Rolling my shoulders back worked out the kinks that had been building since first laying eyes on this nightmare. The Abilisk writhed in the clearing ahead, and wow, the files definitely hadn't done justice to how absolutely massive this thing was.
No eyes that were visible. No ears either. Just pure, concentrated "gonna eat everything that moves" energy wrapped up in a building-sized nightmare made of muscle, slime, and really bad attitude.
The creature stood easily three stories tall, covered in thick hide that glistened with natural secretion that is entirely foreign to me. Wet leather came to mind, it had serious tentacles, each one thick as a redwood trunk - whipping through the air with enough force to level trees.
But here's the thing about being a Green Lantern - everything, no matter how big or scary or covered in barbed suckers, has a weakness. Technically, I could use my ring to make that process easier. But what's the point of creativity, then?
"Alright, ugly. Let's dance."
The ring flared to life with green forward as forward momentum kicked in. The Abilisk must have sensed the approach because those tentacles came like guided missiles, cutting through the air with whistling sounds that suggested they moved faster than anything that size had a right to.
By weaving left I barely avoided a strike that would've created street pizza, then rolling right as another whistled past close enough to feel the displaced air. Each near-miss felt like getting slapped by a hurricane. These things were fast. Scary fast for something that size. Definitely filing that under "things the briefing didn't mention."
A barrel roll took the fight under a particularly vicious swipe, close enough to see the rows of barbed suckers lining each tentacle. Yeah, getting grabbed by one of those would definitely ruin the day.
The creature's maw opened, and it had a lot of teeth. Rows upon rows of them, each tooth was easily the size of a sword blade, curved inward to prevent anything from escaping once it got inside. The throat disappeared into darkness that looked like it led straight to somewhere unpleasant.
Flying straight at it felt like the obvious move.
As I flew towards it, emerald light trailed behind like a comet. At the last second, I pulled up hard while slashing downward with the spear.
The blade hit the creature's hide and... sparked. Skittered off like trying to cut concrete with a butter knife.
"Okay, that's just unfair."
But there were already marks up there. Thin red cuts along the creature's upper body, barely visible against the dark skin but definitely present. The cuts were deep enough to expose lighter tissue underneath, but they hadn't penetrated far into that armored hide.
Maybe someone else had been here recently?
The Abilisk roared, and the sound hit like a physical force, vibrating through bones and making teeth ache. Tentacles erupted upward in a coordinated strike that would've made any tactician weep with envy, this thing definitely had some level of tactical intelligence.
Climbing higher kept things just out of reach while the creature thrashed below. Those tentacles reached impressive heights, but not quite high enough. Physics was still on the good guy's side, for now.
"Missing something important down there?"
Clustered around what might generously be called the thing's shoulders are parallel slashes, like claw marks. Whatever had made them had been trying to get through that armored hide from the outside.
And apparently failing, just like the blade had.
But thinking outside the box was kind of a specialty. If the armor couldn't be breached from the outside...
"The inside it is."
Diving toward that gaping maw felt surprisingly natural. The Abilisk's roar grew louder as the distance closed, tentacles whipped from every direction, creating a maze of moving death.
Twisting between them while barbs scraped against his shield created sounds like nails on a chalkboard. One particularly close call left gouges in the green shield that sparked and sizzled.
Time to get creative.
Forming a chain of rotating spikes around my entire body felt right, each one would be razor-sharp and spinning independently. Ripping apart the creature's insides as I spiralled into its depths. The construct blazed with green energy, humming with power that made the air around them shimmer. Beginning to spiral as the creature's throat approached turned my whole form into a living drill bit.
As my flight carried the attack into the creature's maw and those massive jaws started snapping shut like a bear trap made of nightmares, I hurled the spear forward into the darkness while maintaining trajectory.
The spear struck something deep inside with a wet, meaty sound that echoed up from the creature's throat. The Abilisk's roar changed pitch completely.
Spiraling through the creature's gullet, the spikes carved into tissue that felt disturbingly warm and squishy. But the spinning spikes met resistance that would've stopped normal weapons cold, tissue that felt more like cutting through rubber mixed with steel cables than anything biological, seems the insides are just as tough as the outer.
