Varrek stood tall, blood dripping from his fists, ready to run again.
But the Queen had seen enough.
She blurred.
BOOM!
Her strike landed like a star collapsing. Varrek's chest exploded inward, a gaping hole torn through his armor and body. Blood sprayed across the chamber as he coughed once, choking, eyes wide—then fell silent.
He was dead before his body hit the ground.
"VARREK!!!" voices screamed across the comms. Soldiers broke, captains cursed, the Wolves froze in horror.
Woo's stomach clenched, bile rising in his throat. Min-seo's voice cracked, "N-no... not him..."
⸻
The Elites Strike Back
Ten elite captains appeared in a flash of light. Blink Step Type-2. Their movements bent space itself, allowing them to teleport across star systems, across worlds. They materialized behind the Queen in perfect formation.
"NOW!" one of them barked.
Blades, rifles, and plasma cannons roared as they struck in unison, unleashing a barrage that could level planets.
For a moment, the chamber lit up like a sun.
But the Queen simply tilted her faceless crown.
⸻
The Counter
She blurred again.
SHHHK!
In less than a breath, she moved through them all.
Ten heads hit the ground, fountains of blood spraying upward. The elites' bodies collapsed lifeless, their helmets rolling across the floor.
Silence.
Then screams.
"She killed the elites—just like that—"
"Not even Blink Step 2 works—SHE'S UNTOUCHABLE!"
⸻
The Massacre
The Queen spread her wings. A wave of black light thundered through the chamber.
One hundred million soldiers vanished.
Not killed. Not wounded. Wiped from existence.
HUDs screamed in red: MASS CASUALTIES—100,000,000+.
The Wolves froze, their visors flickering from the overload of red pings. Jerome's voice broke. "She's—she's erasing us like we're NOTHING!"
Carla gritted her teeth, voice cutting through. "Eyes forward! Keep moving! Don't stop or we ALL die here!"
Hudson's calm broke just enough for his voice to turn sharp. "The trap isn't ready—we need more time!"
Hunter shouted, "Then we give it to them!"
⸻
The Queen's Wrath
The Queen stood at the throne's center, ichor dripping from her claws, her faceless head turning slowly toward the remaining billions.
Her voice echoed inside their skulls, deep, endless:
"You climb, you scatter, you bleed, you break... and still you think you can erase me? I am recursion. I am inevitability. I am your despair made flesh."
She raised her hand again. The chamber trembled, walls cracking under her fury.
The UNE had no choice—
hold her attention, or die before the trap could be sprung.
-
The chamber was chaos—screams, gunfire, the endless pulse of the hive.
Then the Queen vanished.
A whisper of shadow slid across the ranks.
SSHHHK!
Dozens—hundreds—millions of Marines ripped their helmets off in unison, as if invisible hands had seized them. Gasps and choking cries filled the comms. Within seconds their bodies dropped, lifeless, the vacuum tearing them apart.
Woo screamed, "NO! SHE'S SUFFOCATING THEM—!"
But before he could finish, she was already upon them.
⸻
Carla Falls
Carla's visor flashed warning just as the Queen's foot connected.
CRACK!
The kick slammed into her ribs, shattering them like glass. She screamed in agony as her body bent unnaturally, slamming to the ground. Her armor sealed instantly, auto-repairing, healing the critical damage to keep her alive—but the pain knocked her unconscious.
Her body twitched as the nanotech struggled to knit bone. She was alive, barely.
"CARLA!!" Woo shouted, voice cracking.
⸻
Hunter and Hudson Struck
The Queen blurred again.
BOOM! BOOM!
Hunter was lifted off his feet by a strike to his chest, sent flying across the chamber like a ragdoll. Hudson took a backhand so fast his body dented the wall, his armor sparking. Both lay motionless, their suits repairing furiously, keeping them alive but unconscious.
Jerome cried out, "Hunter—Hudson—NO!!"
⸻
The Wolves Scattered
Woo turned just in time to see the Queen's faceless crown tilt toward him.
THOOM!
Her strike caught him like a mountain. His body flew across the chamber, smashing into alien walls, his armor screaming warnings. He coughed blood inside his helmet, vision swimming.
Min-seo tried to cover him—only for the Queen to appear in front of him. One casual strike sent him spiraling through the air, smashing into the ground with a grunt.
John staggered, raising his rifle, but his hands shook violently. Jerome fired wildly, plasma bolts dissolving before they even touched her.
⸻
The Queen's Game
She didn't finish them.
