Hars’Nocrot had grown tired of this chase.

  It had blasted through enough doors and blown up enough turrets to tax the patience of any purple-blooded Kharnidd warrior. Its prey had remained frustratingly out of reach the entire time. And just as It was making some headway, the enemy had begun moving to the lower floors of the facility. That forced It to deal with a whole litany of new defenses as It tried to follow after them. After one of the Two-Eyed Thralls was destroyed by a stray laser, It had finally had enough. Hars hadn’t wanted to do this, but it looked like It had no choice but to put serious effort into this project. It crushed another scouting bead, getting a clear grasp on the enemy’s location. Then Hars pulled out another item. It was a large globe, much larger than the beads, filled with a midnight black liquid that swirled around a glowing green core. Hars flexed its telekinetic energy, shrinking the globe to a more manageable size and popping it into Its mouth. These Enhancement Spheres were powerful tools but they took a toll on their users. The user would be worn out after the power boost wore off, requiring time or medicine to recover. Regular usage in a short period of time, or using more than one at once, could kill or cripple the user. The spheres were also rather expensive, even for someone as esteemed as Hars. But the benefits were impressive.

  Viridian veins bulged and Its eyes shone brighter as Hars felt the power coursing through Its body. In this state, It felt invincible. Raising Its palm, Hars gathered an obscene amount of energy much faster than It had on the surface before, preparing Its Annihilation Ray. It even Overclocked the ability, causing Its hand to vibrate with even more power. The walls themselves seemed to groan at the sheer amount of might on display, shuddering at the emerald sun that was born within their confines. The Thralls scrambled away, letting out a few pained screams as some of them were burned by simple proximity to the devastating move. Hars breathed in as It finished gathering the power. Then It exhaled.

  Releasing Annihilation.

  The beam melted the wall instantly, hitting the golden shield of energy that defended the facility's exterior. This energy didn’t last much longer before it cracked, allowing the attack to pass through the rock like butter. It cut through several facility hallways, destroying their shielding before reaching its target and punching straight through the rectangular room. Hars dragged the laser through the room's length, doing what It could to try to wipe out the enemy just as it had above. But even with Its most recent power-ups, this proved a complicated task. The Ray was passing through several energy shields and a large quantity of rock. These weakened the attack, slowing its movement and limiting the damage it could do. The attack soon petered out, leaving a large tract of heated rock and devastated metal in its place. It had apparently hit some of the facility’s power lines, forcing the lights around It to flicker and die. Now in darkness, Hars crushed another scouting bead, eager to confirm the enemy’s destruction.

  It was infuriated to see that ten of the targets were still alive. Its most powerful attack had only managed to reduce the enemy group by a third of its original size. Undeterred, Hars took off toward them like a rocket, using Telekinesis to fly at high speed through the area It’d just carved out. According to Its scouting, the enemy had run forward, through a short hallway and into an open, square-shaped room. They’d evaded Its laser by staying one step ahead of it, somewhat protected by the facility's defenses. Now that the Annihilation Ray had cut through those power lines, they would be defenseless before It. As It flew, Hars perceived a flash of a menacing power, the same one it’d sensed twice before. It slowed down, prepared to defend Itself from whatever weapon these enemies possessed that’d allowed them to slaughter Its subordinates. But just as quickly as that power appeared, it vanished again, causing Hars to be momentarily puzzled. Was the weapon some sort of advanced laser weapon? Had they fired a laser at It, only to miss miserably? It hadn’t seen a laser hit anywhere nearby. Were they shooting at something else?

  Shaking off the confusion, Hars continued onward. It soon appeared in the square room that the enemy had fled to, kicking up a cloud of dust as It performed a sudden stop. It was close enough now that It could detect the enemy with Its natural senses, no longer needing to resort to the beads. There were two hallways branching out from the room, one to Its right and another almost directly in front of it. The enemy had begun running down the hallway to the right, but they couldn’t escape It now. Hars raised Its hand, eager to finish this entire tedious exercise. Just as It was getting ready to pursue, however, Hars felt that something was wrong. Its earlier scouting report had shown ten remaining enemies, but now it only felt nine.

  Then, death breathed down Hars’s neck.

