and glides to the Gate Lords head and beheads the Gate Lord. Joseph throws the Gate Lord's head towards Xeno and Naofumi's direction and finishes off the Gate Lord by plunging his sword to the ground, killing the Gate Lord and making a Well of Radiance.
Joseph was still kneeling down, still holding onto the handle of his sword. He breathes heavily relieved the battle is over. "Hah… whew… heh, just like in Venus…" he said between breaths. He looks around to see the remaining Vex retreating back to the Black Garden. Joseph stands up and sees everyone running to him, he pulls the sword out of the ground and dissipates his sword. "We're clear!" Joseph said.
Xeno goes up to Joseph, excited by the fact they were able to drive off the Vex and also get the head of the Gate Lord. "Good job Joseph!" he said
Joseph nods and walks to the Gate Lords head and remembers something…
Back in the Centaur Nessus, during the Red War, Joseph travels through the Pools of Luminance as he, Xeno and Failsafe try to get Cayde-6 out of the Vex teleporter.
Joseph jumps from rock to rock to avoid getting hurt from the white-static liquid known as Radiolaria.
Joseph curses as he almost slipped into the Radiolaria but mantled onto a stable platform.
"Ew. This looks like the stuff inside the Vex." said Xeno
Failsafe begins to speak in her cheery self, "It's called Radiolaria. You know, mind fluid!"
Joseph looks back at the stream of Radiolaria below him, "didn't Ikora say something about the Vex?" he said
"Yeah," said Xeno,
Joseph now looks at the Gate Lords eye as Naofumi and the rest watches him and Xeno scanning the head, "Ikora said that Radiolaria is an organic component" Joseph said out in the blue.
"Radiolaria?" said Melty
"The white liquid in the center mass of the vex." Joseph explained, "how can Radiolaria simply just form Vex?" Joseph crosses his arms, using his left hand to hold his chin, using his finger and thumb. Joseph begins to mumble, "Maybe Lillie and Ikora and Lillie- no, mabe Asher knows anything about this… despite being like a crazed-cranky grandfather you haven't seen in a while" he chuckled.
"Joseph?" said Raphtalia, confused with Joseph as with everyone else.
Joseph snaps out of focus and looks at them, "ah, sorry. Vex are confusing beings, they are metallic yet organic, not made by man or being but birthed by that white liquid. All are connected to one another, controlled by an Axis Mind, and their goal? I honestly don't know…" Joseph said
"Their purpose is unknown?" asked Naofumi
"To what I see, yes." said Joseph
"Got it! I got the location!" said Xeno
"Nicely going Xeno." Joseph praised, "right, so, I know we should go after the oracle, but let's take a break. Non-stop fighting recently feels like we deserve a damn break." Joseph said
"Sounds good." said Naofumi, "but are you sure just leaving that Oracle out there?" asked Naofumi
"So long it's not like the ones in the Vault of Glass, then we're good." Joseph said.
"What is the Vault of Glass?" asked Melty
Everyone stares at Joseph, he looks towards the ground. They all sense that Joseph didn't want to say any more.
Xeno turns to Joseph with concern, "Joseph…" said Xeno, "you sure?" he asked.
Joseph crossed his arm as he thought, "not even a year I was resurrected as a Guardian when I was still a Hunter, Blake gathered a team, including me, to head into Venus. It was me, my Warlock buddy Blake, Unknown, who was an Exo Hunter, Holden-8, an Exo Titan, Caine, a Hunter, and Taro-8, a Exo Titan." Joseph said
Xeno then continued where Joseph left off, "We were tasked to stop the Vex from using the timeless realm as a testing ground for their main goal, convergence. Joseph and Blake's team were able to defeat Atheon, Time Conflux, the Axis Mind in the Vault of Glass but it forever changed team Noble Six, Unknown, Caine and Holden." Xeno said. "Whatever happened in that Vault changed their demeanor from cheerful and fool-hardy to…"
"Edgy and paranoid." Joseph continued. "When the Red War happened, their signals went offline, that fireteam doesn't die easily, so I refuse that they are dead." Joseph said.
"Do you think they saw something in the Vault? You know, to make them act the way they do?" asked Naofumi.
