A Monstrous Trailblazer's journey, a honkai: star rail fanfic

First shot at a honkai star rail fic, might continue

A monstrous Trailblazer's journey

When a baby was getting ready to be born, they tend to feel a tight squeeze around them as they got ready to take their first breath. The birthing process was not easy, not on the baby, nor for the mother that gave birth to it, or father depending on the species themselves. There were many things that can go wrong during the process which is why people usually give birth in clinics where there' on-hand trained medical staff to ensure a safe pregnancy. Though there have been cases where complications happened regardless, such cases didn't happen as much depending on the amount of technology available to handle the birthing process.

But for such an infantile mind to suddenly take their first breath in the land of the living must be of great shock to them...

But what of a mind that's born developed since the beginning?

Unknown location – Isolated room

A sharp gasp, that's the first thing his mind registered before his eyes shot wide open, pain flooding his skull the moment he did so as he got forced into intaking so many different things at the same time. Sounds got mumbled inside his head, sights both familiar and unknown to him flooded his ocular nerves, the nerves connecting to the rest of a body that felt like both his own and not at the same time. Tremors like he was being attacked ripped through his body from his hands down to his feet, various spasming's occurring like blood flow being denied for so long finally being given access to the rest of the body, a severe form of pins and needles.

Thoughts and sensations rushed around his skull's confines, his brain straining itself trying to make sense of it all.

In the time that passed, he didn't know how long, nor could he have known, his mind acted like it had a will of its own by constantly sending him various fuzzy images, uncaring if he closed his eyes or not. A dozen colors flashed through his mind, blacks, blues, purples, reds and all kinds of things, accompanied by some distorted, hollow-sounding noises that seemed like they're trying to convey something, but his mind wouldn't or rather couldn't process any of it. None of it seemed to make sense, and it might physically and mentally hurt him to think about it... yet none of those thoughts ever abandoned him, forming a murky haze inside his head that almost strangled his cognitive ability.

"Wh... Ah..."

The tremors didn't stop even as he felt his body starting to connect with his brain, giving him feelings in things he couldn't have realized he had. Names and concepts flashed through his mind pertaining to his body such as names of specific body parts, and the processes that connected themselves to their functions. One such example was his arms, and he lifted them to his face he could see them violently shaking, his mouth hanging open in an 'o' shape refusing to be closed no matter what he tried telling it. Was this really his body? Or was it someone else's? He wasn't sure, even in this state he felt like it was both his and not his at the same time.

"Guh...u...h..."

PCHSSSSSS!

"?!"

Yet amid this chaotic maelstrom he found himself in, several flashes occurred outside his peripheral vision and EVERYTHING inside of him stopped dead in its tracks. Like ice had suddenly frozen him in place, everything turned silent both internally and externally, his breathing suddenly having halted like it was the worst thing he could do at this moment in time. A bead of something warm yet wet slid down the side of his head which refused to even budge despite the commands his brain issued it, like his body realized that the brain was acting up and wasn't having that kind of bullshit.

Finally, although hardly even a few seconds passed, the male found his eyes being able to move to the side at long last which gave him the ability to perceive his surroundings. Well, he didn't view everything around him right at this moment, for several things took precedent over identifying his current location... namely these large, black figures mixed with silver ones that floated over the floor, seemingly held in the air by some invisible hand keeping them at a higher elevation.

Immediately something took hold over his brain, body and very essence, prompting him to identify these figures faster than one say 'jump!' These figures looked like him in body shape, composed of a head, a chest, abdomen, legs and arms. But unlike him with flesh and blood, these things seemed more like they're made of metal or some kind of armor with various areas seeming to be glowing this... mystifying, alluring glow to it, making him wonder if they were like tempting their viewers to keep their attention on them.

These figures seemed to be armed however, and that caused him to tense up, a first for him since his body had been shaking nonstop since he first opened his eyes.

He categorized the figures into three, one type having these glowing yellow blades protruding out their forearms that were half as long as his own arm, their glow not offering any kind of serene feeling but a feeling of controlled savagery. Not only that but these those blades almost didn't seem completely there physically, like they were both metal and not at the same time.

Then there's the second type which had these oversized elongated barrel-like objects with glowing yellow interiors, like the lights that shone from their bodies. Instinctively, he realized that those things' business ends should NEVER get any shot off on him as otherwise that'd be a horrible time no matter how it happened, his gut told him that and his sense of preservation agreed with him. He didn't know what they were, but he figured they weren't the same as those other weapons the first ones wielded- an alternative form of combat.

Finally came the third type, and this one became the most... baffling, if that's the correct way to describe them. Unlike the other two, this one came with this slightly sleeker, streamlined silverish white armor like the moon orbiting a planet, some unseen force suspending them in the air. Instinctively he got the feeling that those things were probably not people he'd converse with any kind of pleasantries, cause it's like they're almost constantly looking down on him. Then there were these... triangular things constantly circulating around them in a calm, yet threatening manner that could change into a COMPLETELY threatening manner at any time.

Briefly, he wondered about something in his mind as he watched these figures seemingly slip through the shadows of this room, growing bigger and bigger. Throughout his prior monologuing he swore he felt something explode inside of him, tiny booming sounds filling his mind. It wasn't noticeable at first, but the more he examined these strange figures that moved in ways that... honestly didn't sit well with him, they grew in frequency and intensity. It didn't help that the figures' movements just unnerved him, nothing should be moving the way they did...

Wait a second...

It was then that he realized something: they weren't getting bigger far from it... they're getting closer... moving quicker by the second... to HIM...

They... were coming closer to him... their strange objects were being raised in his direction...

They're gaining speed...

They're going to kill him...

They're here to kill him...

...

THEY'RE HERE TO END HIM!

NO!

NOT YET!

HE DOESN'T WANNA DIE!

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Elsewhere

"Hyaaaa, take that you loonies!"

"...We must work on your insulting skills..."

