Chapter 243: Black Heart
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Writers-Ablood
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The three Vex Axis Minds hunkered back before leaping across the altar, their chassis locking into place in the air. The three minds hovered above the altar, radiating a grey energy that seeped out around them. Then the Primaeval Mind raised one arm, and multiple rifts tore open above the edges of the altar, like wounds cut into the fabric of space.
Hordes of Wyverns barreled through the rifts, a cacophony of shrieks cut across the altar before they'd fully crossed, their leg-cannons charging mid-flight.
Dozens of them leapt into the air and banked hard downwards, descending into a crushing flight to hit the ground.
"HOLY SHIT!" Undecided sped up with a dash and a roll. Waffles flashed a horrified look, IEatPaint stood stunned, and BearSpray and TheOneWhoKnocks immediately darted to the sides.
The dark tides surged forward, and Wyerns shot down from the skies one after the other, erupting into a massive explosion that shook the altar from side to side.
[Guardian Down!]
[Guardian Down!]
[Guardian Down!]
[Guardian Down!]
A turbulent upsurge collapsed on itself, breaking into a thunderous whip of air that cracked centrifugally.
The dust snapped away, leaving behind four faint motes of light.
[Last Guardian Standing!]
Only Waffles hung in the air, hovering inches above the ground. She had jumped a split second before the Wyerns struck. Her health bar flashed a dreadful bright red. She slowly drifted back to the ground.
"MOTHERFUC*ER", TheOneWhoKnocks cried out.
Undecided immediately crashed out. "NOOOO. STAY ALIVE, STAY ALIVE!" Undecided immediately crashed out.
"Alright, boys, looks like the run's over. We'll try again next time. Like, subscribe and don't forget to leave a comment!" BearSpray immediately transitioned to his outro for his recording.
"SHUT UP, shut up." Waffles panicked. She sprinted towards the closest revive point, but the moment she triggered a revive, a Minotaur blinked and immediately slammed downwards.
Waffles jumped again, the attack barely grazing her.
"HOLY SHIT. HOLYYY SHIT."
Their voices went crazy, no matter what happened, Waffles was the only one alive to clutch it.
"WYVERNS AGAIN!" Undecided called out the enemies spawning above. Waffles chucked down a healing grenade, but her health bar only crawled forward at a snail's pace. With no choice but to run from the surging tides and the Wyerns above, she raced around the altar.
Void perched atop a pillar, watching it all unfold.
He had masked his presence the moment the Wyerns had appeared. It had worked. As long as the Vex didn't notice him, they'd focus all their efforts on the players. That was precisely why he'd brought them.
But with only Waffles left, the probability of them failing here was too high.
'Of course, I can't let that happen.'
He flickered down, akin to a spectre prowling the altar. With a swift stride, Void closed the distance between himself and Gandalf.
His eyes snapped back; the tide was far but steadily approaching.
Void reached for the mote of light and offered it a wisp of his own light.
Gandalf's figure burst into glimmer and respawned in the chaos. He immediately fumbled with his controls and slobbered on the mic, mumbling as if chewing on something, then he wiped his lips. "Wha- WHAT! I'm back!"
"YOU BASTARD! Lock back in, now!" Undecided growled. He didn't know how Gandalf had respawned, but this was no time to be asking questions.
"Wait! Were you eating? Did you die earlier just to eat!" TheOneWhoKnocks immediately picked up on the mumbling and lashed out.
"No- NO!" Gandalf hurriedly darted across the altar, running from the tides and reequipping his primary rifle. He gunned down the Minotaurs from the back and rushed towards Waffles.
As the tide passed over, Void flashed across the altar and revived IEatPaint.
Before the titan could register what happened, a Minotaur spawned right on top of them. IEatPaint planted his barricade directly in its path, hit it with everything he had before it could reorient.
The Minotaur staggered backwards toward the altar's edge. One more step and it was over the side, into the endless violet beneath the island.
It didn't take that step. It blinked again, reappearing ten metres to the left, already raising its weapon.