"I don't know… one thing for sure, those three were blinded by the void so.. Maybe that somehow…" Joseph began to think deeply, his eyes squinted, much more serious than ever.
"Joseph?" said Xeno
Silence, Joseph continues to be in a deep thought.
"Hey hey hey! Don't tap out man!" Joseph said as he drags Unknown towards the pool of light down the center stairs of the Templar's Well.
"Get him in there!" Said Caine who is lying down in the well,
"Fuck, you three got hit hard by those juiced up Vex, the hell were those things?!" Said Joseph,
Unknown is still silent,
A Hobgoblin shot his leg, having him fall to the ground as a large group of Fanatics approached him, Caine and Holden tried to cover him but they ran through the pools spilled from the dead Fanatics causing them to be marked.
Joseph throws himself and Unknown into the pool of light as they were cleansed from being marked.
"Joseph!"
Joseph snaps out of his deep thought, as he sees Xeno calling him, "Oh, sorry, just uh- remembering… it all started when those Vault of Glass Fanatic negation pools hit those three… something must've happened to them… but what…" Joseph sighs, still lost in that question, "nothing to do about it now, I just hope that Fireteam Noble 6 is alright, since their offline status when the Tower fell, it's been pretty worrisome." Joseph walks to the Gate Lord's head, "since we're done with this thing," Joseph grips onto the Gate Lord's eye and crushes it with arc light. "Alright. Whew! What. !" Joseph said.
Raphtalia nods, "Yeah, it was a pretty eventful morning, first Filo's fight then her announcement as the Filolial Queen, breakfast and those Vex invading, I'd say we should celebrate Filo being the Filolial Queen." she said
Melty eyes sparkled, "yes we should! Let's go see the Filolials Filo!" she said as she grabbed onto Filo's arm and they ran to the Filolials.
Joseph and the rest began to walk, following them, leaving behind the scattered remnants of Vex corpses, some still sizzling solar, arc and void light.
A Vex Invasion, wow, I can't believe I'm this far into the story and I finally added the Minions of the Darkness in the realm of the Shield Hero. Although, they are in a book so how does that work?
Was going to make this a bit longer with them partying and stuff, but since it's already quite long, I decided that the party shall be its own chapter instead. After all, this chapter IS called Vex, so it'd be pretty out of theme if there's a party during this chapter.
For clarification, Champions in actual lore in Destiny do not exist, they are only a difficulty bump in gameplay wise. The Artifact as well, should not possess these modifications lorewise, just gameplay mechanics n' stuff. But I wanted to add them into the story to add that line of gameplay and lore together but trying not to be too crazy about it, but there will be times I will go crazy.
The Reflective Essay you read previously does not intertwine with the story, just something I wanted to share. One of my prideful works I'll be honest, could be some tuning but one of my best. Shit, I think this is what carried my B to an A hah, and I ain't no star student, fuck that. But something to say "hell yeah, I did it."
The Lost Light in Teyvat is finally out, if you want to check it out feel free, though it is a Genshin/Destiny crossover so, be warned for that. Though remember, I write stories that I feel interested in, any recommendations seem interesting, I'd give it a shot and visualize and draft. But this also means that my stories are not quite in chronological order so keep that in mind please.
As I am in the near end of this… what would you call this? "Author's Notes?" hm, welp, since I am in the near end, I just saw a review "Your story is bad and you should feel bad too."
To be clear, my story is bad, but I don't feel bad. I do this for fun, as a hobby. Wanna know what people should feel bad about? Dead Man's Tale with Mouse and Keyboard and Main Ingredient. Those who know will get what I am saying, heh, easy three taps and a godly laser of a Fusion Rifle. Anyhow, simple insults don't affect me guys, c'mon, be creative with those insults cause this one really makes me yawn. But with that out of the way, if you're here to insult me at least back it up. Spelling? Grammar? Plot? Lore? There are things you can discuss about instead of saying "story bad" like a crayon eating Titan would and nothing against them, but there was this one time a Titan main said he loves eating purple crayons and everyone in the Fireteam went political about which color is best color. I shall say again, those who know will get what I'm saying.
Anyhow, Imma dip, these Vow of the Disciple runs won't complete on themselves
Have a good morning, day or night, wherever you guys live
