The battlefield was a maelstrom of gnashing teeth and tearing claws, a cacophony of monstrous roars and the clang of steel. Tim, his brown hair plastered to his forehead with sweat and grime, let out a triumphant yell, his voice hoarse but filled with hard-won exhilaration. "I got him! He's safe and sound now! I'm already moving him back to base Jim, so let loose and give them hell!" His marauder armor, deliberately stained to a muddy brown rather than the standard red and black bore fresh scratches, testament to the close-quarters combat he was involved in to get to John. His hands that were plunged deep into the churned earth were trembling with exertion, but his dark eyes gleamed with fierce satisfaction. Next to him his brother Jim, with blonde hair a stark contrast to his own nodded with a wide, confident grin mirroring his brother's. His yellow-hued armor seemed to shimmer faintly as the monstrosities turned their focus to him.
"Time to see if those ugly crawling things can take a high-rise lightning strike." Jim responded, his voice buzzing with barely contained energy as he clapped his hands together with a sharp crack that cut through the roars before he flung them upwards. A deafening thunderclap ripped through the air, followed by a brilliant, fleeting flash of light that seemed to surge from his fingertips. In perfect synchronicity, Tim drove his hands deeper into the ground, twisting his body with raw force as the earth beneath one of the closest Chimeras churned violently, groaning as if alive and spreading out before it erupted in a jagged pillar of rocks that shot skyward, impaling the creature. Before it could even shriek as a thick, searing bolt of yellow lightning streaked down from the heavens, striking the grotesque monster and its earthen prison. The combined force was apocalyptic, a violent flash of blinding light and an almost ear-splitting crack of thunder that disintegrated both creature and pillar into dust and lingering smoke.
A shared breath of triumph escaped the brothers, a moment of fleeting relief that threatened to buckle their knees. They stumbled, nearly collapsing in their exhaustion, but their chests swelled with pride at having annihilated another enemy. Their happiness though blinded them to the imminent danger. A pair of grotesque, chitinous Chimeras, hidden by the dust cast up by the moving earth, launched bone spikes at them. The projectiles flew with lethal speed, aimed squarely at their chests but a massive shield materialized in an instant to block the attack. The bone spikes slammed against the reinforced steel, a sound like hammers striking an anvil but failed to penetrate. An older figure, his face etched with battles fought and won, held the shield steady, raising it slowly. "Don't get cocky, boys," he chided, his voice a low rumble, yet a faint, mocking smile played on his lips.
Not far behind, the rest of the disabled destroyers charged in with a brutal, practiced grace. One warrior, his left arm missing wielded a massive broadsword in his single hand with surprising ease, a blur of motion as he carved through the last few chimera's. Beside him, another, with a heavy, twin-headed axe, moved like a whirlwind, each powerful swing severing limbs and cleaving the remains left behind with gruesome efficiency. Their teamwork was a testament to countless battles fought side-by-side, a silent symphony of trust forged against man and beast alike. Each swing, each cut hacked off more and more pieces from their targets until nothing was left but small, pulped chunks of what were once fearsome creatures.
All the while, a formidable, heavily armored figure engaged the Hulkers, there hides seemingly thickened after being forced to merge more to recover from there burns now impervious to all but the most relentless attacks. Initially, the armored warrior was knocked around like a ragdoll, their heavy plates groaning under the immense impacts. Dents spiderwebbing across the metal as audible grunts of pain escaped their helmet, they used a large sword more as a crutch than a weapon seemingly only able to endure the monstrous beasts' hammering blows without a chance to fight back. It was a brutal, one-sided pounding. Then, a final, earth-shattering blow from a hammer-fisted Hulker connected, shattering a thick section of the armor and sending the figure crashing to the ground, seemingly defeated.
But just as the Hulker moved in for a final, crushing strike, a palpable shift in the air could be felt as a tremor rocked there from. The downed figure bolted upright with an impossible speed, a hand shooting out the instant they straightened and plunging directly into the Hulker that had knocked them down initially. With a sickening squelch, they pulled its massive head to face level, delivering a brutally efficient headbutt that cracked bone. The other hand being used to balance them as their single leg, no longer a crutch but a pendulum of destruction, swept the monstrous beast off its feet with a solid kick. Before it could even hit the ground, the figure leaped onto its chest, stabbing the sword deep into its skull. With a roar of inhuman strength they proceeded to rip the Hulker apart before launching themselves at the next closest one, a whirlwind of newfound, terrifying power well acting as little more than a beast.
"What the hell are you all doing! Kill these ants already!" Gin screamed, his voice now laced with a frantic edge, a tremor of pure panic as he began to slowly lose what little of his forces he had left. The syringes, capable of fusing and creating stronger monstrosities had their limits. There had to be enough genetic material, enough intact specimens to form the new abominations. As for mutations, that was a dangerous, one-time gamble and even if he wanted to try it many times more, he was already running dangerously low, he only had three syringes left and his confidence had already begun to waver; he didn't have enough left to ensure they would even be able to inject them effectively.
Seeing another hulker quickly torn to shreds by the rejuvenated warrior, Gin chose the only course of action he could think of: escape. He commanded the hulking beast he was riding to turn and run. But as it began to lumber away. Two arrows, fired with silent precision caught it behind the legs that forced it to its knees with a guttural bellow. Before it could recover, an eerie sword, humming with an almost predatory song howled through the air, cleanly severing its head before a second swing, carrying a strange, invisible wind, sliced the beast's body into ribbons knocking Gin violently to the ground where he tried to scurry away.
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere," Saya's voice cut through the chaos, cool and utterly devoid of mercy as she stared down at him. "You don't get to come and go as you please after causing so much trouble." Her eyes, usually a calm hazel, now held a deep, unfathomable glow and an unfelt breeze seemed to stir her clothing, making her dark hair dance. Slowly emerging from the dust not far away was Ray, her bow already notched, an arrow poised for release at any moment with her gaze locked onto Gin.
"You think you've won! Think again!" Gin shrieked, scrambling back, his hand raising the three remaining syringes towards his own neck, a desperate attempt at self-mutation. But before he could even press the plungers, one of Ray's arrows struck with pinpoint accuracy, shattering the delicate glass vials into glittering shards. A split second later, Saya's blade, moving with impossible speed, flashed to remove his arm, still clutching the bottom parts of the broken syringes, it fell to the ground with a sickening thud making him scream in agony, clutching the spurting stump of what was moments ago his limb.
"Oh, just shut up!" Saya yelled, her patience evaporated. With a swift, powerful kick to his stomach, she toppled him over. Before he could even gasp, another precise kick landed squarely on the back of his head, silencing Gin and knocking him out cold, a faint sneer of disgust on her lips as she looked at him before turning to the battle, watching as the last of the horrible creatures fell with a frown on her face, this fight wasn't something that John or the others should have had to face without them and it caused a faint nagging feeling at the back of her mind, the faint shadows only she could see whispering how this was the first domino to fall in a chain of drastic changes and events.