30 minutes ago…
Hidden within the barren, rocky landscape of the Capital Wasteland, laid Imperial probe droid VP-138. Like all probe droids, VP-138 had a cylindrical chassis, on top of which was a flat, similarly cylindrical domed head surrounded with cameras, giving it 360 degree vision, as well as a series of mechanical arms extending downwards from its central pod. Using its repulsor lifts to hover just above the ground and hiding within the rugged terrain for cover, the spy droid focused its cameras on the Super Mutant encampment surrounding the Temple of Order.
VP-138 had a simple task. It was to monitor the encampment, and alert Imperial Command of any developments. VP had held this pattern for several months, and today it observed the usual habit of super mutants. Bored mutants loitered about the various trenches, waiting for something to happen as the larger specimens continued to work within the temple. The only thing of note that occurred was a small fist fight between mutants over a piece of unidentifiable meat.
The monotony of VP's observations continued as normal, until a rocking explosion destroyed a section of the super mutants' outer perimeter. One of VP's lenses immediately focused on the strike zone, while other cameras and sensors began scanning the local air space.
An aircraft was detected, one that fit the profile that the unknown insurgent group would utilize. As the dropship lowered and began to deploy its payload of soldiers, VP immediately sent a priority message to Imperial Command, livestreaming the attack.
As soon as the first Imperial Intelligence Officer saw VP-138's message and opened it up, all of Imperial Command was sent into a flurry of activity. Through the well oiled machine that was Imperial Intelligence, a datapad with the footage was handed to Grand Admiral Thrawn within a minute. And a minute after that, Thrawn had assembled together an elite strike team. Wearing his own specialized white Imperial Officer Armor stood in front of his squad consisting of 4 Shadow Stormtroopers, 4 Skulls Parasite Units, 4 Dark Jedi, and Kai Leng himself, sporting a savage smile.
"Gentlemen. Ladies." Thrawn started with his calm, cold voice. "Prepare for teleportation. We're going for a hunt."
Standing atop Forerunner teleportation platform, a green doorway opened up that Thrawn and his team walked through. The teleportation grid used by the Forerunners was barely understood by both the Covenant and the Imperials. It took large amounts of power to use, and was prone to shutting down. The last time they used it, when Skull Face had to recall himself, Kai Leng, and Tartarus, the teleporter was inoperable for days. No doubt something similar would happen here, but it was well worth it in order to strike at the head of these insurgents.
They immediately teleported several hundred miles from the very Southern tip of the Final Destination, where the Citadel of Chaos was located, to its near North Pole by the Temple of Order. Immediately taking cover once the teleportation was finished, Thrawn used his binoculars to survey the area. Standing over the smoking ruins of the battlefield, he saw the insurgents, haggard but still alive, standing over the bodies of two super mutant behemoths. He waited for them to enter the Temple before ordering his team forward. He had them wounded and cornered, he could see victory in sight.
Present time…
"Puppets!" Lileath spat, spraying a combination of spit and blood. Bring her hands close together over her chest, an orb of green light coalesced between her palms. "You will not win!"
The orb of verdant energy exploded outwards, the forces of Chaos entering defensive stances for whatever attack was coming. The pulse burst out, slightly staggering everyone in the room, but other than that there was no other apparent effect. Lileath's head then fell back and her arms went limp as she lost consciousness.
Whatever Lileath did, did not seem to take effect, so after a second of stunned silence the two opposing forces refocused on one another.
"Hmph. As expected of a weak fool of a goddess." Kai Leng scoffed as he activated his own lightsaber. Around him, the dark jedi all activated their own crimson blades as well.
As the Legion all raised their weapons, Shepard took a quick second and whispered to Galen, "What do you think our odds are?"
Galen grimaced at how outnumbered they were and whispered back, "We may be in trouble." before making the first move.
Knowing that Thrawn was the brains of the whole operation, Galen leapt right for the Admiral. Killing him first would both damage morale and weaken their tactical cohesion. But Thrawn knew this as well, and immediately withdrew as soon as Galen so much as twitched. By the time Galen reached their position, two Dark Jedi intercepted, a male one blocking Galen's strike while a female one counterattacked. Galen jumped back to avoid the slash, shooting out a burst of lightning from his fingers to keep the Sith from chasing him. Both warriors raised their lightsabers, absorbing the lighting with their crimson blades.
