Moon D2404

  Daniel’s swing hit nothing but open air as the Ravager vanished from sight, a brisk wind buffeting him as it did. The Pioneer’s eyes widened as he swiveled around, only barely managing to put his sword between himself and the Xenos’s counter. The monster’s punch hit him like a sledgehammer, his whole body groaning as he blasted backward, completely out of control. Several of the soldiers below continued to shoot at the fiend, but it batted away the projectiles with lazy ease. The captain threw out another one of his tracking discs, only to have it shattered in the blink of an eye.

  Meanwhile, Daniel crashed into a wall, the armor’s shields lighting up and softening the blow. Nevertheless, his body shook from the stress as he grappled with these recent developments.

  The Great Kharnidd hovered above the Pioneers in a resplendent corona of ochre light, radiating an oppressive aura that sent shivers down the spines of any Pioneer that dared gaze upon it. Its whole body shone brighter than ever before, eyes now fully imbued with Psionic power, and the wing constructs on its back had taken on a new form. They’d waxed in power and majesty, growing more solid and detailed by the microsecond. The monster’s muscles had also begun to bulge with greater, more explosive power. Its veins grew larger and more obvious as they pumped violet blood through the creature at a vastly accelerated rate. The beast snarled as it destroyed all incoming attacks, only further enraged at its prey’s futile struggles. Daniel processed all this in slow motion, the man slowly realizing what’d happened.

  The Greater Ravager had used a Berserker’s Serum, a rare item valued by some of the most savage among the Kharnidd race. It boosted the physical attributes of its user and completely healed any damage it’d taken beforehand, with a serious cost. Usage of the serum diminished the user’s capacity for higher reasoning and made it more aggressive. It also restricted the beast’s Capacity usage. The Kharnidd could designate a single Capacity to use, but all of its other abilities would be temporarily shut down. The Capacity it did choose would be empowered significantly, but the Kharnidd’s versatility in battle would be greatly diminished. To top it all off, the beast would face severe physical and psychic backlash when the medicine wore off. Yet, the results were worth it.

  One moment, the beast hovered there, then vanished once more. Daniel watched, terrified, as the Ravager barreled toward him, its body shaking with newfound strength. He lurched to the side as the fiend crashed into the wall behind him, kicking up a massive cloud of dirt and rocks. Flying away, Daniel frantically spoke internally, “Nuntius, give the captain the following message.”

  Thinking was faster than typing, and Daniel sent his CO the key essence of a new plan as the creature emerged from the cloud of debris and streaked after him. The monster roared and bit down at him, something Daniel narrowly avoided by swooping downward, only to be struck by its waving tail. Internal alarms blared as the Pioneer tumbled across the room, acute pain flaring up in his side. The System was already working on repairing the injury, but Daniel knew his battery couldn’t take much more of that. Surging power into his wing’s thrusters, he slipped around the creature’s follow-up claw attack as it chased him down.

  “System Power at 50%”

  He dipped low, under a second attack, then shot forward to avoid the tail as it swished through the air just behind him. Armor glowing, he abruptly retreated up and away, but the Kharnidd closed the distance again. Daniel activated his Domain and brought his sword over his head and behind his back to block another of the creature’s hits. The Pioneer’s upward momentum was arrested as his body tumbled out of control again. In his fear, Daniel Overclocked his Hunter’s Domain, his senses going haywire as the sphere around him shone even brighter. However, the depth of the information the Domain was bringing him increased manifold, his head splitting as he suddenly saw the world around him in minute detail. Every shift of the cavern’s air, every shift of the enemy's muscles, he saw it all as the whole universe seemed to slow down.

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  This explosion of extrasensory power allowed Daniel to see precisely where the enemy was coming from and how. He rolled his upside-down body rightward to avoid the snapping jaws of his enemy, then parried the follow-up claw strike with a normal Destroyer’s Strike. He took the attack indirectly and rolled with the excess force, shifting out of the way of the fiend’s slashing tail. Undeterred, the monster swooped after him, its mouth open in a perpetual rictus of rage. Nimbly, Daniel rolled through every attack he could and parried what he couldn’t, spending mental energy like it was water to keep from being overwhelmed. In a mind-bending display of agility and speed, the two combatants drifted upward in a flurry of flashing claw and burning blade.

