Ever wonder what it's like for the average enemy to face down a Tenno and their Warframe?

The Sword

You have heard the alarms. Intruders have encroached on the area. Your superiors demand a full response, and you oblige.

Weapon in hand, you fall in with your brethren. As one, you make haste towards the problem area.

The voices of your superiors have abruptly gone from irate to outraged terror. One word is barked over your communications, and you immediately know why.

Tenno.

Ancient boogeymen, super soldiers of the Orokin. Your organization has outlasted the Sentients and their drones, the Orokin and their Dax soldiers, the plague and its thralls. They were like you, and they fought en masse. Conflict with them is a numbers game.

Against even a single Tenno however, numbers count for nothing. They have their weapons and warblades, just as you do. But the stories whisper of their void-born sorcery, of unnatural and horrific powers that make a mockery of science and bring all faith into question.

Between your kind and others, the Tenno have disposed of countless enemies. As you tighten your grip on your weapon with hands that have suddenly grown cold, you grimly suspect that you will soon add to the statistic.

But there is no backing out. Your superiors will not countenance retreat. The enemy must be driven out at all cost. And you have been conditioned to obey.


As the leader of your group approaches the corner, he is suddenly sliced in twain by a crescent of energy. Instinctively, you and your fellows step back, readying your weapons. The next in line peeks around the corner, and is flung away to smash into the opposite wall. Your eyes follow, gazing on his body as it twitches in the throes of death, a long and bright lance of energy protruding from his head.

The posse tears around the corner as one before immediately dispersing, hoping to prolong their survival in the face of the assault. As you bring up the rear, you suddenly see a blurred shape rush at your foremost comrade. It stops half a meter away, then abruptly changes direction and charges another. Again, it halts, and switches targets. In less than a second, it has approached six of your coworkers. Then it stops moving.

It is humanoid, with a horned face. Taller than any human, but with a toned thin build. Firmly clenched in its right hand is an ethereal blade of pure energy. As it straightens up, the six men that it approached fall to pieces, having only time for a partial scream or gasp of pain before their diaphragms separate from their lungs and deprive them of the ability to speak or vocalize.

Others have by now leveled their weapons at the enemy. You join them in unleashing a hail of fire that should perforate it.

The Tenno backflips away from the torrent with contemptuous ease and braces itself. When you and your fellows have shifted fire, it springs forward, twirling that deadly blade and deflecting your gunfire harmlessly away. A few stray shots make it through its defense, but they plink harmlessly off its skin, blocked by a shield system.

You decided to find a better position that is not in the open. As you turn to run, the Tenno turns its dash into a slide that brings it under the weapon of another comrade. Then it pirouettes and performs a sideways slash. A crescent of energy flies through the unfortunate man, and misses you by three meters.

There is a sudden bright flash, and the sound of gunfire is replaced by howls of pain that are being rapidly silenced. As you make it to cover, and another squad enters the area to reinforce you, you see that your group has been blinded, and they are helplessly writhing in the open as the Tenno mercilessly walks up to them and executes them.

You and your reinforcements open fire again. The Tenno once again twirls that damnable sword around, standing its ground as the rain of gunfire leaves it untouched. Then it reverses its grip and plunges the tip of the blade into the ground.

There is another flash, though far less bright than before, and you feel several things blow past you. A few gurgling cries tell you that your comrades have been hit. Instinctively, you turn to see several more men pinned to the wall behind you by more of those spears of energy.

You turn back just as the Tenno blurs forward once more. Your weapon blocks the strike, saving you from death, but at the cost of its integrity and your balance. You tumble backward, and both halves of your weapon clatter to the ground next to you.

More simultaneous screams echo around you as you take a breath and prepare to get up and continue this exercise in futility. But a foot to the chest pins you down.

You look up and into the face of the Tenno, who gazes back with a blank face mask. No eyes meet your gaze. The ancient warrior regards you almost the same way you would look at an insect crawling on the ground. It reverses the blade, and you know no more.

Let me know if you want me to continue this kind of thing!