Meanwhile, with her power axe raised, Shepard stepped forward and walked towards her target, Kai Leng. "Your fancy lightsaber isn't going to save you this time." Shepard growled out as she prepared for their 4th rematch.
"A worm with a new weapon is a worm all the same." Leng hissed back.
Shepard smirked at how wrong Leng was. Focusing up her biotics, Shepard charged right for Leng, catapulting herself through the air.
"Predictable!" Leng snarled out as he stepped to the side, dodging the attack and swinging his lightsaber in return.
Swiftly, Shepard raised her power axe, blocking the lightsaber with the shaft of her weapon. Leng had expected his weapon to burn through the battleaxe and kill Shepard, but only found himself blinking in surprise as the axe remained undamaged by the plasma. Shepard made sure to commit Leng's dumbstruck face to memory as she then dropped low and swept Leng's legs out from underneath him.
Kai Leng fell backwards, landing supine on the ground as Shepard brought the power axe down right for his head. Before she could complete the execution stroke, Leng channeled the Force and sent Shepard flying backwards. Kipping himself up, Leng was now treating the axe with the proper caution and fear it deserved.
Using his telekinesis, Leng tried to rip the axe from Shepard's hands. However, the spectre's cybernetically enhanced strength gave her a literal iron grip on the weapon, keeping her from losing it. Both Leng and Shepard were now straining as they fought for control over the axe, Leng's telekinetic willpower and Shepard's raw physical strength fighting to overpower the other.
As they pulled against each other, a small idea whispered itself in Shepard's mind. It was an old judo adage she learned back in basic, pull when pushed, and push when pulled. So rather than continuing the tug of war, Shepard leapt forward, combining the force of her powerful legs and biotics along with Leng's own telekinesis. Leng's eyes widened in surprise as Shepard rocketed towards him once more, this time far faster than before. Before he could even react, Leng found himself flying across the battlefield as Shepard's iron fist connected with his jaw.
As the two rivals met in battle once more, Pyrrha was fighting for her life as two of the Dark Jedi went after her. Having already put away Miló and Akoúo̱, Pyrrha held her own red lightsaber with one hand, the handle by her face and blade parallel to the ground. The dark jedi moved first, knowing they had the advantage. As one, the dark jedi launched a flurry of rapid fire strikes. While one would attack high the other would attack low, synergistically working together to completely overwhelm the huntress.
But Pyrrha was not the same fighter she was the first time she fought a dark jedi in the Archives. Lightsaber twirling in her hands, Pyrrha's movements became extremely efficient, narrowly dodging and parrying attacks, the lightsaber did not stop moving as she created an area of near total protection around her. This was the lightsaber form III, Soresu, as taught to her by Galen. It allowed her to continuously back pedal, protecting herself from any damage as the dark jedi continued their assault. While she was able to protect herself, constantly playing defense prevented her from counter attacking.
Seeing they would not break through her defenses through bladework alone, one of the Sith jumped to the side, crackling electricity in his palms before launching a burst of lighting at her. Pyrrha wanted to block it with her lightsaber, but the Sith in front of her crossed blades with her, locking her lightsaber up.
So instead, Pyrrha quickly focused her semblance, and used the technique she developed during the battle of the Archive and perfected in training with Galen. Using her semblance, Pyrrha created a magnetic field around her, which caused the lighting to deflect and bounce off of her, some of which actually struck the Sith in front of her. She called this move her EM Shield, and was specifically developed for stopping the Sith's lighting abilities.
The Sith calling upon the lighting quickly stopped his attack as he saw that it was not only ineffective, but detrimental to his ally. At the same time the Sith engaged in melee with Pyrrha retreated, licking his wounds and glaring at his ally, but still fine and more than combat ready.
