Gideon ran as fast as he could manage, eyes locked on the ring of Bloodborn up ahead. They were coming at the enemy from the right and just behind, so he was hoping that he’d be able to get to within charging distance before they noticed the attack.
That hope was quickly dashed when every single one of the Stalker brutes turned to face Gideon, hefting their oversized swords and massive shields in preparation. Gideon noticed the difference only as he drew closer. These Bloodborn seemed a little bigger and chunkier than the others they’d encountered, and they hefted large onyx-colored shields rather than balled up fists.
“You see the shields?” he asked, between breath.
“Yeah,” Red replied. “Guess we’ll just have to hit harder.”
“Might make it difficult for the arrows to get through,” Mia said, but I’ll see what I can do.”
The good news was that the Bloodborn brutes didn’t seem to have any ranged weaponry and were content to stay where they were, forming a protective ring around the Strider. The bad news was that the Strider itself had turned to face the group and, judging by the swell of green light around its two gun-like appendages beneath the creature’s massive head, they were just about to be fired upon.
“Shit! Split up!” Gideon said, shifting his direction and moving off to the left as Red broke off to the right.
Mia and Bullseye did likewise, following behind the other two as brilliant green light exploded from the Strider’s front guns, sending two orbs of emerald power fizzing toward Gideon and his crew. One of the etherically-charged explosives hit the ground just to Gideon’s left, sending up shards of broken rock and shaking the rock beneath him, causing him to stumble as he continued running toward the enemy.
The second round hit the space between Red and Bullseye, landing just behind the AI tutor. The resulting shockwave drove the shielded turtle into the sky and Bullseye cried out in a panic as he soared overhead, much to Red’s confusion. The brawler looked up at the turtle flying directly toward the enemy and a smirk appeared on his lips.
There was no time for commentary as the Strider fired a second round of explosive projectiles. They were still at least a hundred feet from the enemy cluster, but Gideon decided to even the odds a little and close the gap with what he hoped was a clever move.
He channeled ether into his Shadow Charge and noted a holographic arrow stretching out on the ground ahead of him showing the maximum distance of the charge and how much ether it would cost. It was so far ahead that he couldn’t see clearly where he was going to land, but fortunately the mini map showed the end point of the charge.
Dialing up the ability until he was sure he could get right into the middle of the pack, he triggered Shadow Charged just as another orb of explosive ether landed ahead of him. Shadows swirled around Gideon as he emerged directly beneath the Strider and slammed his Harvester blades into the ground.
The resulting shockwave drew the attention of all nine Bloodborn Stalkers as well as the Strider itself, temporarily halting its gunfire. The stalkers turned to Gideon, slamming their wall shields into the ground and locking their curved blades into place beside each shield as they strode toward him.
The Strider spun around, its massive head twisting, armored legs raised as it tried to find Gideon. He triggered Phantom Step, moving through space to appear behind one of the Bloodborn brutes and driving his blade home.
The Stalker’s armor seemed heavier than the other units Gideon had encountered, but the same vulnerabilities could be found between the armor plates and his blades drove home, sending a spray of blood onto the ground as he wrenched them free and moved to the next enemy.
The Bloodborn moved much faster than he’d expected, spinning in place and locking their shields into the ground once more as they drove their blades forward. One of the wickedly sharp swords came to within an inch of Gideon’s head as he ducked aside and raked the edge of his blades against one of the shields.
He ducked and rolled out of the way of their attacks, keeping enough distance between himself and the edges of the enemy blades as he waited for his charge and Phantom Step abilities to recharge. The brute he had knifed in the back was still alive, but it had slowed significantly and blood continued to pour from the wounds on its back.
As he jumped back out of the way of a flurry of strikes from one of the Bloodborn, something caught Gideon’s eye. He looked up to see the absurd view of a small turtle encased in a protective bubble thud against the huger armored head of the Strider and then bounce off, flying through space as the AI screamed in their coms channel.