Chaos ran rampant throughout the area, the rage-inducing flames of carnage burning throughout every corridor, in every room, and most of the whole place this all was going down in. Furious war cries flooded the corridors mixed with the horrid screams, shrieks and howls of those who lived for battle yet were reduced to their most primitive instincts through a means not entirely of their own making. Physical and energy-based matter flew all over the place, scorching flesh and metal alike as two sides warred against one another, one side invading the other which just kept trying to defend the territory it claimed as theirs as was their natural response.

It was all this that these two figures got greeted by shortly after their arrival to this place. These two figures just dispatched a bunch of enemies that had been causing a ruckus, and that's putting it mildly.

"Mou...!" one of them, a female, moaned in annoyance with an exasperated shake of her head, putting her hand over her forehead. She had a body that was quite slim with a budding hourglass figure, looking like she's in her teenage years although given how sometimes women can look younger than they really are that part's debatable. She had a mop of short light pink hair which currently looked wild and untamed due to the constant movement associated with the stress of battle, alongside some pink and blue eyes currently displaying some mild annoyance.

For clothing, she wore a white top with gold buttons that clipped to a black choker, over that being a loose pink and blue overcoat. Around her waist was a blue and white pleated skirt with a black vest tied around her waist, a rectangular-looking Camera attached to her hip, alongside some black and blue low-heeled boots and an archery glove on her right hand. Said right hand currently held a glistening blue bow which had some layers of frost on its frame, a sign of its recent use in battle probably.

"Can you blame me for not looking at my best? I was still getting ready when we were warped in!" she protested, yawning a little while doing her best to try to fix her hair with her hand. It somewhat worked, but it proved to be nowhere near the standards a girl her age would set for her hair.

Her companion showed no care for her plight however, merely rolled their eyes like they had heard that complaint many times before. "You shouldn't have spent all night gaming then." they stated offhandedly, shrugging their shoulder. This companion turned out to be a male, somewhat taller than the girl by a couple heads, his black hair just as wild as the girls' but in a more natural manner and a fierce look in his blue eyes as he scanned their surroundings for any enemies.

His body, slender as it was while being adorned with some fair skin just like his companion, remained covered in a black turtleneck alongside a white and green coat, gold and smoke-styled accents decorating it. Over his left shoulder, some jade armor concealed it from view with some dents to it showcasing that it had been hit a few times during battle. His lower body adorned itself with some grey pants and black high-top shoes with white soles alongside and oriental-style jade tassel earring with a lace connected to his ear. In his hand, a single long green and gray spear with a circular jewel embedded near the base of the blade rested, its body covered in various dents and scratches as signs of recent use in battle.

Both looked like they had just gone through the ringer, their clothes slightly ruffled and their breathing calm but somewhat labored from the unexpected exertion.

But now that they had a small reprieve from the attacks they'd been dealing with since their arrival, the girl found the need to keep defending her late-night sessions. "How was I supposed to know, it's always night up in outer space!" she whined, they were always on the path of trailblazing through the cosmos and the stars, so how was she supposed to tell when it's nighttime? Also, it's not like she knew that this place, a space research station, was going to be amid being ransacked!

The male remained unfazed, however, twirling his Spear in one hand before standing upright. It then vanished into a series of particles that dissipated, the same being true for the girl's bow. "There's a standard time used by the IPC, use that." he stated. He of course knew she wouldn't, knowing how childishly rebellious she could be over these things, but it didn't stop him from nagging her like he was her dad. Sometimes he had to wonder if she were to ever want to attract someone, would she mellow out?

Of course, he had his doubts, and he didn't dare mention it for various reasons.

For a moment the girl blinked like an owl, though she'd never seen one beyond just simple picture, before she looked to the side and whistled innocently. Her hands hid themselves behind her back, but he could just SENSE their being crossed. "I-I knew that, of course I did!" she stammered, before awkwardly grinning.

Seeing this and now being totally done with lecturing his companion for the umpteenth time, since this had happened several times in the past, the male placed a hand on his forehead. "SIGH..." a low sigh escaped through his nostrils, before he decided to focus on something more productive than beating a dead horse. He quickly took out his phone, flicking open the screen and pressing an app on its home screen. There, he heard the phone vibrate for a second before it stopped, a clicking sound indicating the quick connection. "We're here Himeko, our warp was successful..." he said after raising the phone to his mouth.

Seconds later:

"Good work, Dan Heng. How's the situation on the ground looking? Asta mentioned she feared she hadn't gotten everyone evacuated." the voice of a mature, elegant-sounding woman echoed through the phone, the feminine tones and dialect being slightly distorted by the phone's speaker. She may have sounded calm, but both the man named Dan Heng and the girl could feel the urgency behind it.

Dan Hen shook his head even though the woman likely couldn't see it. "Not good, we got the Antimatter Legion down here. There's a sizeable amount of them, more than several dozen according to my calculations." The man explained, grimly glancing ahead to a door that led to an outside corridor. Both he and his companion could hear heavy footsteps in the distance even though they'd just finished a big battle, par for the course when fighting off an invasion he guessed. "We got ambushed by them as soon as we warped in. Had to spend the last 10 minutes dealing with them." he informed her, frowning in deep dismay of which his expression got mirrored by the girl's.

They couldn't see it, but it was likely that the woman's face was creased into the same one. "That's not good, it appears the situation is worse than I thought. Didn't expect this retrieval job to be so chaotic..." both could agree with the woman there, but that was just par for the course in their journey through the cosmos. Still, whatever questions they had about how this invasion come to be, they'd have to wait till they finished things up in the station.

It's a good thing that they had their objectives put in place shortly before being warped in here, otherwise they'd be running around like headless chickens. March herself had to suppress a chuckle at the thought knowing how serious her two colleagues were, even though she figured Dan Heng knew she was doing that already. They'd known one another for a long time by now after all.

Her musings, like the male's glare which validated her thoughts, soon paused when the woman's voice recounted to them their objectives, providing a fresh reminder even though they didn't need it. Well, Dan Heng didn't, but he wasn't so sure about the eccentric companion he shared. "I'll focus on protecting the researchers next to the parked astral express, Dan Heng you and March 7th try clearing out as many of the Legion members as you can. Activate any space anchor across your path, you can use their power to heal and/or move to unreachable areas. Locate Arlan of the Security department, he was last seen in the station's master control zone according to Asta. Knowing her, she's probably worried sick about that kid. Odds are that you'll find survivors scattered across the space station, help anyone you can find."