Concurrently, the four Skulls, now armed with stormtrooper E-11 blaster rifles instead of conventional Earth assault rifles, opened fire on Six and Wynne. As Wynne dove behind the nearest cover, rocking her old bones, Six charged right for the closest Skull. The two seven foot tall superhumans collided, but Six both the heavier and the stronger of the two. Like a football player, Six tackled the Skull and forced him backwards. The Skull could do nothing as Six forced him back through the double doors that led to the temple, sending them back to the gore filled entrance where the super mutants had built their encampment.
Taking full advantage of his momentum, Six then lifted the Skull into the air and slammed him onto the stone ground. The rock cracked beneath the parasite, as Six then raised his boot up and brought it down onto the Skull's torso. While the full power curbstomp of a Spartan super soldier would've killed even a Skull, the parasite unit's body solidified with the armored archaea. Six's boot crunched on the Skull's torso, cracking the stone and obviously wounding the creature, but not killing it.
As Six raised his foot again to permanently put down the parasite, an explosion of earth, fire, and metal hit him from behind as the other Skulls had caught up and launched an archaea boulder at him. Six was blasted forward, forcing him to dive and roll with the momentum to quickly stand. The explosion ripped through his shields, and two Skulls moved to capitalize. Dashing in front of Six with speeds that made them look like they were teleporting, the Skulls jumped and brought their machetes down on him.
Six knew that the Corrosive Archaea on the blades would even be able to cut through his Mjolnir armor, so he opted to take a page out of the book of Big Boss. Using CQC, Six stepped towards one of the Skulls, cutting the distance while parrying the wrist wielding the machete. Stopping the attack, he then quickly struck the flat of the blade with his right hand, disarming the Skull, while simultaneously grabbing the free blade with his left.
As he did this however, the 2nd Skull that was attacking him was mere seconds away from driving its own machete into Six's back. Just before the blade made contact, the Skull was blasted backwards by a white-blue explosion, as Six's distraction allowed Wynne to move out of cover and support him. Machete now in hand, Six impaled the Skull in front of him, the Corrosive Archaea burning through the Skull's Metallic Archaea armor. The Machete went right through the Skull's throat, which would've been a killing blow on anything less resilient than a Skull. Drawing his gravity hammer, Six then slammed the head into the Skull, still stunned by the blade in its neck. The resulting explosion shattered the armor, then the body of the Skull, sending chunks of gore flying like confetti.
Wynne continued to launch arcane bolts at the Skull she blasted off of Six, but this time the Skull was ready for her. Rapidly dashing from point to point, the Skull was far too fast for Wynne to reliably hit and dodged all of her attacks. Six moved to intercept, but the 4th and final Skull arrived and was now pelting him with blaster bolts. Six was forced to retreat and take cover while the first Skull he body slammed on the ground also stood and began suppressing him. With Six forced back, Wynne was helpless in melee against the Skull that was coming after her. With a slash of its machete it tore through Wynne's kinetic barriers and reinforced robes, leaving a long gash along her entire torso and sending her flying backwards, unceremoniously landing on the ground, bleeding and unconscious.
While Six and Wynne continued their battle against the Skulls, Sarah was having her own mismatch against the 4 Shadow Stormtroopers. Outnumbered, the shadow troopers, with their far superior mobility, ran circles around her, pelting her with repeated blaster bolts. Everytime, Sarah would get hit, she'd turn her gatling laser and open fire, only for the specific trooper to vanish with its stealth generator and retreat, while the other shadow troopers attack from other vantage points. While her Kinetic barriers would slow the blaster bolts down and her armor protected her from the follow up heat from the plasma, allowing her to tank much of the damage, she didn't have the skillset and equipment to take down her opponents. If she didn't get help soon, they were going to whittle her down through attrition alone.
The male dark jedi ran straight for Galen, attacking him from the front. As the two crossed blades, the female attempted to strike Starkiller from behind while he was preoccupied. Sensing the threat behind him, Six then grabbed the Jedi in front of him and rolled back into a sacrifice throw, flinging the Dark Jedi behind him. The woman attacking from behind had to spin and sidestep, dodging her colleague's body. As she evaded her ally, a slight turn of the head to watch her teammate fly by was all Galen needed to then run her through with his lightsaber.