Something sharp stabbed through Gideon’s suit, tearing through the meat of his left arm as he pulled back and deflected the strike with his other sword. He triggered Dusk Veil, moving in beyond the blade and jamming his sword up into the gap between the Stalker’s helmet and chest plate. The blade drove deep as Abyssal Pierce did its work and the Bloodborn’s head was split apart by the impact.
Gideon twisted out of the way as two of the other brutes lunged forward and tried to skewer him with their blades. He stumbled backwards, reaching for the sealant on his right glove and quickly repairing the cut in his suit as he scrambled back crab style.
Before the brutes could drive home their attack, Red came barreling into view, smashing his club into the helmet of the first and using his momentum to shove them out of the way.
As he got to his feet Gideon noticed the wounded Bloodborn approaching. An arrow appeared, thudding soundlessly into the side of its head as if appearing by magic. The brute stumbled, reaching up with his sword hand to fumble with the arrow as vivid green spiderwebs of light began to work their way across its eyeless face and down to its neck.
Gideon left the dying Bloodborn, wondering why the other five Stalkers hadn’t attacked. They were still watching him, still standing with shields pressed against the ground, but it seemed that they refused to move more than a few feet away from the Strider they were clearly protecting.
The giant beast itself was having difficulty locating Gideon and the others and so had given up on trying and started to lumber toward the lunar station once more. Gideon was about to charge at the guards again when a cloud of noxious gas burst from the underside of the huge creature, filling the area with an acidic vapor that immediately began eating away at his EV suit.
“Damn it!” he shouted, triggering his charge ability to burst out of the corrosive cloud. “Red! Get the hell out of there, that shit will dissolve your suit!”
The brawler had battered one of the Bloodborn senseless and was working on the second enemy, unaware that his suit was beginning to dissolve.
“RED!” Gideon shouted.
The other man turned around, holding his club in one hand and the insensible enemy in the other. He caught sight of the sizzling fabric on the right arm of his EV suit and immediately dropped the enemy, running out of the cloud as he started choaking.
“I’ve got him!” Mia said, charging ahead and firing a burst of healing at the brawler as he slumped to the ground.
Gideon turned back to the enemy Strider, still walking toward the lunar base and having apparently forgotten about Gideon and his crew entirely. He needed to stop Big Boy before it got too far ahead of them and risked bringing in more of the Stalkers to defend. He needed an attack which was forceful enough to get the Strider’s attention and keep it locked on him.
Scanning the area, he saw what he was looking for and began running. He’d never been a big one for sport of any kind, but then again, Gideon hadn’t had an echo body before. With his heightened reflexes and added strength he bolted towards the falling object, images of remembered touch down scenes playing through his head as he held out his hands and reached for the falling turtle.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Stumbling forward, Gideon caught Bullseye but had to keep running to stop from falling head first into the rock. He inscribed a wide arc as he ran around in front of the huge Strider, shushing Bullseye as the turtle continued to scream.
“You need to trigger that bomb ability!” he said, shaking Bullseye in an attempt to get him to focus. “Shock Blast, or whatever?”
“Shell Shock Blitz?” Bullseye offered meekly.
“Yeah, charge it the moment I throw you and give this bastard everything you’ve got. We need to stop it from moving and try to split apart some of that armor.”
“But…there has to be another—”
“There’s no other way, Bullseye. You’re just gonna have to man up and do this. Either way I’m throwing you at that thing so unless you want to get eaten, trigger the damned ability.”
The turtle was still stuttering a reply when Gideon pulled back his arm and launched it at the Strider with everything he had. A scream followed as Bullseye shot like a bullet towards the massive Strider which was currently charging its weapons and looked as though it was about to open fire again.
Gideon started running, checking the timers on his abilities and hoping that the crazy idea he was about to try wouldn’t end badly.
“Red?! Are you up?” he asked, moving into a sprint.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Damned poison tastes like balls but Mia patched me up.”