"Yes, ma'am! X2"

The unified exclamations from both the male and female now named March 7th, filled the woman's voice with a sense of reassurance as evident by her following words. "Very good you two, good luck from both me and Welt." She told them, and just when Dan Heng made to disconnect the call, his finger froze inches from the disconnect button when he got another message from the woman. "Oh, right. We got word from Asta that there's been a development near the storage room for the relics. Herta may no longer care for it, but there is something over there, our reports say there's a sizeable legion force being assembled over there. Someone, or something is there but whether it's an enemy or not I can't say. What I can is that those legionnaires that arrive there vanish just as fast as they came."

"Got it, we're moving out." Dan Heng confirmed before finally disconnecting the phone and picketing it inside his coat. He then directed his gaze to his companion for a few seconds, before he looked ahead to the entrance where they needed to take to get further into the station. "Heads up march, we've got a tough fight ahead of us." he informed her, summoning his Spear back into his hand.

March did the same thing, pouting a bit as she glowered at the door with almost childish indignation. "No idea why we dismissed our weapons in the first place since we're fighting again so soon... my hair's going to fray..." she whined, never liking having to fight against the legion. Their energy attacks made her spend the rest of the day tending to the burned hairs on her scalp, not a fun time for anyone. She didn't let Dan Heng say anything though, his blunt statements would have made her increasingly irked at him. "I know-I know, they're meant to be drawn out only when in danger and stuff, ya don't hafta bring the handbook out."

Dan Heng remained silent... before putting away that very handbook he'd been in the process of withdrawing from his coat. Part of him bemoaned this, but he refrained from showing it since at least now they could focus on the mission. "Look alive, March." he addressed her, switching to his usual efficiency whenever a battle was approaching. His tone left no room for protesting like he was a dictator, further supported by how he got into a ready stance, about to charge forth at any second. "Our main goal is the master control zone; there we will look for Arlan and escort him back to the others. We'll regroup with Lady Himeko and Asta when we get the chance afterwards, as for this unknown, that'll be dealt with on a circumstantial basis. We don't know what it is, but we should be cautious, knowing Herta it can be anything."

"Aye-Aye, captain!"

Unknown location

Kill...

Flesh... rend...

He must fight...

Rip...and Tear...

Enemy... destroy...

He must kill the enemy... destroy them all...

Kill... enemy...

Blades... slices...

Barrels... fire...

Floating ones... fall...

attack bladers from range...

Isolate shooters...

ambush the floating ones...

Kill...

Kill...!

Space Station – Storage Zone

Dying screams and howls flooded the air around them, caused by the dying antimatter legionnaires that met their ends either by spear or the arrow. Their wielders, nothing but two multicolored blurs that ripped through them limb from limb with the spear wielder being the more ruthless of the two... the bow one at least struck various vital areas such as the cores holding these creatures together which usually sat within their helmets. These blows were usually fatal, and dispatched them rather quickly if not outright freeze them in place since the arrows themselves had been made entirely out of Ice. Sometimes these arrows would pop into these cute cuddly bear-shaped constructs that had greater luck in freezing these enemies.

It provided a much easier passing on the one-way trip to the afterlife compared to the ruthless brutality offered by the spear. Each swing its shaft made carried both an airy grace and a whirlwind's ferocity combined into one, looking almost like an artful dance than anything resembling a weapon of war. This spoke volumes about the ability of the one who wielded said weapon, as well as the amount of practice and experience they had to have had to master the art of the spear in such a manner. Its wielder provided a more methodical and efficient means of dispatching them, slicing through limbs like tissue paper and shredding through cores like they're nobody's business. The ones that got frozen through the ice arrows at least didn't feel anything when they were dispatched by the merciless spear user.

"Whew, Mrs. Himeko wasn't kidding..." A low exhale left her mouth as March wiped her brow to cleanse the sweat off it, her shoulders heaving and her brow still releasing sweat despite her prior actions. Her breath came out as this cool vapor while her eyes had this haunting pinkish blue glow on them, a sign of her powers having been used extensively. Like the vapor-like aura surrounding her like a second skin wasn't enough of an indicator here.

Sweat that had formed from what felt like an eternity of fighting through the Antimatter legion's forces, isolating the ones without reinforcements through ambushing arrow attacks while freezing others for her partner in crime to send them to meet their maker without their consent. Not like these things were conscious enough to even consider consent as a concept, her mind rationalized, a rarity for her since she liked being the energy of the party.

That energy wasn't really sticking around right now thanks to their constant fighting, however.

This had to be one of the more exhausting battles she'd partaken in, both because of its lengths and the lack of preparation she had, leading her to waste more energy than she needed to on more than one occasion. It wound up wearing her down, leading to her reduced fighting ability such as how she couldn't freeze enemies as often with her ice. Her partner would scold her for this afterwards, and she already dreaded getting that 'lecture of doom' from him again.

Speaking of fighting, the duo had made their way to the Storage Zone where they had been informed that their target Arlan had been sighted, trying to buy time for their researchers to escape the invading legionnaires. So far, the enemy hadn't been able to break into the most important section the space station had: the master control zone which the storage zone had been directly linked to with an elevator. Fortunately, they'd been given a special access key that can activate the elevator, so they can get to the master control zone once Arlan had been secured, letting them regroup and plan a counterattack to drive back the legion invasion force. Something they couldn't do on their own for a multitude of reasons.

It had not been made easy for the duo however, it had been rather difficult for them to make their way through the Legion's forces to the storage zone, in fact they hadn't even gone through a single room WITHOUT being accosted and ambushed by their forces. Sometimes it had been from the air, others it had been the walls, but no matter what the Legion performed all kinds of ambushing tactics, keeping the duo on their toes much to March's dismay...

Though that didn't mean Dan Heng wasn't exasperated with their situation either.

"Um, Dan Heng... is it just me or have there been a lotta baddies wanting our booty recently?" In the end March 7th couldn't help but question her comrade during one of the few short breaks they had from dodging those de-atomizing attempts from the Antimatter Legion. She never thought she could get sicker of void rangers and their ilk, but apparently the universe got tempted to slap her with a reality check.