Except Green Lantern constructs weren't normal weapons.
The smell hit like a physical assault, rot and acid that made my eyes water and stomach do things they weren't supposed to do. Plus something else, something chemical that burned the nostrils and tasted like copper pennies.
Note to self: invest in air filters.
The creature's interior was a maze of passages and chambers, following what seemed like the right anatomical direction took the fight deeper into alien territory, walls around pulsing with the creature's heartbeat - thunder that could be felt in bones.
Bioluminescent patches provided just enough light to see things that really, really didn't need seeing. Everything was connected by thick cables of tissue that sparked with electrical activity when the spikes cut through them.
The passage opened into a chamber that was vast and dark, with walls that rippled and contracted like they were trying to digest something. Probably their uninvited guest, come to think of it. The walls were lined with what looked like digestive enzymes, dripping steadily and creating pools of acid that hissed and bubbled on the chamber floor.
"Still alive, huh? Let's fix that."
I formed the biggest lance construct I'd ever attempted, longer than human height, blazing with concentrated green energy that lit up the entire stomach chamber like a miniature star.
The lance's point glowed white-hot with concentrated energy, and when it touched the stomach wall, the reaction was immediate. The tough interior tissue that had resisted everything else began to part like water, the Green Lantern energy cutting through biological armor that had probably taken millions of years to evolve.
Driving it straight through the stomach wall with everything available felt satisfying in a way that was unhealthy.
The lance punched through layer after layer of tissue and muscle, each one as tough as the last, but none of them able to resist the focused will of the Green Lantern Corps.
The creature's scream followed, and I burst out through the creature's side in an explosion of gore and luminescent fluid. The hole left behind glowed with residual energy, and through it could be seen the devastation wrought inside. Organs that looked like nothing from any Earth textbook, all of them carved up or pierced through by the construct weapons.
Spinning into backward flight to watch the handiwork, the Abilisk swayed like a drunk giant, tentacles twitching spasmodically. Those massive appendages that had been so coordinated and dangerous were now moving randomly, neural connections severed by the internal damage.
Then it toppled over, hitting the ground with a sound like a building falling down.
A grin and thumbs up to the observing spaceship seemed appropriate.
"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how pest control gets handled when you've got the universe's best power ring."
Now, where the hell was that spear?
Yellow fluid came rushing out of the creature's mouth like the world's most disgusting waterfall, carrying chunks of partially digested... well, things that didn't bear thinking about too hard. The fluid glowed faintly with the same bioluminescence as the creature's interior, and it smelled even worse than everything else combined.
And there, tumbling in the flow like driftwood, was the missing weapon. The spear was covered in alien digestive juices that were actually trying to break it down.
"This is so gross. Why is it always gross?"
The construct fingers I made fished the spear out of the mess, careful not to let any of that glowing slime get on anything important. The weapon was intact but definitely needed cleaning - those digestive enzymes were still trying to eat through the metal, creating little puffs of smoke where they made contact.
Quickly constructing a cleaning cloth and going to work made sure every trace of the creature's interior came off the weapon. The cloth dissolved whatever alien chemistry was trying to break down the spear, neutralizing it with Green Lantern energy that converted the dangerous substances into harmless light.
Flying back toward the pod felt like a victory lap, even if the only audience was Twelve. The spear felt solid in hand, clean and ready for whatever came next.
Right.
The whole point of using the spear was supposed to be conserving power levels. Glancing at the ring's display showed 68 percent charge remaining.
"My power is not terrible, but definitely lower than when this pest control gig started." I muttered.
"Power?" came Twelve's voice as the pod door sealed shut.
Oh. Completely forgot that I told these people the ring had infinite power. This is what my loose mouth gets me.
"Yeah, in regards to my suit. Runs on power, you know. Environmental systems, life support, that sort of thing."
"Understood."
The pod's engines hummed to life as they lifted off from the devastated clearing. Through the viewport, the dead Abilisk looked even more massive from above.
"Our next destination is Platform Nine," Twelve announced as they gained altitude. "However, before we proceed, the High Priestess carries a message for you."
High Priestess? That was a new development. "Who's the High Priestess?"
Instead of answering directly, Twelve activated a large holographic display in the center of the pod.