“You think you two can take care of the body guard, keep them busy for a while at least?”
“Sure,” Red confirmed. “Where the hell are you gonna be?”
Gideon had no time to reply. Bullseye hit the Strider and the resulting burst of explosive power sent a shockwave out from the impact point that was forceful enough to knock the Bloodborn to their knees.
As it hit Gideon he jumped and triggered Shadow Charge, pumping enough ether into the spell to drive him into what he hoped was a split in the Strider’s thick armor. He shifted through space, bypassing the shockwave and the brilliant blue conflagration of etheric fire that had engulfed the Strider at the moment of impact. He also missed hitting the still screaming turtle currently flying back toward the ground like a pinball in a machine.
Gideon slammed into the head of the strider, his EV suit slapping against the hard, chitinous armor soundlessly. The impact was enough to drive the breath from his lungs and it sent a stab of pain through his body as knees, right wrist, and hip cracked against the solid armor.
Miraculously, he was held in place by his left sword which he’d managed to thrust into the gaping wound Bullseye’s attack had left. Gripping armor plating with his right hand, Gideon waited for his breathing to return to normal and the shock of the impact to lessen enough for him to act.
The experience was like a brain freeze from eating icecream too quickly, only instead of being localized to his head, he felt it in his entire body. The sound of Bullseye still screaming brought him back to his senses and he realized that he’d lost his other sword.
Wanting to capitalize on the moment, he pulled a Stalker talon from his inventory and jammed it into the pink, fleshy wound to his left, pressing his boots against the lip of the lower armor plate and shuffling over a little before wrenching out the longer sword with his right hand and holding onto the dagger with his left.
Feeling a little more stable but all too aware that the Strider’s head was bobbing up and down as it lumbered along, Gideon triggered Marked for Death against the huge beast and prepared to strike. He used Abyssal Pierce over and over, stabbing and thrusting with his right hand, while holding on for dear life with his left.
Blood poured from the wound as chunks of flesh sloughed away. Gideon’s visor was splattered with gore as the attack became more like mining into flesh rather than actually fighting an enemy.
He pushed into the hole he’d opened up, jamming the talon dagger in his left hand into the side of the wound to steady himself before continue to hack and thrust at the ragged tunnel ahead of him. Distantly, he was aware that Bullseye’s screaming had stopped and been replaced by grunting from Red as the brawler battered the Bloodborn Stalkers below.
“How you doing Gid?” Mia asked.
“Good!” Gideon blurted. “Just trying to get through this thing’s brain.”
Red laughed. “Sounds like you’re beating your pud, bro! How about turning down the sound a little?”
Muscles straining, blood and gore clogging his view, Gideon ignored the comment, cursing as he continued to drive a path into the Strider’s head. It felt like he was wading through thick mud, hacking and slashing away at the beast’s flesh, his boots sinking down with each new step.
He pulled the dagger from the side of the wound and used both blades to hack away at the flesh, gritting his teeth and grunting with effort. It was more of a necessity at this point than simply a way of killing the Strider. The flesh had closed in around him, threatening to smother Gideon if he didn’t keep cutting his way deeper and deeper.
“That was most unpleasant!” Bullseye said, his voice distorted as the signal coming through Gideon’s suit began to falter. “I’m telling you now, Gideon, I won’t be doing that again any time soon!”
Gideon burst out laughing. He was too exhausted to do anything else and his muscles were strained to breaking point. The fact that he was listening to a turtle complain about being used as a bomb was absurd enough if it wasn’t for the fact that Gideon himself was burrowing like a worm into the head of a giant alien.
“Shut your trap!” Red blurted. “And do something useful with those damned laser eyes!”
“I beg your pardon!” Bullseye retorted.
Gideon stopped carving. He sagged against his arm, breathing heavily, unable to go on. He was surrounded by almost complete darkness, with the only light being the smallest opening a few yards behind which opened out into the moon floor.