Fortunately for her sanity, Dan Heng shook his head as he and her stood next to a downward path. "No, it's not you. There's been an increasing amount of activity from the Legion in this area." He told her, using his mental mapping skills to deduce their current location. He found that they had gotten quite close to one of the storage rooms, ones filled with artefacts the station's owner stored there for whatever reason. "The more we advance through the station, the more enemies we encountered..." His eyes narrowed as he remembered something that Himeko had mentioned to them. "This area's where Himeko mentioned a strange anomaly being present, there's an increasing likelihood there's a connection there."

March 7th winced when she recalled that, the whole anomaly business Himeko had mentioned. Yea she had forgotten about that and as much as she wanted to jump up and down in excitement over discovering something new, her current fatigue levels smacked that idea to the curb. "Ugh, so we're looking into that after all..." she bemoaned into a nigh childish whine. Couldn't things be easier for once? She lost count over how many incidents she had on her prior expeditions!

In a rare show of emotion, Dan Heng's lips twitched slightly with amusement faintly flickering behind his eyes. Considering his usual MO in these operations he decided it'd be a fun idea to tease the girl a bit, something he didn't do very often. "We can split up if you want, and you can engage with the anomaly yourself." ... Okay, so maybe his brand of humor wasn't very good.

The way she turned paler than a ghost more than made it worthwhile, however. "I'm good, I'm good! Thanks!" she proclaimed with a panicked fluster, flailing her arms about as she got in front of her companion who looked like he'd press on without her. It wouldn't be the first time. "No need to be a meanieface, ya know! Its hurt's a girl's heart..." she whined, before getting an idea and, as if spurred by a surge in energy levels, her eyes gained a mirthful teasing glimmer to them as she put her hands atop her hips, her bow balancing itself over her shoulder by its string. "Keep that up and you'll never be popular with the ladies, you know..."

Like his usual downer self, Dan Heng didn't rise to provocation and instead he just shot it all down like the amusement on his face, everything being switched off in favor of returning to his usual stoic demeanor. "Irrelevant to the mission." he stated bluntly before continuing down the walkway. "Let's got to the storage room, see what this anomaly is. Then we find Arlan and report to the Master Control Zone."

"Fiiiiineeee...!"

Just as they went down a nearby stairwell, however, Dan Heng immediately paused and widened his eyes. "Hold." he commanded firmly; his weapon arm raised more out of reflex than anything.

"Wa-wa-wa...!"

Flailing her arms around, March 7th nearly fell onto her backside from the abrupt movements the male had made, losing the battle for balance and thus falling onto the stairs beneath her. "Ouchies...!" she yelped at the sharp spikes of pain that shot up her spine upon impact, sending tingling waves shooting straight through her body while she reached behind her, mumbling incoherently to herself. Once the pain subsided, March 7th groaned as she got to her feet before pointing an angry glare at her companion, about to demand an explanation...

Only for her words to freeze themselves in place of the glare Dan Heng sported.

Now this wasn't an ordinary glare, more than that Dan Heng never really GLARED at anything. Not even when she herself had been at her most annoying of selves did he glare at her, instead he simply disciplined her for the entire afternoon, morning or evening. His lecturing skills grew to be so vicious during these times that she remembered once hearing how he'd been approached by employers in teaching positions to try and get him into their academies. None of them succeeded, however, up until now. But throughout everything Dan Heng never glared at them, in fact March 7th barely recalled the times where he DID do that...

Which only happened when something truly disturbing occurred before him.

March 7th blinked several times, her prior indignation now a thing of the past as she poked her head out from beside her companion, wanting to know what got him on edge so much in spite of her heart pounding inside her chest. Something that soon skyrocketed speed wise when she saw it...

The corridor. The walls. Ceiling. Lights.

Not a single spec had been left untouched by various gashes, gashes that littered everywhere with long cracks spreading across their various surfaces like a wave of unrelenting ferocity. Weapons that they just KNEW had belonged to forces connected to the antimatter legion lay scattered across the ground, some in the process of dispersing without any kind of anchor keeping them tied into the physical world.

Large holes adorned the walls and ceiling, debris scattered all over the place like some twisted art canvas being splattered with paint by an amateur. From some of those holes, one can see severed wires sprawled across the walls and ceilings with darkness shrouding everything due to the power being cut, adding an eerie intensity to the corridor.

In short, it looked goddamn TERRIFYING, like a gaping maw of death had opened before them.

"Holy..." March 7th whispered, covering her mouth with her hands while her eyes shook damn near wildly, her breath trapped inside her throat with the threat of suffocating her. Yet she dared not move, she dared not even breathe from the horrific sight before her very eyes. This looked like goddamn nightmare fuel from some of the horror movies she'd seen involving serial slashers and killers, like someone had detonated a bomb and cut up the survivors like they were sashimi.

Something had gone on a rampage here, that much was certain...

Something OTHER than the antimatter legion.

Now she knew why Dan Heng looked so unnerved, and she couldn't blame him for it in the slightest.

"Is this...?"

"This isn't the Legion's work..." Dan Heng noted, stepping forward slowly and cautiously with his Spear at the ready. He soon stopped to kneel before some of the markings, but due to lack of light he had to open his phone's home screen and used its light function to illuminate some of them, his other hand gently caressing them with a calculating glimmer shining in his eyes. "This seems like an animal got loose... a fierce one..." he mumbled under his breath.

The man's brain worked overtime, rushing through thousands of memories in a bid to find something that could cause these markings. His knowledge of different subjects often made him considerably intelligent for someone of his age, though considering his occupation that was to be expected. Unlike his companion March 7th, he prided himself on his role as an archivist aboard the astral express, but even so... his mind drew blanks every time he tried recalling anything possibly related to his query, something that worried him greatly.

