A/N: Enjoy the chap. Please don't throw stones, they hurt. (I am once again, utilizing reverse psychology.)
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[A few minutes earlier]
Under the necropolis of hellmouth, where light didn't dare shine, under the cathedral of onyx bones, Omnigul stood at the center of a chamber illuminated only by a sickly green flame.
She was surrounded by floating arcane sigils and spiraling ash. She moved with purpose, weaving threads of Hive magic into a tapestry of malice as it encircled the Crystal containing Crota's essence.
Her eyes flicked to the surface. They gleamed with darkness as she saw through the stone, peering through the dark using magic. Omnigul's heart stirred as she sensed something shifting on the Moon's exterior.
It was different now. There were no more distant whispers hidden within the seams of reality, no more phantoms she couldn't chase. No, there was only a sudden burst of Light.
Omnigul's mind snapped upright, she could finally sense it. Someone really had breached the periphery, and managed to move past the Umbral Veil. She narrowed her vision into a burning focus.
'Lightbearers.' Her lips parted.
A chant muttered from her core. The sigils flared. Below her, walls etched with Crota's glyphs began to drip with black ichor. And then she spoke.
"Bring me their souls."
Her command echoed through the Hive's underlayers, shaking the depths of Hellmouth. Far above, in the tunnels leading to the surface distant shapes stirred.
Hive Wizards responded to her call, their robes fluttered as magic coursed through their veins. They bowed as space fractured, and they flickered away.
Besides them, the darkness stirred again. This time, it converged, making portals that connected to an army of Knights. Then, tunnels stirred once more. This time, the soil itself seemed to tremble as it was dug out, revealing thousands of dark cocoons.
Omnigul's voice echoed again, birthing a legion of acolytes as they surged to the surface.
Finally, the dark seemed to settle. But at the very core of Hellmouth, something sinister was still moving. At the very core of the dark pits, caged within sorcery and blood were hundreds of Ogres.
The hulking fiends seemed to jolt, Omnigul's eerie whispers racing through their minds. born blinked awake. The Ogres blinked awake, and the chains caging them unraveled. As they realized they had been set free, their hands shivered.
A horrifying shriek reverberated in the depths of the pits.
Then. the Ogres lunged upwards.
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[Ocean of Storms]
Above, racing through the Lunar desert, the players desperately ran across scorched ridges toward, hoping to find respite.
Their breaths wheezed through comms. Their HUDs blinked. But there was no clarity—only the logic of survival.
"Keep running!" IEatPaint barked as he fully pulled the throttle, the sparrows thrusters flared as he rode beside ThunderClappin.
"We can't go any faster!" Waffles tailed him but the Acolytes were closing in, "Where are the others."
"Behind you keep going!" Undecided shouted as he streaked across a dune, followed by BearSpray and TheOneWhoKnocks, the three hunters zipped across the sands, twisting and turning as they tried their best to dodge the orbs of magic being hurled towards them by a cohort of Hive Wizards.
Dumbledore screamed, inches away from the Horde of Knight as he barely caught up with LeroyJenkins and ILoveLoot trailing ahead. "THIS IS NOT GREAT, NOT GREAT!"
"F*ck, throw A GRENADE!" ILoveLoot grunted!
LeroyJenkins raced forwards, "I can't! Weapons aren't enabled on a sparrow!"
"What! Who the F*ck decided that? This is stupid, STUPID!" Dumbledore cursed out the developers with all his heart, preparing to write a long worded email to their community forums.
"Keep up dogs! I see something there!" Waffles screamed over the comms as IEatPaint and her spotted dilapidated and old outpost in the distance.
The wind brushed past IEatPaint's face, his eyes narrowed as he surveyed the place. His HUD updated as the locations name became visible at the bottom left.
'Anchor of Light.'
"It's an abandoned outpost! GO inside!" He shouted, his sparrows thursters flared as he got closer and, once more as he drifted, slamming the sonic brakes, IEatPaint leapt off and grabbed his shotgun.
He raced towards the approaching Knights, ThunderClappin also jumped off, running beside him.
TheOneWhoKnocks, LeroyJenkins, ILoveloot, BearSpray, Undecided, Dumbledore and Waffles sped past them as the seven took cover.
The two titans stood side by side, ThunderClappin erected a large barricade as IEatpaint switch to his rockets. The duo fired relentlessly into the approaching army. Thinning their numbers as explosion erupted.
As for the seven that had reached the structure, all they found inside were shattered walls glowing with ghost-light. But the chamber offered no sanctuary. The walls stank of burnt oil and bone. The corridors were broken, as if torn apart by a thunderstorm.
The players scrambled to find a place to hide, but Anchor of Light wasn't a place that could hide them.
As IEatPaint and ThunderClappin held the line, the remaining seven climbed atop the roofs, looking at the approaching Hive army.