As the dark jedi turned to Galen, her face contorted from shock, then anger, then fear, then nothing as she went limp. Withdrawing his lightsaber, Galen moved to finish off the male dark jedi he had thrown previously, when he was blasted by a familiar beam of crackling orange-red energy. Thrawn, revealing himself from his cover, was once again holding the Staff of Ragnos, and used the ancient Sith artifact to drain Galen of most of his Force energy. Galen collapsed to the ground almost immediately, his body immediately succumbing to extreme exhaustion.
Out of the corner of her eye, Shepard saw Starkiller fall to the ground, distracting her for a brief moment. A single moment of distraction that Kai Leng leapt on. His lightsaber thrusting forward, Shepard felt her skin blister and hiss as the blade of plasma singed her armor. Her kinetic barriers and the armor itself held, but it still hurt like Hell.
Shepard began counting Pi in her head, creating distracting thoughts to mask her next move. The diversion worked as Leng was unable to deflect a biotic throw that flung him backwards once more. Having a few seconds before Leng would return, Shepard spun and faced the Dark Jedi Galen was fighting, gripping her power axe with both hands. Lifting the axe high above her head, Shepard stepped forward and threw the axe with all her might.
Flying forward, the power axe spun like a buzzsaw. Sensing danger, the Dark Jedi turned and saw the weapon coming right for him. Having never seen a power axe before, the Dark Jedi raised his lightsaber up, ready to block the attack and presumably destroying the weapon. If it were any other weapon the Dark Jedi would've been right, but as the axe made contact with the plasma sword, it not only didn't disintegrate, but the sheer mass of it forced its way passed the lightsaber and into the jedi's chest.
The Dark Jedi barely had time to look surprised before the power axe embedded itself in his torso, killing him instantaneously. Before his body even hit the floor, Shepard was already by his corpse and ripped her axe free before moving to Galen. Without missing a beat Shepard scooped Starkiller off the ground and threw him over her shoulder, intent on getting him to safety.
As she began to withdraw however, the area around her began to glow with orange energy, before a massive explosion blasted her away. Her body ragdolled through the air before slamming against a wall and dropping to the ground. Her vision now blurred, Shepard could only groan as she barely made out the figure of Thrawn staring at her, having used the staff once more. Shepard's head then hit the ground as she fell unconscious.
As the Legion of the Damned continued to drop like flies, Six stood over Wynne's barely moving form, shielding her from the Skulls. Crossing both his arms, Six took blaster bolt after blaster bolt as he kept the Skulls from attacking his friend. Wynne's eyes barely fluttered open, straining as she reached for her staff. Lightly gripping it, Wynne was able to cast a minor healing spell, healing the worst of the damage, but she was still far from able to rejoin the fight.
Sensing weakness, one of the Skulls dashed for Wynne once more, hoping Six was too distracted by the blaster fire to stop him. Moving behind Six, the Skull thrust his machete towards the injured mage. Before the blade reached its mark however, Six's hand shot out and gripped the Skull's wrist with vice-like strength. The Skull's face snapped to Six, only to find Six's other hand grabbing onto its throat.
The Skull thrashed and kicked, swinging its fist wildly as it tried to break free of Six's grasp. But despite the Skull's imposing size, it could not escape. Six was not going to let the creature go. Then Six began to pull. Yanking the Skull's sword arm to Six's left, and the Skull's head to the right, the Spartan-III began to literally rip the Skull in half. Like a wishbone, the Skull was torn vertically, from shoulder to groin, bones, guts, and other pieces of meat fell to the ground below him.
With two dead and two to go, Six turned and faced the remaining Skulls. He could feel the burns piling up beneath his armor, with the wounds on his undersuit leaking blood. But he was a Spartan, he could ignore such pain and keep fighting. The last two Skulls paused their assault as they examined the violence Six just committed against their fellow. While they were unthinking, puppet soldiers, even they had to give pause after witnessing one of their comrades being torn in half.
As Six took one step forward, the Skull to his right was suddenly tackled from behind as the power armored Sarah Lyons, armor burned and leaking blood, jumped onto the Skull and brought it to the ground.
"Six! Tag out!" Sarah called as she grabbed the Skull with both her mechanical hands.