If they didn't know what they were dealing with, the danger level shot sky high. Was Arlan even alive with this new threat around? He wasn't sure, but he hoped he was... and also, he didn't at the same time. It'd be good if he were alive, but if he was and he'd bore witness to whatever horror this was... Dan Heng shook those thoughts from his mind, worrying was pointless not to mention inefficient. They had a job to do, only now it involved an extra amount of caution... not like they could retreat either since the last space anchor was too far away and they're close to the master control zone's elevator. If this thing were to get to that zone before them a lot of lives may be lost.

March 7th didn't think that way however, her body shuddering in nervous anxiety. "Umm.. Methinks we should probably NOT go near the scary thing's likely territory..." she tried to say with a straight face and calm voice... only to fail miserably since her fear slipped in regardless.

"Impossible."

That one word shot down any complaints and arguments her brain could simulate inside her skull's confines, rendering the archer helpless before her companion's blunt wall of a mindset. So, with that said, the girl sighed in defeat while mentally vowing to haunt Dan Heng from the grave should she expire here before she got the answers, she sought...

That and she wanted to take more pictures eondamnit!

=========================================================================Herta's Space Station – Storage Zone – storage room

Now with their newly acquired knowledge of the situation's severity, both Dan Heng and March 7th traversed the corridor with a much slower pace compared to before, both due to a lack of Legionnaires to fight and due to their own caution of their surroundings. Now it made more sense why there had been so many forces concentrated in this section of the space station, an almost eerie amount of sense, but it didn't fill them with any ease as they slowly waded through the debris with the male in front and the female at the rear. Both held their weapons in their grasps, having never dismissed them since their journey...

No way would they do so now of all times, what with the potential danger lurking around.

The more they advanced however, the more March 7th began to fear whatever had done this. The closer they got to the storage room she realized, the more ferocious and numerous the gashes became, as well as more vicious looking. Certain holes almost looked identical to various Legion body parts, too, like something had severed them to pieces and used them as projectiles. The icy archer tried not to think about that mental image, for her own sanity more than anything. Part of her wanted to just freeze up the holes so the danger could be confirmed to not be there...

Better yet the whole goddamn corridor would best be frozen over, to hell with the possible consequences like Herta not liking it.

Finally, the two approached the entrance to the storage room, closed shut with a terminal beside it. Though this was the case, the ice archer gulped at it like she was staring up at the gates of hell and she were about to consign her soul to a one-way trip to meet Satan when he called her over.

"...these doors didn't seem so creepy last I checked..."

"This is the storage room, odds are the cause lays within. March, you stay behind me. Shoot anything that moves." Dan Heng ordered, gripping his spear tighter in his hand as he reached the terminal. He didn't bother listening for if his companion had heard him or not, as his hands tapped against the terminal's keys to input the unlocking sequence. As for why the man had to do this even though the destruction had already reached outside, he wasn't completely certain, but he did have a few ideas...

He hoped it was just a case of some automatic locks engaging due to the lack of power in some form of failsafe, and NOT because whatever did this had managed to figure out how the doors worked.

Destructive power AND intelligence together were a horrid combination for any foe, and for a monstrosity like this...

SHSSSSSS!

Soon enough the doors peeled open, stopping Dan Heng's thought process from proceeding further as he looked inside with March 7th peeking out from behind his coat. Just like the prior corridor they'd traversed, the entire room presented itself as bathed in darkness, light utterly absent from the room. Not even a shred could be made out inside, not the room's state nor the identity of anything that lay within. If anything, the shadows seemed to pour out of the room, shredding through and extinguishing what little light remained within.

If the duo thought it creepy before, now things looked more like something out of a horror movie.

"Ummmm... Methinks we should-"

"We're going in."

March 7th looked at her companion's back like he'd grown a second head, did he not see what was before them? Why the heck is he trying to go INSIDE the horror house before them like he DIDN'T see the obvious warning signs? Was he crazy, did he get hit too many times in the head? That must be it, there's no other explanation.

Thus because of that, the ice archer decided to put her foot down. No way was she gonna go on some dumb suicide mission in a horror flick, no sir! "Ooooh, no you don't buster!" she yelped, grasping him by his coat and yanking Dan Heng back. She ignored the surprised sound that left his mouth as she shoved the man against a nearby wall. he didn't get the chance to go 'what the hell?' either, that went to his companion who put her hands on his shoulders and pinned him there. For someone of her size, her grip remained rather remarkable. "What the heck's wrong Dan?!"

Dan Heng bit back his urge to retort in anger at his partner's actions, mostly because he could see why she was acting this way. Between them, March 7th had been the one with the less control over her emotions. He didn't want to sound sexist, but perhaps it was because she was a female? He'd never encountered any dudes as emotional as her, but then again Himeko was a woman and she was one of the most mature figures he had ever known. Nonetheless, they didn't have the time to converse about this. "Orders are orders, March. We need to find Arlan and investigate this anomaly." he told her with his usual cold, detached tone. "We can't let something like fear slow us down, not when we need answers."

"At the risk of losing your own life? I'm supposed to be the reckless one here boyo, why the heck are you stealing my schtick?!" March 7th, remaining undeterred, tried once more to get through to her comrade, her hands keeping him pinned as he struggled to break free. But she could tell the man wouldn't listen to her complaints, so she decided to try a different tactic. "Look, maybe Arlan can help us find out what happened, maybe he's got-"

"DUCK!"

"Huh?"

THWACK!

"Kyaaa...!"

It happened without warning, like a cannon with cracks in its barrel exploding when its fuse got lit. One moment Dan Heng wanted to get their situation moving along and away from this pointless bickering. Then he noticed something through his peripheral vision, a faint flicker of... something, something he couldn't truly see due to the darkness. The moment he had shifted his gaze ever so slightly to get a better look in the general direction it came from... his features turned pale when he saw it, and more importantly FELT it:

Bloodlust.

Raw... primal, Unhinged.

That had not been something that belonged to the antimatter legion since emotions were an impossible concept for them... save for the feeling of dying against powerful foes. Dan Heng had never felt such powerful bloodlust before, it cemented itself in his brain under the list of things he never wanted to experience ever again. In that moment, he could understand why his icy companion had been acting the way she did on a much deeper level...

But that brought his attention back to Marc 7th, as well as the fact that the thing's bloodlust had been directed at the two of them, more her than him he would realize in the future. But as for the present...