Screams and primal roars echoed beneath the bruise-colored sky, as figures crawled into view. A Legion of Hive Knights crested the dunes. Thralls poured over ridges like blackened insects. Wizards stood at broken arches where their robes billowed in unnatural wind.
As the players finally grasped the scale of the fight, they'd realized, that it was too late. They were not prepared for such a fight.
"What! Search and extract my as*. This is mission is a full on assault!" TheOneWhoKnocks grunted as he looked through his sniper scope.
With the Hive army marching closer, the player's HUDs flared once more. This time, their stagnant objective finally changed.
[New Objective: Survive.]
Druidic whispers of Wizards echoed in the distance as the legion of Knights marched closer.
IEatPaint and ThunderClappin had already ran back to the Anchors roof, unable to hold any longer.
Moments later, a wave of thralls clawed at the base beneath them. Amid the howl of wretched magic, and the endless waves of thralls, the players took their last stand.
The ridge around them collapsed into dust as a huge skirmish broke out.
They fought back-to-back.
TheOneWhoKnocks unleashed precision shots into the Wizards cohorts. Waffles hurled a Nova bomb at the feet of the Knights. Flames erupted as undecided unleashed his golden gun.
No matter how many times they died, the group of players managed to grab a revive and regroup atop the Anchor of Light.
"Hold them back!" Undecided yelled.
It was carnage. Wizards rained bursting spells; Knights charged in with cleavers raised; thralls swarmed in clouds. Every inch of sand was covered with bodies.
Finally, the players couldn't hold any longer.
[Mission Failed]
They died.
"NOOOOOOO!" Dumbledore groaned.
"This mission, it has to be bugged, IT HAS TO BE." Waffles raged as she saw their results
"Wait. WAIT!" Undecided closely examined the missions final reports. They did fail, but what really caught his eye was the small number at the top right.
[Checkpoint: 3/5]
"You see this?" He pointed it out, "We were close, we were VERY close."
"I mean, we are like level ten. The mission is level fifteen. I didn't think it'd be easy, but that shi* was too much." BearSpray shook his head.
"Look, just lock in." LeroyJenkins retorted.
"Let's try one more time. Anchor of Light is a checkpoint. All we gotta do is hold off till help arrives." Undecided nodded.
"If we do this mission in the next thirty minutes, its good. I have work later." Dumbledore chimed in.
Everyone agreed.
Then their screens flickered as they continued from the last checkpoint.
The world seemed to pause, as if they'd never failed. As if they were the anchor of reality. As the players attempted, they were back at the Anchor of Light, and the army was still approaching.
But just as they kept trying, they failed. They died, tried again, and died.
Three times in five minutes. But still, the players, did not give up.
In their last run, just as the pushed their limits and held on for ten minutes, without ceremony, the Ogres arrived.
Fifteen feet tall, and carrying an infernal gaze as they shot out fiend fire from their eyes into the Outposts walls. The wall crumbled, showers of debris cascading at their feet. Three of the players were knocked off-balance; one staggered into open ground.
Dumbledore's nova bomb collided directly into the Ogre's chest as the beast stumbled. IEatPaint roared as he ran straight ahead, thunder crashing into its eye.
Waffles leapt and glided as she rocked the Ogre's body with rockets. Until one Ogre fell.
But another wave marched in, three Ogres now.
"F*ck, WHERES THE HELP!" Undecided roared as he struggled to roll out of an Ogre's beam.
The players struggled, fighting tooth and nail with each passing second. But the mist seeped in closer, encircling them. The Hive armies marched, legions of Knights brandished their accursed swords and the Wizards wove their wicked magic.
The Players were now scattered into the Anchor of Light, fighting behind crumbling walls. And then, behind them, the mist parted. Or rather, it was consumed, by something unseen.
Their HUDs flared, Waffles blinked as she looked back. A blue spectre seemed to race towards them.
[New Objective: Hold back the Hive army with VENOM]
A black silhouette streaked past the players. Light coursing in his palms. Void darted towards the approaching Legions.
"Zamyr."
He unsheathed his blade, as a phantom swirled around his figure. A eerie grin etched on its face. Void swung, the lightning around him bled till it faded to a pale grey, thundering across the battlefield as his sword's strike shrieked, tearing through the dirt.
A storm surged, crashing into the legion of Knights as it consumed them whole, shattering them like glass. Void breathed as he brushed his fingers on the edge of his sword.
The Hive reeled, witnessing the uncanny phantom, unable to distinguish its power. And then, a silence gripped the battlefield.
"That's f*cking cool." TheOneWhoKnocks stood in awe as he saw the marching army halt.
"Remind me to get a sword." Dumbledore nodded.
Undecided agreed, "Bro has aura."
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