"PAINT! Revive, get the revive!" TheOneWhoKnocks felt his heart skip a beat.
The odds were no longer against them.
IEatPaint sprinted and slid to the closest mote of light and triggered the revive, but just beside him, another revive triggered.
IEatPaint darted his eyes to the right. He couldn't see anyone there; it seemed like a glitch, because something had definitely triggered the revive. Just then, the invisible figure in front of him rippled for a faint second, revealing Viper's signature black armour.
"It's Viper!" He gasped. TheOneWhoKnocks and BearSpray respawned side to side.
"There's a mechanic like this?" Undecided was utterly confused.
"F*ck if I care. We're back!" BearSpray did an instant 180 and restarted his recording, "All right, boys, we got the clutch, and we're BACK for worlds first!"
The players focused on the Minotaur beside them and savagely tore it apart.
"These things are insufferable," Gandalf said, and shot it twice in the chassis.
Then the players fractured their attention across four threats simultaneously. The dark tide which tracked their position around the ring, the Wyverns that dove from above, the Minotaurs that appeared from thin air, and finally the three Axis Minds, whose firing patterns had tightened since the last phase, their dark bolts now arriving in coordinated volleys rather than independent shots.
Waffles revived Undecided, and with the six-man squad back on their feet, they finally switched to attacking.
Waffles spotted the Eschaton Mind's barrier fading away and called it out.
"It's slowing," she called. "Same sign as before."
"Everyone, get the heavies out!"
BearSpray dropped a Wyvern with his last heavy shot and immediately switched weapons. "I'm dry on heavy."
"Same," TheOneWhoKnocks said.
"Use what you have," Waffled replied. "I'll call it."
The Eschaton Mind's eye dimmed.
"NOW!"
The players converged their fire without breaking their stride, shooting on the move while the Wyverns and Minotaurs were still active in the arena, and the tide still surged around the altar.
There was no pause in the chaos to stand still and aim properly. They fired through it all, each player managing their own immediate threats while pushing damage into the window, and the Eschaton Mind cracked further with each hit, its chassis fracturing along the geometric lines carved into its frame.
It fought back harder as the damage climbed. Dark energy erupted from it in wide pulsing rings that the players stepped through or absorbed, their health dipping and regenerating in ragged intervals.
Void joined in, firing controlled bursts with his heavy weapon, pacing every shot to only hit the criticals.
A moment later, the Eschaton Mind's health dropped. Its eye went dark.
It came apart from the inside out, the geometric carving across its body splitting along every line at once, a crack of light escaping through each fracture before the whole structure collapsed, and the viridian flames that had burned across it extinguished entirely.
"ONE DOWN!" Gandalf called.
"Don't stop," Waffles said immediately. "Watch the other two."
The moment the Eschaton Mind fell, something shifted in the remaining pair. The Primaeval Mind and the Imminent Mind abandoned their fixed positions in the formation and began moving, their chassis advancing toward the players with a sudden aggression that neither had shown before.
The invulnerability that had cycled predictably between three points now completely covered the two.
"Which one's open?" TheOneWhoKnocks fired at the Primaeval Mind. The shots deflected. He pivoted to the Imminent Mind. Same result.
"Nothing's happening!" BearSpray said.
"Conserve your ammo." Void chimed in and revealed himself. "The moment one opens, everyone switches."
But as his words landed in their ears, the Heart's pulse changed beneath their feet.
The steady rhythm it had kept through the first phase, that slow breathing draw, collapsed into something erratic.
One pulse drew inward, the air compressing toward the membrane's core, a sudden vacuum that pulled loose debris across the altar floor and tugged at the players' frames. The next pulse erupted outward, a concussive shockwave that radiated in all directions, not strong enough to kill but more than enough to fling anyone over its altar, into the nothing below.
The Heart continued, in and out, drawing and erupting with steady intervals while the Axis Minds stayed kneeling.