He tried to warn his companion, but the unknown proved much too quick and in the next second the bubbly girl was wailing like a banshee after something large, shaped like a human hand though the black-haired boy couldn't tell due to the speed, grasped the side of her head.

All occurring SECONDS before that head of hers got sent CRASHING into the floor headfirst.

It didn't stop there, having commenced dragging her across the floor like a pencil on paper, ripping large chunks of the floor and exposing the inner workings beneath. It did so the nanosecond she had been pinned, uncaring for the way she screamed as severed electrical circuits left various burn marks across her exposed flesh such as her legs and shoulders.

Raising her into the air, the mystery attacker wound up getting annoyed with the wailing girl and as such, roughly pinned her face into a wall. A loud CRACK filled the air upon impact, more cracks spreading like a disease across the wall's majority which spoke volumes about how much force had been put into that motion. His palm forced her right cheek roughly against the cold surface, preventing her from seeing who her attacker had been, not to mention the whole ambush made her drop her bow to the ground, the weapon disintegrating into harmless particles.

In an ironic twist, Dan Heng didn't need to think about his next move as his body moved on its own, racing towards the two when he noticed the mystery attacker's free hand raised to strike the girl through the heart. In the time that the attacker'd raised that hand, Dan Heng'd raised his spear before swinging in a reverse horizontal slash... though his strike only hit air thanks to the figure seemingly leaping out of the way as evident by how he heard March 7th's gasp as she slumped to the ground, wincing and heaving whilst clutching her neck.

The male didn't get the chance to query into her current condition however, for he soon found himself meeting this mystery attacker face to face... due to it being right in front of him with only a split second for Dan Heng to recognize only ONE trait the person had:

A single glowing red eye.

'That's-'

WHAM!

Dan Heng cursed as he found himself being launched across the corridor, fortunately away from the darkest storage room. Odds were quite likely that this enemy would have preferred that he was in there so it could finish him, but the situation didn't allow that since the doors had locked themselves again, a defense mechanism no doubt.

He flipped himself through the air and landed in a crouching position before raising his head and holding his spear in front of him, just BARELY blocking a right straight punch from slamming into his chest cavity. His eyes widened when he felt the force behind it cause his weapon to tremble in his grasp, as well as send him flying into another wall.

'This strength...!'

Like a bloodthirsty animal pouncing on its helpless prey after a long hunt, the enemy leapt at him with its right fist thrown towards his face. Dan Heng saw this and mentally went 'aw hell new!' before leaning to the side seconds before the fist could hit him, resulting in the first slamming into the wall behind him and creating a fist-shaped indent... amid a crater the size of a person with cracks spreading outward like some kind of spider web.

"!"

Dan Heng gaped, gob smacked, at the damage that fist had left behind whilst the revelation dawned on him that his head had just barely avoided being turned into a fine pink MIST. He did this for a split second though, quickly regaining his composure and stabbing his Spear towards the enemy's chest only for said enemy to pivot to the side and avoid the blow, twisting into a scythe-like spinning kick towards the man's head that he dodged by ducking under. The spearman then used the momentum to perform a spinning sweep kick that slammed into the enemy's remaining leg, knocking him off balance...

For a split second since it stomped the kicking leg into the ground to replace the other then hooked the other leg around Dan Heng's head, trapping him and pinning him to the ground.

"Gah! Ugh...Ack...!"

The white and green-wearing boy grunted and gasped, feeling his neck and windpipe being HEAVILY constricted by the grip the enemy had on him, black spots already popping into his vision. He tried swinging his spear again, but this time the enemy caught it by the shaft, and something fast sliced at Dan Heng's wrist, causing him to scream and reflexively drop the weapon to the ground. Even so, the male refused to give in as he grasped the enemy's legs, trying to pull them apart so he could breathe again... even though those efforts didn't amount to anything in the end.

'This... is getting bad...!' Dan Hen thought, a growing weakness spread through his body. His arms loosening their grip despite his brain's commands to keep going. If this kept up, the spear user thought through the haze rapidly expanding over his brain, then he feared he would never awaken ever again. Panic started bubbling in his gut at the mere MENTION of expiring here without having accomplished anything he'd set out to do, all the things he'd never get to see... all the people he'd fail to save.

Alongside the weakening, despair started tugging at his heart as the dark clouds of death started to dominate his consciousness. In that state, Dan Heng felt powerless to resist, any actions he could have taken being drained away just like his dwindling air supply. He couldn't even feel his body no more, so he didn't know what kind of response it would make in this situation. Would his legs be flailing about like a helpless chicken? Did he even have legs anymore?

Various memories played through his mind as his strength started to fail him, memories of his childhood, growing up to join his homeland's military, of things he would NOT want to remember right now...

"Five People are on my list... your one of them... DAN HENG!"

"DAN HENG!"

"?!"

No longer able to tell between reality and dreams, Dan Heng's eyes shot wide open with his mind settling back into the former when several things happened. The first was that his ability to breathe got reclaimed by his body, so his lungs took the opportunity to greedily inhale as much air as possible, refueling its storage tanks with reckless abandon, which allowed feeling to rapidly embrace his being. The man never thought he would miss the warmth of life this badly before, but he guessed that was what happened when one reached the edge of their life, about to fall into the abyss called death for eternity.

Second was the enemy who had managed to leap away from him, the reasoning being made abundantly clear with the faint bluish-purple arrow being sent flying through the air. Though it didn't land on anything, having missed its target, the true objective the user had was achieved... that user being March 7th , who currently knelt on one knee with one eye closed, sweat rolling down her brow while her lungs panted heavily. Her face looked like she'd gone through a brawl on the streets, littered with scars of varying depth and length with a trail of blood running down her forehead. Just from looking at her one can see that she hadn't fully recovered from the forceful, unwilling introduction between her noggin and that wall with the former still screaming at the injustice of it all.

The third thing was the animalistic growls that the attacker radiated, but Dan Heng didn't bother with that.

No, he needed to soothe the flames in his heart by getting back into the fight.

