At the opposite side of the amphitheater from where we entered I spotted the cave tunnel leading out towards the vault as we ran.
"There!" I yelled pointing it out causing the others to join me as we made a mad dash for it.
The Lancemen quickly moved pressure from the Seraphs to us once we did this however. This raised their mortality rate drastically as the Seraphs quickly started to overwhelm them but these soldiers apparently thought their lives in exchange for buying time for Steele was a good trade.-
I cursed at the bastards angrily but was forced to tank some bullets with my body to keep my friends from getting shot to pieces. My shield broke and I could feel the bullets digging into me more and more by the time we finally reached the cave passageway only to freeze at what we saw, a thick metal gate. My brain turned a thousand thoughts a second at this complication even as I took more and more bullets into my back. Between the pain and sheer unyielding agitation I was felling I snapped and activated the last resort part of my powers, [BURN].-
Instantly my tattoos started radiating an intense green light and my body expanded monstrously with my non-stretching clothes ripping. Electricity, fire and acid wreathed my form like a divine aura while the bullets coming at me disintegrated on contact with these elements. I turned around and took a deep breath causing my massive chest to expand like a balloon before exhaling a beam of white hot death. Stone, metal, flesh or bone it didn't matter as anything this beam touched ceased to exist from the sheer heat breaking apart the molecular bonds holding it together.-
Just as fast as I activated [BURN] however I cut it off shrinking back to my usual size while grimacing at the loss of the 257,917 units of lifeforce. My wounds were healed and the bullets stuck in my body were gone though so it wasn't all bad. As if to mock me the gate started opening at this point to reveal five Lancemen who were NOT ready to deal with what awaited them. They were gunned down the instant the chance arose by my friends. I myself however just stood there catching my breath since [BURN] put a serious level of fatigue on me.-
"I ever mention how glad I am that you are on our side?" Lil said with a shudder as she looked at the destruction I had done in no more than a couple seconds.
The Amphitheater simply didn't exist anymore. A trench of red hot melted stone as long and wide a a football field was all that was left. Even I had no idea that I was capable of such destruction but given how [BURN] worked that was not a surprise. That part of my powers took all the integrated traits I had at any given moment and cranked them up to their highest potential so long as I had the lifeforce to fuel it.-
"Once or twice, no time to talk about how awesome I am though. Got a vault to open and a bitch to murder, not necessarily in that order." I said seriously as I stripped off my tattered jacket remains and put it in my inventory.
My friends grimaced at the many holes that were clear in my skin suit under my jacket as I walked past but moved out with me without hesitation. Would be weird if they weren't willing to follow me at this point after I had literally taken bullets for them.-
The Seraphs all seemed to vanish once we got past the amphitheater as we saw none as we moved through the cave and finally reached it's end.
"Oh this is some Grogshit!" I cursed at the sight that greeted us.
The path to the vault was a snow covered rocky wide one with statues crumbling along it's sides and Atlas drop pods with small encampments set up periodically along the whole fucking way. The problem? It was a gods damned warzone. The Lance were fiercely fighting against what had to be hundreds of Seraphs that were quite keen on killing them all.-
The fact there were only slightly less Lancemen didn't help things at all. Thankfully the fighting was spread out and the path was full of cover we could use.
"Same plan as Headstone mine?" Roland asked seriously.
"Yeah. If it moves kill it, if it's dead you move on. And for the love of all that's fucking good don't try to copy any heroics I might do. I've got traits to keep me alive, you all don't. I save any of you from meeting the reaper just nod and shoot whatever the fuck tried to make the introduction." I say sternly and get nods all around.
"Let's get these bitches!" Brick say with a bloodthirsty grin as we charge headfirst into the closest fight.
It was a firefight of two elite Lancemen and three normal soldiers versus seven Seraphs with four of them being slashers, two Arch guardians and one artillerist. Neither side were prepared for us as we bust onto the scene like the mother fucking Kool-Aid man, wrecking shit. Brick uppercut a Slasher, Mordy popped an Arch guardian in the weak spot, Lil popped into existence behind an elite Lancemen and blasted his face with her fire powers.-
I had both of my guns up as I shot at two other Slashers who were in the process of disemboweling a normal soldier. Roland tossed out his turret and started going ham on raining bullets down on the last elite. All of this happened in a span of no more than thirty seconds so naturally both the lance and Seraphs barely had time to register that a new party had entered the conflict. Soon enough we tore through both these groups and I took the lifeforce and Eridium from the surroundings before moving on. -
One thing I noticed as we moved along the path was that the amount of lifeforce I was gathering was almost as much as the energy I was drawing from the Eridium. A LOT of people had died nearby recently. Judging from the amount I was gathering I'd say well over a hundred people in fact. Just goes to show how hard Steele and Atlas by proxy were trying to get to the vault. I wasn't all that surprised by it honestly since at least ONE person in the company must understand how vital it is for the companies survival.-
That or Steele simply didn't care how many bodies she had to throw at the problem to fix it which wouldn't be surprising at all. She struck me as one of those stuck up bitches that had been given too much power without earning it. To be fair the same could be said for most sirens but her especially. That reminded me for whatever reason but yes Steele is a siren though as to what her powers are I am uncertain. For some fucking reason she never used them or if she did they weren't very showy and couldn't be actively identified.-
My theory was that she had Phase trance as Phase shift would be VERY fucking noticeable and Identifiable. It couldn't be Phase walk, Phase evolve or Phase lock though since I, Maya and Lil had all three of those covered already. I suppose it could be whatever the other two siren powers out there were since I had no idea what they were but I suppose I'd find out soon enough. There was no way Steele walks away from this in the end. -
She can't without betraying Atlas entirely. The options laid out for her were simply that she wins against us(I really doubted it) and somehow also kills the vault monster. She wins against us but fails to kill the monster. She loses against us and flees even if it means betraying Atlas or she loses and dies because she refuses to betray Atlas. There was no option where she could save herself after losing to us without Atlas declaring open season on her ass, then again the company is run by incompetent idiots so who fucking knows at this point.
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https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro
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Alexander Drake
Lifeforce: 915,772
Integrated Traits: [Gun mastery-Rare grade]X3, [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, [Demi-supreme body-Legendary grade], [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade]X2, [Energy projection-Legendary grade], [Superior vitality-Epic grade]X2,[Lesser dragon breath-Epic grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade]X2, [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Elemental body(fire)-Legendary grade], [Shock resistance-Epic grade]X4, [Energetic sustenance(shock)-Epic grade]X2, [Radiation resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(radiation)-Epic grade]X2, [Biometallic bones-Epic grade],[Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]X3,[Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Buzzaxe expertise-Uncommon grade], [Siren(Phaselock)(Altered)-Mythical grade], [Pugilist expertise-Uncommon grade], [Adrenal rush-Rare grade], [Mechanical engineering expertise-Rare grade]X3, [Gunsmithing expertise(degrading)-Common grade]X3, [Elemental body(Corrosive)-Rare grade], [Corrosion resistance-Rare grade], [Mechanical Savant-Epic grade],
Stored traits: [Flame breath-Uncommon Grade], [Tinkering instinct-Rare grade], [Minor regeneration-Rare grade], [Superior vitality-Epic grade], [Omega body-Rare grade]X2, [Supreme Armored hide-Epic grade], [Hard bones-Rare grade], [Sword expertise-Rare grade], [Gun mastery-Rare grade]