The dark tide now multiplied into a cross pattern. Two raced clockwise, while two surged anti-clockwise; the only way to dodge was to jump between the gaps, which required dexterity and timing to ever hope of making it.
-
A/N: Thank you for reading! Check out my Patreon for more!
patreon.com/Writers_Ablood
Hordes of Wyverns barreled through the rifts, a cacophony of shrieks cut across the altar before they'd fully crossed, their leg-cannons charging mid-flight.
Dozens of them leapt into the air and banked hard downwards, descending into a crushing flight to hit the ground.
"HOLY SHIT!" Undecided sped up with a dash and a roll. Waffles flashed a horrified look, IEatPaint stood stunned, and BearSpray and TheOneWhoKnocks immediately darted to the sides.
The dark tides surged forward, and Wyerns shot down from the skies one after the other, erupting into a massive explosion that shook the altar from side to side.
[Guardian Down!]
[Guardian Down!]
[Guardian Down!]
[Guardian Down!]
A turbulent upsurge collapsed on itself, breaking into a thunderous whip of air that cracked centrifugally.
The dust snapped away, leaving behind four faint motes of light.
[Last Guardian Standing!]
Only Waffles hung in the air, hovering inches above the ground. She had jumped a split second before the Wyerns struck. Her health bar flashed a dreadful bright red. She slowly drifted back to the ground.
"MOTHERFUC*ER", TheOneWhoKnocks cried out.
Undecided immediately crashed out. "NOOOO. STAY ALIVE, STAY ALIVE!" Undecided immediately crashed out.
"Alright, boys, looks like the run's over. We'll try again next time. Like, subscribe and don't forget to leave a comment!" BearSpray immediately transitioned to his outro for his recording.
"SHUT UP, shut up." Waffles panicked. She sprinted towards the closest revive point, but the moment she triggered a revive, a Minotaur blinked and immediately slammed downwards.
Waffles jumped again, the attack barely grazing her.
"HOLY SHIT. HOLYYY SHIT."
Their voices went crazy, no matter what happened, Waffles was the only one alive to clutch it.
"WYVERNS AGAIN!" Undecided called out the enemies spawning above. Waffles chucked down a healing grenade, but her health bar only crawled forward at a snail's pace. With no choice but to run from the surging tides and the Wyerns above, she raced around the altar.
Void perched atop a pillar, watching it all unfold.
He had masked his presence the moment the Wyerns had appeared. It had worked. As long as the Vex didn't notice him, they'd focus all their efforts on the players. That was precisely why he'd brought them.
But with only Waffles left, the probability of them failing here was too high.
'Of course, I can't let that happen.'
He flickered down, akin to a spectre prowling the altar. With a swift stride, Void closed the distance between himself and Gandalf.
His eyes snapped back; the tide was far but steadily approaching.
Void reached for the mote of light and offered it a wisp of his own light.
Gandalf's figure burst into glimmer and respawned in the chaos. He immediately fumbled with his controls and slobbered on the mic, mumbling as if chewing on something, then he wiped his lips. "Wha- WHAT! I'm back!"
"YOU BASTARD! Lock back in, now!" Undecided growled. He didn't know how Gandalf had respawned, but this was no time to be asking questions.
"Wait! Were you eating? Did you die earlier just to eat!" TheOneWhoKnocks immediately picked up on the mumbling and lashed out.
"No- NO!" Gandalf hurriedly darted across the altar, running from the tides and reequipping his primary rifle. He gunned down the Minotaurs from the back and rushed towards Waffles.
As the tide passed over, Void flashed across the altar and revived IEatPaint.
Before the titan could register what happened, a Minotaur spawned right on top of them. IEatPaint planted his barricade directly in its path, hit it with everything he had before it could reorient.
The Minotaur staggered backwards toward the altar's edge. One more step and it was over the side, into the endless violet beneath the island.
It didn't take that step. It blinked again, reappearing ten metres to the left, already raising its weapon.
"PAINT! Revive, get the revive!" TheOneWhoKnocks felt his heart skip a beat.