With the flames of fury filling his soul, the black-haired male quickly got to his feet with heavy breathing being his partner to this dance floor, the man gripping his Spear tightly as he got in front of March against his prior judgement. As much as his soul DEMANDED he pay this attacker back for that DELIGHTFUL (read: not) trip down memory lane, his partner's safety became his priority over everything else. "March... are you alright...?" he asked the woman, even though he figured that she wasn't based on her current condition.

Something that said woman initially wanted to quip about, but the way he looked made her silence those thoughts immediately. "...Ugh...somehow, I am... good thing my noggin's already empty, cause that dude almost wiped out my brain cells with that one..." she commented, wincing as she tried to keep herself steady. Its why she wasn't in a standing position or even her usual combat stance, her vision still held traces of dysphoria from that beating she endured from this thing.

Regardless, this wasn't the time for her to be so disorientated, they got some attacker they needed to take care of first. Looking over to the said attacker, she winced at seeing how they'd landed on the opposite side of the corridor, she'd hoped that her attack would have encased them in ice by now, but she guessed that wasn't going to fly that easily. At the same time something else became known to her... and that's cause the corridor their attacker stood within had its own lighting... which let the two see their attacker for the first time.

The sight before her sent March 7th into a state of bewilderment. She had anticipated their attacker to be a lot of things, some monster from the legion, a crazed researcher, maybe even a rogue research sample made from an artefact. Even something like a particularly aggressive Curio looking to play with them or something.

But in truth, their attacker...

Just took the form of a dude.

A dude who had his body hunched like some sort of hunchback like that one movie about one who befriended a Gypsie, leering at the two with an extreme, wild stare more befitting of an animal than a person. One could hardly sense any kind of mind within him, if they tried looking into his eyes.

Both March 7th and Dan Heng gawked at the other dude whose name they didn't know, their surprise soon giving way to caution which spurred them to intake the dude's appearance. If he were standing upright, he'd be almost as tall as the spearman himself, reaching about five-foot height, weight probably between the average between him and the ice archer (Dan Heng refused to comment further, even a cold man like him knew what not to say in front of a lady). He guessed the dude was in his late teens, about 17 years of age if Dan Heng were to guess, sporting a rather muscular frame yet still somewhat toned, with wild silver hair reminiscent of an untrimmed bush with faint pale green leafy strands mixed in. His Eyes showed themselves as a grassy green while a small scar runs down the left one.

Judging from its damp appearance, Dan Heng guessed it was rather recent.

Next was his outfit, of which both felt rather relieved that he had one as with the way he'd been acting like an animal, he might have gone commando or something. His attire consists of a black sleeveless form fitting muscle shirt, a black studded choker around the neck. His hands are covered by a pair of fingerless riding gloves that have a silver skull engraved on their backs, with the body covered by a single large, hooded black leather trench coat. The hood has a silvery flame along its edges, the same designs running along the bottom. On the coat's back is a larger silver skull, one holding a longsword in its mouth. On his legs are a pair of black cargo pants with pocket pouches on the thighs and some zippers on the hips, held in place with a black leather belt and a silver rectangular buckle. He has them lumped over a pair of black trainers with silver soles and Velcro straps. Several chains hang from the pants and hook around to the front.

Overall, a bit of an edgy look, but that wasn't surprising to the two nor was it something that they paid attention to. No one of the things that got their attention the MOST had been latched onto the boy's face covering its lower half: A black mask shaped like the lower half of a skull mouth frozen into a psychotic grin.

Each of them shuddered at the sight of it, with Dan Heng finding it like some of the Oni masks he had seen a few times back in his homeland. It invoked this... unsettling sense of dread and danger that saturated the atmosphere, like it was presenting the wearer as a deranged psychopath like is demeanor didn't do enough of that. Combined with the hood that currently covered most of the male's face, and the eerie shadow his form cast looked and felt much bigger than it had any right to be...

Like it would wrap around them and drag them into the abyss with the notion of consent not applying.

"Grrrrr...grrrrrrrr..."

The astral express duo turned stiffer than a statue at the low, feral growls churning within the other male's throat, combined with the heavy breathing he currently occupied himself with. His hands flexed and clenched like he couldn't decide whether to form a fist or a claw position. But even so, he dared not move...

And neither did the duo.

"Um... Dan Heng...?"

"Don't move a muscle, March..." Not willing to let the girl say anything that could potentially get them killed, Dan Heng slowly but surely slid a leg forward while keeping his gaze locked on their adversary. Inch by inch, the spearman slowly positioned himself so he could keep March 7th away from the silverette's line of fire, putting himself in harm's way instead. In his mind, the girl wasn't suited for close combat, she was more equipped to fight at a distance and her ice powers only further cemented this notion.

For a moment, neither side moved with each one glaring at one another, calculating whether they were going to attack or just daring the other to make a move already. The air felt thicker than mud with the tensions running high throughout the atmosphere, like it was bathed in lightning's fiery embrace with sweat pouring down their brows... well, mostly March 7th and Dan Heng's, the masked male just stared intently at them with his hands now fixed into claw positions.

...

SNAP!

Something snapped, and that became the signal for the masked male to act.

"GRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

In an instant, a furious roar ripped itself free from the male's throat that his mask muffled into this distorted, glutaral sound. Following that roar, the masked male bends his legs like he was going to sprint the 100-meter dash before he exploded forward like a bullet, instantly closing the distance between the three of them. Dan Heng immediately made to swing his Spear at the male's face, trying to go for his eyes to try blind him, something normally he wouldn't have done but considering the threat he posed to their safety the spearman couldn't take chances...

Only for the male to suddenly vanish like a mirage.

"?!"

Before Dan Heng could process this, a sharp pain exploded within his right hip with the source being the masked male, who had pivoted around the blow so fast he resembled a blur before using the momentum to swing his right fist into the guy right beneath his ribcage. The man spat some blood from his mouth thanks to the blow's crushing force, his form being sent flying through the air and into a nearby wall, a loud THUD accompanying the body's impact.

"DAN HENG!"