Seeing the Shadow Troopers giving chase to Sarah, firing shots that slammed into her back, Six nodded and swapped foes with the Sentinel. The Skull violently flailed, trying to buck Sarah off of him, his Corrosive Archaea starting to burn its way into Sarah's power armor, rusting it over a matter of seconds. Sarah knew she had to be quick, lest her armor be completely destroyed. Activating her semblance Bonds of Steel, Sarah's body was covered with organic metal, drastically increasing her physical strength. The Skull's thrashing beneath was cut short as she dug her thumbs into the Skull's eyeballs and crushed its head between her palms like an overly ripe fruit.
As Sarah reverted from her steel form, the final Skul leapt at her, striking with a speed and ferocity she couldn't stop. The Skull's machete sunk into Sarah's shoulder, slowed by her armor and aura, but digging through nonetheless. Ignoring the wound, Sarah grabbed onto the Skull's arms and used her weight to bring both of them to the ground, starting a grapple with both fighters fighting for control.
While Sarah handled the Skulls, Six shifted his focus onto the Shadow Troopers, who vanished thanks to their cloaking devices. But it seemed that they didn't know the capabilities of Six's Mjolnir armor as pings on his motion tracker allowed Six to keep track of their general location. This combined with his superhuman senses and years of experience fighting cloaked elites and brutes, the Shadow Troopers couldn't hide from him.
With a swing of his gravity hammer, the sound of the artificial gravity exploding mixed with a short lived scream as a shadow trooper exploded from the impact. His allies, seeing that their stealth field generators were now useless, all apparated and unloaded into Six, hoping to put him down with overwhelming fire. As they did, Six immediately brought his fist to the ground and activated his armor lock.
The blaster bolts pinged harmlessly off of Six's armor as he maintained the lock. The Shadow Troopers, realizing the futility of their actions, stopped firing and instead aimed down their sights and waited for the armor lock to finish. Six knew they were waiting as well, and tensed his right leg within the immobile armor. Six was pinned and he knew it, and as soon as the armor lock dropped, it was going to be a race of reflexes to see if they could shoot him first or if Six could get out of the way.
As soon as the Armor Lock dropped, Six moved to dive but found himself unable. His body was stopped by a telekinetic force. Eyes darting around, he was able to spot Kai Leng standing by one of the Shadow Troopers, hand extended, using the Force to hold Six in place.
"Do it." Kai Leng growled out.
At his orders, the Shadow Troopers put blaster bolt after blaster bolt into Six, repeated shots his burning through his armor and into his flesh.
Shepard found herself barely able to open her eyes as she came to consciousness. Both her eyes and her body felt heavy. Commands sent by her brain to move her limbs only returned feelings of pain and agony.
Slowly tilting her head to the side, she saw that Galen was still unconscious next to her, having been the most affected by the Staff of Ragnos. As she heard the telltale sound of lightsabers clashing, she slowly turned her head once more and saw Pyrrha retreating from two Dark Jedi. Her arms and legs were covered in burns that seared through her ballistic mesh undersuit. She was hurt and Shepard could tell, her mobility extremely limited as the two jedi circled her like vultures.
Beyond Pyrrha, Shepard could see Six on the ground. Body smouldering from blaster bolts, his Mjolnir armor now sporting multiple blackened holes, Six was unmoving as Kai Leng stood above him. A quick check of Six's vitals said he was alive, but just barely. She couldn't see Sarah or Wynne, but the fact that they weren't there helping did not bode well for their status.
"It is quite an inglorious end, is it not?" A cold, hushed voice spoke above her.
Shepard cranked her neck upwards and saw Grand Admiral Thrawn, standing above both her and Galen is his ever stoic and composed posture.
Thrawn continued. "You have all done well in avoiding capture for this long, but it seems that the chase has finally come to an end."
Sending a weak glare at Thrawn, Shepard could only ask, "Why haven't you killed us already?" It was a fair question. Her, Galen, and Six were all at the mercy of the Imperials. A single stroke of a knife would remove the largest obstacles the Empire has.