She circled slowly, wings spreading, ichor dripping from her claws. The chamber shook with her voice, sliding into their minds like knives:
"Helpless. Fragile. Beautiful. I will not kill you yet, little sparks. Not until you break yourselves against me."
Her claws trailed sparks across the floor as she passed by Carla's unconscious body, Hunter's slumped form, Woo's twitching armor.
The soldiers weren't dead. Not yet.
The Queen was playing with them.
-
The Queen loomed over the broken Wolves, her faceless crown dripping ichor, her claws tracing sparks across the floor as she circled them like prey. Carla lay unconscious, ribs shattered but slowly knitting. Hunter and Hudson were limp, armor repairing. Woo and Min-seo struggled to rise, their bodies battered, their courage teetering.
Her voice slid through their minds, cruel and endless:
"I will not kill you yet, little sparks. I will savor your breaking."
Then—
BOOM!
The chamber cracked with force as a shadow blitzed across the floor.
The Queen shrieked as her body was launched backward, slammed into the wall with enough power to fracture her throne.
⸻
Reaper's Arrival
He stood where she had been, cloak fluttering, twin blue visors burning like divine fire. Behind him, soldiers poured in — Over 3 billion UNE survivors, the lost forces he had led through the Queen's labyrinth, emerging scarred but alive.
The Wolves looked up, stunned. Woo whispered, "...Reaper..."
Reaper's voice cut through the chaos, calm and unwavering.
He walked forward, every step echoing across the broken chamber. His visor never left the Queen as she staggered back to her feet, ichor dripping, her crown tilting in disbelief.
⸻
The Quote
Reaper's voice boomed, steady and filled with conviction:
"No darkness can erase the light of our Creator. No throne of flesh, no crown of lies will ever stand against His will. You are not eternal. You are not inevitable. You are finished."
⸻
Existence Erasure
The Queen shrieked and lunged—
But Reaper was already gone.
His body vanished into the Other Realm, slipping into the unseen space where souls and concepts themselves could be struck. His visor flared with divine light as he reappeared before her, hand raised.
The soldiers helmets screamed warnings—CONCEPTUAL EXECUTION DETECTED.
"By faith and by fire—BE ERASED."
His strike landed.
The Queen's body convulsed as light pierced through her, unraveling her from flesh to soul to the very concept of her being. She tried to scream, but no sound escaped.
And then she was gone.
Not slain.
Not killed.
Erased.
No resurrection. No return.
⸻
Aftermath
Silence followed. The chamber, once shaking with death, was still.
The Wolves, battered and trembling, stared in awe. Woo whispered a prayer under his breath, tears stinging his eyes. Jerome fell to his knees. Min-seo clutched his chest, trying to breathe.
Carla's helmet blinked with life signs, her body slowly stabilizing. Hunter and Hudson stirred faintly, alive thanks to their armor.
And Reaper stood tall in the silence, cloak fluttering, visor glowing like the eyes of judgment.
Monarch's voice echoed in every surviving soldier's helmet, heavy with awe and finality:
"The Queen... has been erased. The Hive is broken. Humanity stands victorious."
Billions cheered. Billions wept.
But the soldiers only stared at Reaper, knowing they had just witnessed something beyond victory—
they had seen the hand of God strike through a man.
-
The Queen was gone.
Her absence left a hollow silence in the chamber, broken only by the groans of wounded Marines and the hiss of armor auto-repair systems. The once-immortal Hive Mother had been erased, leaving behind a void that even the ichor rivers seemed to recoil from.
⸻
The Survivors Move
The 800 million soldiers Reaper had led stormed into the chamber, rallying around the fallen. Med-bots deployed stim injectors, Juggernauts dragged the wounded to cover, and squads carried stretchers through the wreckage.
Woo coughed blood into his helmet but waved off medics. "Help Carla first—she's broken bad!"
Jerome and John scrambled to Min-seo's side, pulling him upright as his visor blinked low vitals.
Reaper gave no orders, but his presence was enough. The soldiers moved like a tide around him, their faith in his strike still echoing.
⸻
The Reunion
Woo turned suddenly, his visor scanning through the crowd.
"Wait—Raul?!"
Through the chaos, a familiar figure pushed forward, armor scratched, helmet dented but alive. Raul staggered, supporting Marco with one arm while Asura strode calmly behind them, his armor still gleaming despite the carnage.
For a moment Woo thought he was hallucinating.
"Y-you're alive!"