The image that appeared was... magnificent.
Golden skin like the other Sovereign, but there was something different about her. Otherworldly, maybe. She sat upon a throne that seemed to flow like liquid gold, covered in patterns that shifted and moved when viewed directly.
Her robes were woven from something that caught light and threw it back in all directions, creating an aurora effect around her figure. Jewelry adorned her neck and wrists, not gaudy display pieces, but artifacts rather.
"Terran," she began, and her voice carried the weight of worlds. Each word was pronounced with perfect clarity, cutting through the pod.
"I am Ayesha, High Priestess of the Sovereign race, guardian of our genetic perfection and protector of our celestial dominion. Word of your arrival has reached the Golden Chambers, carried by the winds of cosmic fortune."
Her golden eyes seemed to pierce through the hologram, focusing with uncomfortable intensity.
"The Abilisk plague has tormented our outer territories for many solar cycles. These parasites consume our energy sources, corrupt our mining operations, and threaten the purity of our genetic research facilities. Many of our warriors have been sent to cleanse this infection. All have failed."
She leaned forward slightly, and the movement was graceful as water flowing downhill.
"Your assault upon the specimen at Complex Four was observed by our surveillance systems. Your methods are crude, your approach lacks the refined elegance we Sovereign employ in combat. Yet your results cannot be disputed. The creature that withstood our best efforts fell to your primitive tactics in mere minutes."
The way she said 'primitive' made it sound almost complimentary.
"The Sovereign do not offer praise lightly, Terran. We are genetically superior to all lesser species, bred for perfection across countless generations. Our technology surpasses that of civilizations you have never heard of. Our tactical expertise has conquered star systems while your kind still crawled from whatever primordial mud spawned you."
Her voice never raised, never showed emotion, but the authority behind it was absolute.
"Yet you accomplished what we could not. This... intrigues us."
She stood from her throne, and the movement was liquid poetry. Her height was impressive, even through a hologram.
"Two Abilisk specimens remain in our territory. Platform Nine houses a juvenile that has contaminated our storage facilities. Quantum Processing Alpha Seven shelters an alpha specimen that has resisted all our attempts at elimination. This creature has consumed seventeen of our finest warriors and absorbed enough energy to threaten nearby installations."
The hologram shifted to show images of the destruction.
"Complete this task, Terran, and you will be granted audience in the Golden Chambers. You will stand before the Sovereign Council and receive compensation worthy of your... unique... capabilities. Fail, and you will join the seventeen warriors who have already fed that monster's hunger."
She returned to her throne, settling into it with the fluid motion of absolute royalty.
"Prove yourself worthy of Sovereign attention, Terran. Show us that your species possesses potential worth... cultivation. The universe is vast, and the Sovereign are always interested in useful tools."
The way she said 'tools' made it clear exactly what she thought his potential role might be.
"May the golden light of genetic perfection guide your primitive efforts to success."
The hologram flickered out, leaving the pod in relative silence except for the engine hum.
"Well," came out after a moment of processing that speech. "Seems like quite the opportunity. What do you think, Twelve?"
Silence.
Tough crowd.
Platform Nine came into view as they descended through another layer of clouds. Unlike Complex Four, this place was much simpler.
Just a large platform floating in space, maybe a quarter the size of the previous location. Golden storage containers were scattered around the edges and in the center...
Another Abilisk. This one, being a juvenile, looked smaller than the first, but still easily big enough to ruin someone's day if left unchecked.
The pod settled onto the platform's landing area with a soft thump. But before the door opened, Twelve spoke.
"Before you engage this specimen, tactical information may prove beneficial."
That was new. The first time had been trial by fire.
"The Abilisk's outer dermal layer contains specific vulnerability points," Twelve continued, calling up a holographic display that showed the creature's anatomy. Red lines highlighted several areas along what would be the creature's back and sides. "Previous Sovereign attempts to eliminate these creatures identified weak points in the upper dorsal region. Precise strikes to these locations can compromise the creature's defensive capabilities significantly."
The display rotated, showing the vulnerable areas from multiple angles.
"Right, so those cuts on the first one were actually weak points. Got it."
That explained the parallel slashes.
"Acknowledged. Initiating pod egress."