"That would be one way to end this story, yes." Thrawn acknowledged. "But you and your fellows have proven yourselves to be beyond mere rebels and insurgents. Beyond many within our motley coalition as well. Killing you all would be a waste. It would be far more beneficial for us to take you in and have you join us. After all, what greater weapon is there than to turn an enemy to your cause?"
Shepard narrowed her eyes at Thrawn, having felt like she'd heard that last quote before. "It's funny that you think we'd join you." she spat out.
"It's funny that you think your compliance is a factor." he retorted. His speech was always that of barley above a whisper, but held strength and power nonetheless. Thrawn raised the butt of the Staff of Ragnos up, ready to bring it down on Shepard's head. "Now why don't you go back to sleep."
But before the knockout blow connected, Thrawn stopped as he began floating in the air, covered in some kind of white light.
"What?" Thrawn's surprise was evident even in his quiet voice.
Turning, Thrawn saw that the same glow now covered his allies, as Kai Leng, the Dark Jedi, and the Shadow Troopers were now floating as well. As the glow only seemed to affect the villains in this fight, Thrawn was able to quickly deduce what was happening. Only one person in this room had the power to affect all of them like this.
His suspicion was confirmed when he looked to the spot where the once-unconscious goddess Lileath lay, now awake and casting some sort of spell. Thrawn did not lose control of himself, giving into some base howling like Kai Leng did. He merely scowled and aimed the Staff of Ragnos at Lileath once again, this time intent on draining her completely, regardless of what their master needed her for.
But before Thrawn could drain her, Lielath's magic coalesced in her hands and exploded outwards as she cried, "Return to your foul master!"
And with a burst of light, the servants of Chaos found themselves blinded. When Thrawn gained his sight back, he found himself standing alongside Kai Leng and the surviving Dark Jedi, Shadow Troopers, and the last surviving Skull, back in the red deserts of Korriban.
While Kai Leng snarled and howled, cursing what just happened, Thrawn merely adopted an annoyed scowl. It seemed that they were rather far from the Citadel of Chaos, or any Imperial Base for that matter. Thrawn attempted to access the Forerunner teleportation grid, but found it was offline.
Sighing, Thrawn had to admit when an operation ended in failure, but at least took solace in the fact that it took the intervention of a literal god for the insurgents to escape his grasp.
Back in the Temple of Order, Shepard forced herself up as she slapped medi-gel onto the worst of her wounds. As the anesthetic took effect, Shepard did a quick check on Galen to make sure he was still breathing, before rushing to Lileath's side. The Goddess was barely awake, having expended the last of her magical energy to teleport Thrawn and his lackeys away.
"Shep-ard." Lileath wheezed out.
"Hey, I got you, I got you." The Commander gently cradled the head of the goddess.
"Shepard… find the Grail… find the others." Lileath closed her eyes once more, falling limp in Shepard's grasp.
Shepard immediately checked if she was still alive. To her relief, she was still breathing, but now in some sort of coma.
"Grail? Others? What the Hell are you talking about!?" Shepard had to shove down the urge to try and shake the frail, old woman awake. Sighing and shaking her head, Shepard decided she could figure out what she meant later. Now she needed to focus on getting everyone out. "Sound off! Who's not dead?" She yelled out.
"Shepard!" the familiar voice of Pyrrha called back as she was currently applying medi-gel to Six's wounds. "Six is down! He's alive but in bad shape."
Shepard grunted. "Wynne! You still alive?"
"Yes, yes, yes, stop yelling." Wynne's haggard voice called out as she entered the temple, arm draped over Sarah's shoulder. She had a nasty gash that ran across her chest that shredded her robes, but was sealed and no longer bleeding. Wynne knelt down next to Six and began casting a minor healing spell which stabilized Six, but she no longer had the energy to regenerate major wounds fully.
Pulling herself up, Shepard felt conflicting emotions of disappointment that they were so thoroughly defeated, but relief at having survived the battle. Ignoring whatever feelings were stirring beneath her, Shepard refocused on getting her team out of here.
Sheaprd called out over the comms, "T3, we need evac. LZ should be clear, just bring the pelican right to the entrance." T3 beeped in response as he redirected the Pelican for the Legionnaires as Shepard barked more orders out. "Sarah, you get Six. Pyrrha, move Galen. I'll get Lileath out."