That opening was rapidly closing and he could feel the surrounding flesh pressing against his body, a gruesome, smothering embrace that would be his tomb if he didn’t keep going.
“You still with us, Gid?” Mia said, her voice patchy but clear enough to jolt Gideon out of his exhaustion.
“Yeah. Just cutting my way through. This thing is massive. I don’t know how long it’s gonna take me to get through.”
“Well,” Red interjected, “you’d better hurry because it’s gonna be close enough to start shooting at the base if you don’t bring it down soon.”
Gideon grunted, hefting his weapons and preparing to start again.
NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED
BLADE FLURRY
The Shadowwarden unleashes a relentless storm of dual-blade strikes, moving at blinding speed to carve through enemies in rapid succession. Each hit shreds armor, siphons ether, and applies a stacking bleed effect, making foes weaker with every strike.
Effects:
10 rapid slashes in 2 seconds, dealing heavy burst damage. Each strike ignores 10% of enemy armor, scaling up to 100%.
Bleeding Wounds: Inflicts stacking bleed damage over 5 seconds.
Ether Siphon: 20% of damage harvests ether from the enemy.
Ether infusion: Adds shadow clones that repeat the slashes for extra devastation.
“Holy shit!” Gideon breathed.
“What?” Mia asked. “What is it?”
“Nothing. Just picked up a new spell, that’s all. Could help me get through this a little quicker.”
“A new damned spell?” Red complained. “Damn son, but you’re one lucky bastard.”
Gideon pushed back against the fleshy walls pressing in around him and triggered Blade Flurry. He felt a thrill of energy as his Harvester blade and Stalker talon whipped through the air, carving a path ahead with blinding speed.
Blood sprayed and chunks of Strider meat fell to the left and right as he cut a path through the creature’s head at speed. Two seconds blurred by and he noted a blue number increasing to the top left of his screen, likely indicating how much ether he was absorbing through the attack.
When the ability ended, he’d carve a path at least three times as far as he’d managed previously, deeper into the Strider’s skull.
Ether Harvested + 100
Renewed by the new ability, Gideon struck again, and this time his longer blade cut through the flesh and into what seemed to be an empty space beyond. He sliced through more of the pink meat and kicked his way through to a hollow chamber with a strange, luminescent soup swilling at the bottom and a large, brain like organ suspended by a stalk at the center of the organic chamber.
A red arrow flashed in his HUD pointing at the brain with a message showing beneath it.
PSIONIC CORTEX
A dense, pulsating organ housed deep within the Strider’s chitinous skull, encased in layers of black, resin-like plating that protect it from direct damage. Unlike a traditional brain, this heart serves as both a command hub and a psionic relay, allowing the Stalker to coordinate attacks, adapt strategies mid-battle, and issue orders to lesser infantry units within its psychic range.
At the center of the cortex is a writhing mass of bio-etheric tendrils, constantly shifting and pulsing as they channel raw ether energy. The Psionic Cortex is equipped with defense mechanisms capable of fending off direct attacks of both a physical and psionic nature.
Gideon read the message staring at the dark mass at the center of the chamber.
“Bullseye? Are you still connected with me? Can you see this?”
“I can,” the AI replied, “however I am unable to reach you directly and have had to tap into your echo. There is some kind of interference blocking your communications signal.”
“I’ve heard of psychic damage, but what’s this psionic stuff about? They don’t have that on Artemis do they?”
“I presume it’s of a similar kind to—”
Something black and snake-like lashed out from the core, latching onto Gideon’s body and wrenching him forward so roughly that he dropped the Harvester blade and only just managed to hold onto the talon. Thinking quickly, he tried to drop the falling Harvester sword into his inventory, thinking to salvage the moment, but the blade simply fell into the vivid green soup below with a resounding splash as Gideon was slammed against the side of the Core.
He grunted as thin tendrils extended from the he and bit into his suit, slamming against his skull and latching onto his head. He felt the sting of the tendrils connect and then…