'So,' I thought to my three subordinate Artificial Intelligences, 'you three find anything that might be worth my time? And before you ask, Synais, it must be something related to the Progenitor Defense Network, the Artifacts, the Faro Plague, or whatever is causing the convergence between the all of these universes.'

'Well then, nothing of interest so far, boss,' replied Synais. 'Right now, though, we're having the XCOM scientists, Alad V, and Ballas run through the commander defense system coelohim and machinery we've acquired, as well as one of the Faro drones - a casualty from the previous battle.'

'I assume Ballas is under heavy guard?'

'Got a bunch of live grenades nearby him, plus SABRs trained on his lab, so yeah. Oh, and while we haven't got anything of note from examining the Horizon: Zero Dawn world just yet, the stuff the people in the lab examined yielded some interesting results.'

'Such as?'

'The Faro Plague machinery shows signs of, for lack of a better word, improvement - the one we're tearing into has what appear to be retractable, hyper efficient solar panels, though only about seventy five percent of what our panels give. The design, though, is pretty clearly progenitor in origin.'

'I see. Seeing how I doubt that the Progenitor Defense System is going to assist the Faro Plague, you think that whatever the artifacts warn of is the culprit?'

'Likely, though why eludes me.'

'Alright. Keep me posted.'

'Sir, with all due respect, I suggest you maintain your distance from the natives, including Aloy. And before Syanis makes a joke, I mean emotional and/or spiritual distance - you have knowledge of the Old World that could potentially cause mass upheaval amongst these people, should those secrets come to light.'

Ah, Kathikon, always the logical one.

'Can I not simply claim that some things must be learned for yourself, not told by others?'

'Do you really think that will sate their curiosity?'

'...Good point. Still, can't exactly hide my presence after what I did at the proving, right?'

'True enough. Do be advised, though, whilst we haven't detected anymore portals like the one you arrived through, we've located a few areas where new portals could form, based upon the conditions that were present in the Ancient Forest and the Proving. Additionally, energy trails we've been tracking would suggest that multiple portals opened prior to our arrival, and we have no idea what may have crawled out of them already. Witcher creatures, assorted wyverns, who knows. Still, keep your eyes peeled.'

'Understood. Any other developments that I should be made aware of?'

'One more,' replied Fide. 'Natah is working on a new sentient design, one for her own usage. Eidolon has been assisting her in that regard, and it appears to be based upon the flying form Eidolon used to escape the spirit world from. We've no idea when it will be online, but we will keep you posted.'

'Roger, Flame out.'

As the conversation finished up, my perception returned to normal. Whilst minutes had gone by whilst I discussed a plan of action with my AI trio, less than a second had passed in real-time. Now, we were arriving at the edge of the Sacred Lands, right about where Resh was guarding the gate. Time to face another corruptor.

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When Aloy went up to speak with Resh, he'd naturally thrown a few insults at her, and he'd only barely hidden his contempt when he learn that she had been made a Seeker. Soon after that, though, he noticed that she wasn't alone, and boy did that set him off.

"You...you dare to bring outsiders into the Sacred Lands?! Are you truly so vile?"

"Hey, ease up on her," responded Geralt, anger starting to breath through his expression. "Our intrusion was purely accidental, nothing more, nothing less. So please, open the gate and let us be on our way."

"Hmph. Only a fellow monster would show respect for a motherless outcast."

"..Well, never heard that one before."

Ooh, nice burn.

Before the tirade could get any further, though, the Corruptor finally made its presence known, felling trees as it advanced toward us. I readied up my kitgun, eager to fell it. Yet as the machine came closer, though, I noticed that this machine seemed...different from the others. The body design was the same, but its armor appeared to be...newer, I guess.

And as the ensuing battle proved, it was also tougher - the machine shrugged off a truly massive amount of damage, even taking a trike from Vivian's hammer to the face and still managing to counter by grabbing her with its tail and throwing her aside. That being said, the fight was still pretty lackluster, with the machine going down relatively easily...well, easily for us. So a fair amount of beating, but still less than expected.

As the corruptor let its final death cries, I turned to my current companions. "Discounting the Seeker amongst us, anyone think this machine was exactly a challenge?"

There were a lot of nods to that - even Aloy seemed to agree with us. Resh seemed somewhat incensed at the comment , though he only responded by glaring at us, since we'd saved his braves from death.

Then, without warning, the Corruptor stood back up, roared, and batted us aside with its tail.

So it wanted to go for round two? Fine.

I makred a weakpoint on the machine's armor with my glaive before sending out my kinsect, only to gawk as the Corruptor (which now seemed to be emitting a black smoke) grabbed my neopteran out of the air and threw it back at me. The force of the impact knocked us both to the ground, but before the machine could capitalize on the opening, Viv smashed its side with her hammer. Without even missing a beat, the machine grabbed a strider Resh had slain, used it to parry Viv's next attack, then grabbed another strider and used its wreckage to send my ROB reeling. Theseus briefly tried to mount the machine, but it swiftly threw him off. Hilariously, though, it couldn't really hit him after that, and was forced to try and blast him back with grenades. When that failed, it surprised me yet again by apparently switching ammunition types and firing a grenade which generated a vortex of sorts, causing Theseus, Zoe, and our lynian companions to be thrown into one another. Geralt followed this up by blasting Igni at the machine, which definitely hurt it, but once it focused on him, it soon became difficult for him to do much more than dodge its swings, parry what few strikes he could, and occasionally use Ard to deflect whatever got through. And slowly, exhausting began to take its toll. All the while, the Nora were pelting it with arrows, eventually succeeding in knocking free its grenade launcher.

Then, to the surprise of all, an orange and purple shape slammed into the Corruptor. A closer analysis revealed it to be a Great Jaggi. Within moments, the dog wyvern was tearing into its foes, managing to tear off a large piece of armor before being thrown away. The corruptor then launched its own offensive with its tail, only to be caught off guard when the Jaggi responded by using its tail to counter. A hipcheck followed, leaving the machine smashed against a nearby wall, where it was soon hit by igni again. This time, it was forced to expose its core, giving Aloy the opening she needed to inflict the killing blow.

Whilst Resh and his braves celebrated and the rest of the team helped each other up, as soon as I had checked upon Geralt and Viv, I began examining the machine alongside Aly. While she examined the machine's hacking module, I tunred my attention to its processor, which I hastily ripped out and pocketed, alongside a fragment of its armor.

Somehow, I knew this was just the first of the trials to come.

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AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!