Raul dropped Marco gently against a wall and grinned through bloodied teeth. "Alive, sore, and about three seconds away from passing out, but yeah! WE'RE ALIVE BABY!!! YEEEEAAAAH!"
Woo grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into a rough bro pat on the back. Min-seo laughed weakly. Jerome clapped his hands over his helmet, muttering, "Thank God... thank God."
Asura crossed his arms, his expression as unreadable as ever. "You look surprised. Did you think we'd just die that easily?"
Woo shook his head, "We thought we lost you, man."
⸻
The Wolves Whole Again
For the first time since the Hive began, the Wolves were whole. Bruised, battered, broken in places—but together.
Carla stirred faintly as medics stabilized her, and injected her with the stim shot healer. Hunter and Hudson regained consciousness, groaning, their visors cracked but alive. The squad slowly drew in, battered bodies leaning against one another.
And above them, Reaper stood silent, visor glowing, watching the Hive walls shudder as if reality itself was unraveling.
⸻
Monarch's Voice
Then the command channel cracked open, Monarch's voice booming in every helmet:
"All UNE units—status update confirmed. The Queen has been erased. But the Hive structure is destabilizing. The star system itself may collapse. ALL FORCES—EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY."
The ground trembled. Cracks of black ichor split the throne chamber, rivers of molten light tearing upward into the void.
The victory had been won.
But survival was not yet guaranteed.
-
The stim shots hissed as they pierced through armor ports—flesh knitting, bones reinforcing, lungs stabilizing. Pain was dulled, adrenaline surged.
The soldiers staggered up, patched and barely standing, but alive.
"MOVE! MOVE NOW!"
Hunter's voice snapped like thunder as he shoved Woo forward. Hudson hauled Jerome to his feet. Min-seo clutched his rifle with trembling arms, stim still kicking in.
And then the floor collapsed.
⸻
The Hive Implodes
The walls cracked like glass, ichor rivers boiling upward. A roar shook the chamber as the Hive's foundations shattered—its connection to the planetary core rupturing in violent chain reaction.
The entire Hive began to fold inward, screaming like a dying world.
Monarch's voice tore through their helmets, louder than ever:
"ALL UNITS—CONFIRMED CORE BREACH. THIS PLANET WILL DETONATE. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. FIVE MINUTES UNTIL PLANETARY COLLAPSE."
The words slammed into them like hammers.
⸻
The Evacuation Run
Reaper took point, his cloak whipping behind him as he blitzed through collapsing tunnels, clearing rubble with each strike. Behind him, 800 million UNE survivors stormed out, Juggernauts shielding squads, mechs blasting holes through debris.
Every second, the planet groaned, fire spilling through cracks as tectonic plates tore apart.
Explosions shook the ground, sending soldiers tumbling. VTOLs swooped into craters, grabbing evac squads before they were swallowed whole.
Woo's visor screamed red warnings: COLLAPSE IMMINENT—EVACUATE. He pushed harder, lungs burning even through the stim. "COME ON—DON'T STOP—!"
⸻
The Final Push
At the surface, chaos reigned. The skies split open, firestorms consuming the horizon. Ships scrambled to extract billions at once, their Quantum Cosmic Drives charging under immense strain.
The Wolves sprinted across collapsing bridges of alien stone, vaulting into the open as the ground beneath them cracked and fell into glowing magma.
Reaper turned back once, his twin visors locking on the survivors still fleeing the Hive's maw. He raised his rifle and fired into the crumbling passage, holding the collapse back just long enough for the last squads to escape.
⸻
The Last Second
Monarch's voice again:
"ONE MINUTE TO DETONATION. ALL UNITS—GET OFF-WORLD NOW!"
The Wolves leapt into their evac VTOL as it lifted off. Through the viewport, they saw the Hive collapse entirely, sucking down cities, oceans, and sky into a spiraling black wound.
Then the entire planet cracked apart.
BOOOOM.
The shockwave rippled outward, a star's worth of energy detonating as the planet shattered into molten fragments.
The Wolves' ship rocked violently as their pilot screamed, "HOLD TIGHT!" The Quantum Cosmic Drive spooled and flared—
and in a blink, they tore into hyperspace just as the system behind them was erased in fire.
⸻
The Wolves collapsed in their seats, armor sparking, lungs burning, hearts hammering.
They had survived.
But billions had not.
And as the ship went silent, every man and woman knew killing the queen... meant extinction to this powerful species.
————————————
To be continued...