The warriors complied with their orders, gingerly picking up their unconscious allies. Soon enough, T3 landed the pelican and the Legion flew back to Mother Base to lick their wounds and figure out their next step.
Back at Mother Base, the entirety of the Legion stood in grim silence within their briefing room. Shepard and her soldiers met up with Snake and the rest of Fireteam Fox, and any jubilation from taking out the Super Mutant Master and capturing Metal Gear Zeke was quickly dashed by the revelations they garnered in the Temple of Order. Lileath's unconscious body was placed upon a hospital bed, and was within the center of the Legion, never to be left alone. Meanwhile Six and Galen had regained consciousness by the time they returned to Mother Base, and despite their injuries, they did not want to be left out of the conversation.
"So… what now?" Sev's gruff voice spoke out first, his arms crossed and gaze fixed at the floor.
There was a lull as no one deigned to answer immediately. Taking a puff from his cigar, Snake soon stepped up to fill the void.
"Nothing's changed. We have our mission. Take out this Darth Nihilus, or whatever Amalgamation he is now. If we can save more souls from chaos, then it's our duty to do that." Snake's response was blunt and direct, but it's what the Legion needed now.
Sarah, sitting in a wooden chair wearing her recon armor, sat up to respond. "That's all well and good, but it doesn't change the fact that we are hilariously outgunned. Sure, we got a nuclear mech on our team now, but they still have an army and a demi-god, one that's in a lot better condition than ours." Sarah gestured to the comatose Lileath. "We couldn't even take down Thrawn and his goons. What are we supposed to do against a demi-god of Chaos?"
Silence once again reigned the conversation. Normally Sarah wouldn't be bringing such negativity, but their recent defeat brought morale to an all time low, and the insurmountable odds they faced were not helping.
"The amount of Force-users they have is giving them a staggering advantage as well." Thane spoke up. "Galen, would you be able to teach us the ways of the Force, in the same way the Empire taught Kai Leng and Skull Face?"
Galen shook his head. "Sorry but no. The Force… is not something that can just be taught. It's a gift you are born with. I don't know how the Empire is, gifting, the Force to its officers, but it is not natural, nor would it be easy to accomplish. If I had to guess, it would have to do with that staff Thrawn had, but I don't know what it is."
Brows furrowed, Pyrrha stood up with a look of renewed determination. "Then perhaps it is time to throw caution to the wind, and unlock everyone's aura."
Nodding her head, Shepard thought it was a good idea. "It would be a welcome power boost. If anything the last battle taught us that we can't just rely on Wynne to keep us in the fight."
Wynne agreed as well. "Yes, and the protective shield it gives would be a nice way to ensure I don't get gutted like a fish once more."
"Then we're in agreement." Snake spoke out. "As soon as possible, we'll start unlocking the aura's of everyone else. With luck, we unlock our semblances soon as well. Meanwhile, what do you know of this Grail, Shepard? And what others was she talking about as well?"
"All honesty, I know next to nothing." Shepard admitted. "Before Lileath clocked out, she said to find the Grail and the others. Nothing more. For the first one, only thing I could think of is the Holy Grail from Arthurian mythology. As for the others, maybe there are more people here than we thought? People who'd fight alongside us?"
"That's a lot of speculation." Sev grumbled. "But it's also the only thing we have to go on right now."
"We'll be hard pressed to go on scouting missions now, especially if we want to keep people with the Goddess at all times." Snake added on. "But like Sev said, we don't have much else to go on right now. So… once we're all rested up, we go on a quest to find any help, and to find the Holy Grail."
Shepard could only sigh and shake her head at the juxtaposition of how serious Snake was with how ridiculous the words coming out of his mouth were. She never thought she'd be missing the Reapers. At least they made sense.
Deep beneath the Forever Fall Forest…
A creature stirred within its burrow. The creature was known and feared for many millennia as the Grimm Wyvern. For much of that time, the Wyvern slept underneath the peak of Mount Glenn, waiting for the call of its mistress to feed once more. And when the call came, when the air itself was so suffused with fear and terror, the Wyvern awoke, spreading its wings and terror over the humans and mortals beneath. But the Wyvern made a mistake. At the behest of one of its mistress's minions, the Wyvern helped kill a specific human, when one of the damned Silver-eyed warriors blasted it with her powers.
