The soft and oddly calming sensation of exhaust fans spooled down and cooled down the exposed ebony coloured skin of the Sangheili warrior. Aethos growled in discomfort as the cold breath continued to splash upon his body; not only did it remind him of how vulnerable he was to any forms of small arms fire but also to the simple fact that he started to feel cold. Space was a cold location, and wearing nothing but a loincloth did not assist the warmth that slowly escaped his own muscular body. The cold even started to affect his grip on the crimson encase plasma firearm in his right tight talons, but with simple determination and will to survive the elite managed to move forward slowly whilst holding his weapon in violent anticipation.
Suddenly two skinny Kig-Yar scouts walked around the side of the corridor quickly, their own sharpened talons tapping against the floor like bone on metal as they squawked loudly in anticipation and want to hunt down their own prey. As Aethos continued to watch from a safe distance, noticing the bird like covenant creatures held carbines in their scrawny and feathery arms, he attempted to recognise if these Jackals would attempt to slaughter him. After the betrayal of the brute minor, he was unsure over any species to trust maybe save for his own.
Then aggressively, the scrawny cretins screeched out in anger at something to his right; raising their carbine rifles and firing a volley of superheated and sharpened energy shards to circle the artificial gravity of the ship and slam into another Sangheili. This elite had managed to find his own armour, only for the energy shields to malfunction on him and the heavy bolts of sharpened energy to blast its skull to pieces.
Aethos roared out in fury at the loss of his brother, jumping up in complete devotion and lack of self-care as he fired an overwhelming barrage of blood shaded plasma goblets that streaked through the surprisingly hardened skin of the jackals. Screeches of pain erupted out of both Kig-Yar scouts as they felt their skin bubble and boil due to the superheated plasma, one of the bird like creatures literally losing his arm as the energy acidically melted his shoulder into flesh encased liquid.
Within seconds the murderous Jackals had fallen down to the ground whilst gasping out in pain due to the overindulgence of superheated crimson coated plasma; allowing the Sangheili to push forward and travel another set of corridors whilst hiding in the shadows in order to conceal himself from the enemy.
Aethos breathed in slowly as he heard another volley of spikes thunder against exposed flesh, the cruel laugh of a Brute warrior and the stifled resigned grunt of the dying Sangheili; rage started to occupy his mind as he heard the monstrosities murder another vulnerable elite without mercy or even honour, but the elite knew that he could not survive this assault without his armour, shielding and weaponry.
The ebony coloured creature slowly traversed the corridor nervously, standing against the wall whilst moving in order to hide himself and prolong his own survival. The large purple carbine rifle could now be seen in his grip, heavily encumbering his arms as he travelled down the purple floor whilst inspecting blue luminous blood that had splattered against the wall. With thoughtful insight, the exposed warrior had abandoned the stolen and almost depleted crimson plasma rifle for the more accurate and deadly green emitting precision rifle.
Suddenly a short volley of sharpened spikes smashed against the wall almost directly in front of him; bring Aethos to attention over the large burly Jiralhanae warrior that was firing straight down at the corpse of an Unggoy minor. The Sangheili growled slowly in anger, the lowly slaughter of such an inferior race seemed to be even dishonourable to a creature that had survived due to hiding under a bunk.
"Filthy elite scum!" The brute roared out in rage as it looked up, sniffing its heavy nostrils in order to locate the hiding Sangheili over the dimly lit red eyes that could barely perceive fragments of light especially in this dark corridor. The spiker wielding Jiralhanae growled aggressively as the scent of elite filled its nostrils, one large flow of saliva spilling out between its two tusks as it stepped forward in hopes to find the elusive Sangheili warrior.
"Reveal yourself heretic!" The minor drawled out in rage and simple knowledge that he could not find the hidden elite; a limited amount of light barely allowing it to even perceive the difference between empty space and solid purple reinforced walls. Despite the lack of vision however, the brute still represented a great and defying threat that would no doubt slaughter Aethos if the elite was found by the violent ape like alien.
The Sangheili didn't make a noise, slowly crouching down and attempting to leave the brute to its own ineptitude or even to sneak around and smash it across its twin vertebrae in order to kill it with one simple punch or kick to the back. However as the brute hunted its target down, Aethos could tell that he was required to make the first move and possibly aim for a facial shot that would slaughter this assaulting murderer.
And so he fired quickly and decisively, allowing his purple rifle to unleash three green superheated shards of energy to impact in his approximate estimation of the brute's skull. Unfortunately his own eyesight of the dark corridor wasn't much better than the minor's, causing his rounds to miss and only scrape a small rip into the brute's neck. However due to the sudden flash of light, the brute gained insight to the elite's immediate location and acted upon it violently with one thrust down with its spiker firearm.
The piercing screech of sharpened metal slicing into a softer material quickly filled the entire corridor, letting both attackers know that the spiker pistol had been cut down and was currently embed halfway through the carbine's side. Aethos attempted to rip his own precision weapon away quickly but only managed to tug the brute forward so it could punch the Sangheili and attempt to physically kill it.
A grunt of pain quickly erupted out of the unarmoured creature as it smashed against the ground without mercy, the brute attempting to rip it limb from limb with animalistic enragement. Aethos roared out in fury as two quick punches winded his lungs, then in retort he swiftly kneed forward and impacted against the hairy chest of the brute; snapping two of its many ribs with one violent smash.
As Aethos continued to snap his knee upwards and smash the inner bones of the Jiralhanae, he could hear numerous boots smashing against the floor and getting closer and closer; the Sangheili realised that his time was limited and thus he would need to dispatch of this enemy swiftly and with minimal attracting noise. But that would prove harder than originally thought out as the elite saw the brute continuously smashing down with its fist; only aggravating by the broken ribs and even lowering its barbaric maw to bite the Sangheili's face violently.
Suddenly a blue cackling symmetrical blade of purified energy descended violently, skewering the crouching Jiralhanae straight through the chest and out through so even Aethos could feel the heat of the powerful melee weapon.
A quick eruption of saliva and vomit swiftly escaped out of the dark chasm of the brute's mouth, allowing it to synchronise itself inside its final death-throes before its entire body became dead weight and it was pushed aside by the figure who had saved Aethos's life.
"Get up" The large figure grabbed his arm and ripped him upwards onto his own feet, although he felt dizzy after the vicious and confronting assault on his own life he could feel warmth spreading back into his own body, "You must get to the armoury and prepare yourself for more of this insurgence, leave no brutes alive."
It was then, at that moment that Aethos realised he had been saved by another Sangheili warrior just like him; instead this one was clad in heavy golden zealot overalls with ancient emblems and ruins heavily embed inside the obvious flare of blue energy shields that matched his own energy sword.
"Thank you friend, I will be honoured to repay you in kind one day" Aethos nodded once, slowly looking around and stepping into the covenant bay that had served as an armoury; he knew his previous carbine would be useless so he grabbed himself a stacked energy sword handle as well as a Needler that he knew would be effective against the brutes.
"If the fighting is as bad as this in days to come, then you most definitely will" The Zealot responded to him wisely, his own armoured mandibles flaring as he watched the once vulnerable Sangheili armour up and become a well-practiced elite Ultra, "And in those days to come, you may call me Ra'zark."