March 7th wailed but didn't get the chance to do more as the masked male had already closed the distance between them with his right fist cocked back and arm tucked in for an uppercut. She flailed about trying to notch her bow with an ice arrow, but she soon switched to leaning back midway due to the lack of time and distance between them. Good thing she did, because the masked male's fist just BARELY missed her chin by a few inches, the girl stumbling backwards till she regained her composure and tried to re-notch her bow again.

Something which once again failed due to the masked male having once more closed the distance, twirling into a slapping motion towards her face with his hand clenched into a claw-like formation. Again this move didn't hit its target this time due to March 7th having ducked under it before she raised her leg to try and kick him away, but the masked male slammed his elbow onto the leg to counter its force with his own... his elbow meeting her shin and the girl yelping at the sharp pain that spiked through the limb.

Seemingly recalling that he had other limbs than his right arm, the masked male thrusted his left arm towards her face with the hand positioned to grab her, much too similarly to when he'd dragged her into a meeting with the wall without her consent.

This time however, March used her position to her advantage, doing so more out of instinct than any coherent thought or strategy. Her body lurched, and she knelt before him which took her head out his arm's path, and when he tried kneeing her in the face March held her hand out... and the moment her palm touched his knee the masked male's eyes widened when he saw the entire kneecap get frozen over with some bluish pink ice.

"GRAAARGH!"

"Take a chill pill, it'll sort that mood out!" March 7th couldn't help but quip, not really expecting a retort as she used the precious few seconds, she'd bought herself to form her own ice arrow and notch it onto her bow. Drawing the string back, she aimed for his face with the intent on freezing him from head to toe, letting the arrow fly without a second to spare for fear of her attempt prior not being fast enough.

A quick shifting of his gaze warned him of the threat, so the masked male leapt off to the side avoiding it. He planted both feet onto the floor, slid along it before halting next to a wall, his lips growling and grunting behind his mask as he glowered at the bubbly archer... who started sweating profusely when she saw the look of murder burning behind that gaze.

Almost like she wasn't facing anything human... but something more aligned to the demonic.

Fortunately for her she didn't have the opportunity to experience the hell the male had in mind for her, because Dan Heng had regained his bearings and dashed forth towards the masked male, bringing his attention back to him. Getting close and wasting no time, Dan Heng's spear got thrusted several times at once making it release afterimages, each one aimed at the male's tendons to try and inhibit his movements. Thrusting at his head like what had happened before didn't work, so that had been the man's alternative, but the masked male weaved in-between each stab, his eyes sharp and alert behind his hood.

Pulling back his Spear, Dan Heng twirled a full 360 and struck with its back end which the male deflected upwards by angling his forearm in a specific way, but the spearman didn't let that stop him and instead used the momentum to leap into the air and thrust downwards at him. The masked male snorted at this, a feral grunt leaving him as he pivoted around the bow before lashing out with a strike of his own in retaliation towards his arms, causing Dan Heng to gasp and reflexively release his Spear. The masked male then kicked it away with the weapon impaling a wall's untouched section and most importantly out of Dan Heng's reach.

From there...

BANG!

"?!"

Blood spewed from the spearman's mouth when the masked male's fist found its way right into his abdomen, several cracking sounds filling the air as evidence of broken ribs. The male stumbled backwards, but the masked male (after dealing with March 7th by tripping her up with a sweep kick before kicking her into a wall) hard enough to turn any normal human into paste) didn't let him get much distance and instead slid up to him, landing more and more blows with each one being just as charged as the last, some going to his chin, others his chest or face, it didn't matter since they all achieved the aim of pushing him back till his back hit a wall...

To which the masked male REALLY let him have it.

BOOM-POW-POW-SWIPE-SWIPE-SWIPE, POW-POW-POW-POW-BANG-CRUNCH!

All kinds of haymakers descended upon Dan Heng's immobile form, each second like a slot being filled with one type of hand attack that rained upon him without a shred of mercy. Blood had already been drawn by the time the second punch had descended, but soon enough bone and flesh began to join the blood in flying off the spearman's body. Ordinary light jabs, straights haymakers, corkscrews, chops, palm thrusts, claw swipes (those tore at skin and bone alike) and the like spread over his body like a plague being brought atop him with Dan Heng barely managing to get his guard up to block the majority so only the non-vital areas got through.

'Th-this...this i-is bad... I... I can't fi-find...!'

Poor spearman couldn't even think with how bad this ass whooping was, nor could he find any opening to counterattack. His primary weapon was his spear, which was an important thing to note about him because although his spearmanship had been nearing a level of mastery in his homeland's eyes, that meant he didn't have that much experience in other types of combat namely hand to hand. He was used to keeping his opponents at a distance, save for when he performed leaping attacks towards their vital spots. He couldn't even utilize his ultimate technique without his spear, putting him in a SIGNIFICANTLY dangerous spot.

He wasn't too worried about his wounds though since they could heal if he got to a space anchor in time. The main problem was this guy just wasn't letting up, and he didn't know how long he could hold out for.

If only...

"HEY, MEANIE!"

"?!"

Before the masked male could deliver a straight that would have pushed through Dan Heng's guard and reduced his head to paint on the wall, his eyes and that of the spearman's enlarged themselves when they heard March 7th's voice. The voice held great volume, ripping through the atmosphere and surpassing the sounds of the masked male's fists meeting Dan Heng's flesh, mercifully granting the spearman a reprieve that he did not waste. Thus, with a quick dive roll to the side, the said male quickly recalled his spear back to his person before turning to where his ally had been located, having raised her bow and notched a series of arrows... to the space above their heads.

Instincts took control, and Dan Heng raced out of the splash zone his brain concocted. 'Damnit March, I'll be scolding you harsh after this...!'

'He's gonna be so mad after this...!' the said archer mentally bemused, not looking forward to the lecture Dan Heng would be launching against her once this had been over. But she shook those thoughts aside for now and unleashed the arrows. The masked male raised his head, his eyes shining with confusion behind his hood in apparent wonder about what was happening... before they turned into saucers when they all descended upon his position and the surrounding areas, seemingly transforming into a set of these strange objects he didn't even TRY to describe.

Before the male could react, his entire body got encased in a whole ice block alongside the initial surroundings.