That was the last thing the Wyvern remembered before waking up in a familiar Red Forest. Wounded from the Silver-eyed warrior's attack, the Wyvern began to both spawn lesser grimm to protect it, as well as dig out a large burrow for it to rest and recover. It continued to sleep here for who knows how long, continually spawning more and more grimm.
It was content with sleeping for as long as it needed, until it sensed something new. Something malicious and evil, a creature of terror that indeed reminded the Wyvern of its mistress. The presence was such a force of negative energy that the Wyvern was forced to awaken and confront its intruder.
Standing within its den, the Wyvern turned to face its intruder, and was thoroughly confused. It was a human sized creature, having a body made of some black material, and on its face was a bone white mask in the shape of a human skull, with two red squares beneath its eyes. If the Wyvern didn't know better, it would've thought it was looking at a human Grimm. Regardless, the Wyvern would not allow any trespass against it to go unpunished.
Stepping forward, the Wyvern growled at its intruder. But the man would not be intimidated. The being that was once Darth Nihilus would not be intimidated. The Grimm roared, howling at the intruder before lunging, gaping maw open to kill.
But, before the Wyvern could bite down on the newest creature, it froze. It strained underneath the telekinetic pressure of Darth Nihilus's Force. Nihilus simply tilted his head, curious at the monstrosity before him. He knew that this Wyvern could summon and control the lesser grimm. So to control the grimm, one simply had to control the Wyvern.
Reaching out with the Force, into the blackest part of the Dark Side, and he bent the Wyvern to his will. The Wyvern felt its mind being torn out, ripped apart and remade to be loyal to Nihilus. It was not unlike how its queen would ensure the loyalty of the stronger grimm. And so, when the Nihilus finally released the Wyvern from its grip, the Wyvern stared directly at him, snarling.
Nihilus slightly raised his head, as if to look down on the far larger creature. A simple gesture, and it conveyed a simple message. Obey. And so the Grimm Wyvern did just that, kneeling to its new master, and adding the hordes of grimm to the army of Chaos.
Back in the Capital Wasteland, during the Battle of the Temple of Order…
At the start of Chaos's attack upon the Temple of Order, the elven goddess Lileath released a powerful spell that seemed to have no immediate effect. This was simply because no one on either side of the battle was there to witness what was now occurring.
Across the Capital Wasteland, multiple pillars of light shone down, burning across the sky and throughout the post-apocalyptic ground. From one pillar, a pair of heavy, military issue boots walked forward. The owner wore dark green-grey camouflage fatigues, and various plates of metallic green armor over his torso, shoulders, and forearms.
The only part of his flesh that was visible was his dark skinned head, adorned with a neatly shaved mustache, and a tall, marine utility hat. In his hands was a fully loaded 8-gauge M90 Shotgun, and on his back was a large, blocky heavy weapon known as the W/AV M6 G Nonlinear Rifle, colloquially known as the Spartan Laser.
Pulling off his hat, Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson of the UNSC Marine Corps looked at the devastated cityscape around him and could only say, "What in the Sam Hell?"
A/N, 6/6/20: And with that, we have now reached what I would consider the end of Book 1, or the halfway point of this story. While I know it may have been cheesy to have the Legion saved by literal Deus Ex Machina, but when you have a god literally right next to you I feel like it's a fair time to use it. And with this we are also now getting to the 2nd wave of Legionnaires, the first of which is Sgt. Johnson from Halo! The roster will be continuing to expand over the next few chapters.
Review Responses:
Slim A Lour Prime: Now that's a name I haven't heard of in a long time lol.
FlyingTomato: Yeah it's going to be hard for them to dig themselves out of this.
Guest: Imma keep it real with you chief, I know next to nothing about Monster Hunter. I played one of the games back on the PSP, but I am ignorant of the lore and characters, sorry.
And with that I hope you all continue to stay safe, healthy, and I'll see you in the next one.