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  …

  The Pioneers had just been approaching the room’s exit before everything went haywire. Daniel’s breath caught in his throat when he felt the sudden spike of Psionic energy far in the distance. He didn’t know what that was, but it couldn’t be good. He and Arnold gave out the next order in perfect harmony: “RUN!”

  Their whole world turned green as a blinding ray of light cut straight through the walls. The Pioneers screamed in terror as they bolted away from it, but the devastating attack followed. Daniel heard several screams of pain join the cries of terror, only for those screams to be ruthlessly cut off after a single moment. Some of the men didn’t even have time to yell before the attack vaporized them.

  Then, just as soon as the attack came, it vanished. The Pioneers were shivering in pain and terror as the lights above them ominously flickered, then winked out. The heat of even the brief exposure to that attack had badly burned even its survivors, so all the Pioneers were forced to take a stimulant to keep themselves in fighting shape. Daniel then expanded his Domain to get a head count, feeling the pit of dread in his stomach growing. He felt a pang of grief when he realized that Geno Allbright was no longer there. The stout, swarthy man hadn’t been much of a talker, but he’d backed Daniel to the hilt. He’d trusted Daniel to lead him to safety, and now he was literally gone, not a trace of his body left. Glakon the Forsica was also gone, and Daniel heard the high, mournful cry of Leka as she realized that her brother was dead. Besides those two, they’d also lost three of the humans who’d originally come in with Korta, whittling their group down to just ten.

  However, it didn’t look like it’d stay that way for too long. In all likelihood, the Gamma class Kharnidd would be making its way to their position right now. Some of the others might’ve feared that the enemy was charging up another beam attack, but Daniel knew better. He had the info from the Kharnidd dossier, meaning he knew exactly what they were dealing with. This thing was a Kharnidd Mentalist, likely boosted by an Enhancement Sphere. Its body likely couldn’t handle the strain of shooting off another Annihilation Ray so soon, so it would probably try to close the distance and crush them with Telekinesis. Daniel needed to think fast if they were going to survive and was already calling out new orders: “Keep running that way! I’ll distract it.”

  Some of the Pioneers hesitated, either too shell-shocked to react quickly or too distrustful to continue to follow his plans. Surprisingly, Emily was the first on her feet and running in the direction he was pointing. As she passed him, she caught his eyes and gave him a look that seemed to say, “Thanks. Good luck.”. Arnold followed soon after her, the big man giving him a quick salute as he trundled onward. Eventually, the others came to their senses and ran after them. As they dashed away, Daniel gave a new mental command: “Engage the Uriel Protocol.”

  “Engaging Uriel Protocol, [Standard] Power”

  System Power: 2.5%

  Status

  Strength: 250 (+400)

  Dexterity: 284 (+750)

  Constitution: 215 (+250)

  Adaptability: 230 (+750)

  Psyche: 282 (+450)

  Fangs of Eternity: Offline

  Cloaking Tech: Offline

  Heavenwalker Tech: Offline

  Subfunctions: Standard

  Daniel was clothed in a new set of armor, one that was quite different from the set he got from the Makiel Protocol. That armor was bulky and flashy, thoroughly highlighted in gold and making Daniel look larger than he normally was. This set still had gold around the chest, limbs, and helmet, but it was less prominent. Most of this new armor was ivory and form-fitting, giving the impression of a lithe and dangerous predator. If Makiel was a tiger, Uriel was a panther. Less imposing, yet still deadly in a different way. The most elaborate portion of the armor was its greaves, which were decorated on the sides of their heels with small golden sculptures that each resembled the base of a wing.

  Daniel felt his senses expand as his Adaptability was boosted far beyond what it had ever been before. They improved considerably, allowing him to suddenly hear and smell in a much wider radius than before. His vision sharpened and clarified enough to allow him to see many details that he never had before. The sudden influx of info prompted a sharp intake of breath from Daniel, but he’d dealt with sensory overload before, so he managed to get himself under control quickly. Right after the transformation, he engaged the Protocol’s Cloaking Tech, causing his whole body to ripple, then go invisible. He knew that his sound and energy signal were muffled as well, his presence all but erased. Daniel scrambled out of the way as he watched the enemy fly into the room. The Kharnidd kicked up some dust and landed just a few yards away from him, completely oblivious to his presence. As the creature focused on Daniel’s fleeing comrades, he took his chance.

  Dashing forward, Daniel manifested the Fangs of Eternity.