  Down below, Moravan had leaped forward to help the other men with the lesser Kharnidd invaders. Some of the backliners continued to buff Daniel, their support a key part of keeping the young man alive, but most of the others turned their blasters toward the lesser enemies on the captain’s orders. They laid into the Xenos with unmatched ferocity, Moravan going all out and using every ability simultaneously. A flying disc cut through throngs of Kharnidd as his blade swept out in broad arcs, his armor and full body enhancement turning him into an unstoppable juggernaut. His efforts, alongside the backup from the others, soon saw the enemy fleeing once more in search of easier prey. However, as the Kharnidd retreated, the captain called out once more, “FORWARD!”

  Visible confusion ran through the Pioneer ranks, with some glancing upward at Daniel’s fight, but most hurried to obey the CO’s orders. They rushed past their defenses and toward the caves the Kharnidd were retreating into at full speed.

  Meanwhile, up above, Daniel’s Domain Overclock had run out. He’d shot out more lasers in an attempt to buy time, yet the Ravager evaded the attacks with ease. It closed the distance and got in a few more hits before Overclock finally came off cooldown, and Daniel used it again. His head split with pain from the influx of info, and Daniel knew he was reaching his limits on multiple levels. His body ached, and his mind was simultaneously running out of energy and screaming in agony. He fought through all of it as the beast streaked toward him, baying for his blood.

  Their fight had grown closer to the ceiling once more as the Kharnidd herded the Pioneer upward, seeking to restrict his movements. Daniel fought to catch his breath as he deflected the one millionth claw strike, his focus wavering on a knife’s edge. They went around and around for an age and a half, time flowing like molasses. But right as the second Overclock began to peter out, Daniel noticed something pivotal. The chamber below him had been totally cleared of the other Pioneers, Moravan having ushered the last of the soldiers into the caves around them. With an urgent jolt, he shot through the last few yards up to the ceiling, transforming his sword into the warhammer again. The Ravager flew right after him, eyes gleaming with murder. Daniel hoisted the weapon aloft as the creature approached, waiting for his chance.

  The Overclock winked out right as the Kharnidd came into range, and Daniel hurriedly activated the Armament’s special function. The hammer’s head suddenly blazed with the light of a shooting star, the weapon turning into an enormous comet of fire as Daniel brought it down in a mighty swing. Under normal circumstances, the Kharnidd would have easily dodged the attack, but the fire trail behind the hammerhead was that of a jet engine. It propelled the weapon downward with blinding speed, and the Kharnidd couldn’t even react as it was struck with the force of a thousand meteors.

  “Heavenly Starfall”

  The Ravager let out a shrill cry as the heat seared its skin, its bones snapping like dry wood. Daniel gripped the hammer harshly as it continued to burn, the strike’s propulsive force holding strong even as the Kharnidd was pulverized. In truth, he was almost as helpless as the Xenos. He fought like mad to keep the weapon directed toward the only direction he was confident that there were no people. Downward.

  The duo shot toward the ground in a column of falling light, Daniel holding the hammer’s head on the Kharnidd’s body with ruthless determination. They crashed into the floor with an enormous BOOOOOMMMMM, digging deep into the earth in an eruption of ivory flame and flying earth. Daniel’s arms trembled at the center of the spinning inferno, his mouth open in a roar of exertion. The brilliant flare consumed his vision for an eon, scorching the rock around him as he dug ever deeper, until the power finally subsided. It turned from an inferno to a bonfire to a large campfire, before finally winking out entirely and revealing a world ablaze. The earth glowed with vivid blues and purples, distorting the air with the incredible residual heat. As Daniel fought to catch his breath, he watched the colors shift to sunset orange, then cherry-red, casting a comforting glow across his face. After some time, he finally straightened up, dismissed his weapon, and looked down.

  At the broken body of the Ravager beneath him.