The odds were no longer against them.
IEatPaint sprinted and slid to the closest mote of light and triggered the revive, but just beside him, another revive triggered.
IEatPaint darted his eyes to the right. He couldn't see anyone there; it seemed like a glitch, because something had definitely triggered the revive. Just then, the invisible figure in front of him rippled for a faint second, revealing Viper's signature black armour.
"It's Viper!" He gasped. TheOneWhoKnocks and BearSpray respawned side to side.
"There's a mechanic like this?" Undecided was utterly confused.
"F*ck if I care. We're back!" BearSpray did an instant 180 and restarted his recording, "All right, boys, we got the clutch, and we're BACK for worlds first!"
The players focused on the Minotaur beside them and savagely tore it apart.
"These things are insufferable," Gandalf said, and shot it twice in the chassis.
Then the players fractured their attention across four threats simultaneously. The dark tide which tracked their position around the ring, the Wyverns that dove from above, the Minotaurs that appeared from thin air, and finally the three Axis Minds, whose firing patterns had tightened since the last phase, their dark bolts now arriving in coordinated volleys rather than independent shots.
Waffles revived Undecided, and with the six-man squad back on their feet, they finally switched to attacking.
Waffles spotted the Eschaton Mind's barrier fading away and called it out.
"It's slowing," she called. "Same sign as before."
"Everyone, get the heavies out!"
BearSpray dropped a Wyvern with his last heavy shot and immediately switched weapons. "I'm dry on heavy."
"Same," TheOneWhoKnocks said.
"Use what you have," Waffled replied. "I'll call it."
The Eschaton Mind's eye dimmed.
"NOW!"
The players converged their fire without breaking their stride, shooting on the move while the Wyverns and Minotaurs were still active in the arena, and the tide still surged around the altar.
There was no pause in the chaos to stand still and aim properly. They fired through it all, each player managing their own immediate threats while pushing damage into the window, and the Eschaton Mind cracked further with each hit, its chassis fracturing along the geometric lines carved into its frame.
It fought back harder as the damage climbed. Dark energy erupted from it in wide pulsing rings that the players stepped through or absorbed, their health dipping and regenerating in ragged intervals.
Void joined in, firing controlled bursts with his heavy weapon, pacing every shot to only hit the criticals.
A moment later, the Eschaton Mind's health dropped. Its eye went dark.
It came apart from the inside out, the geometric carving across its body splitting along every line at once, a crack of light escaping through each fracture before the whole structure collapsed, and the viridian flames that had burned across it extinguished entirely.
"ONE DOWN!" Gandalf called.
"Don't stop," Waffles said immediately. "Watch the other two."
The moment the Eschaton Mind fell, something shifted in the remaining pair. The Primaeval Mind and the Imminent Mind abandoned their fixed positions in the formation and began moving, their chassis advancing toward the players with a sudden aggression that neither had shown before.
The invulnerability that had cycled predictably between three points now completely covered the two.
"Which one's open?" TheOneWhoKnocks fired at the Primaeval Mind. The shots deflected. He pivoted to the Imminent Mind. Same result.
"Nothing's happening!" BearSpray said.
"Conserve your ammo." Void chimed in and revealed himself. "The moment one opens, everyone switches."
But as his words landed in their ears, the Heart's pulse changed beneath their feet.
The steady rhythm it had kept through the first phase, that slow breathing draw, collapsed into something erratic.
One pulse drew inward, the air compressing toward the membrane's core, a sudden vacuum that pulled loose debris across the altar floor and tugged at the players' frames. The next pulse erupted outward, a concussive shockwave that radiated in all directions, not strong enough to kill but more than enough to fling anyone over its altar, into the nothing below.
The Heart continued, in and out, drawing and erupting with steady intervals while the Axis Minds stayed kneeling.
The dark tide now multiplied into a cross pattern. Two raced clockwise, while two surged anti-clockwise; the only way to dodge was to jump between the gaps, which required dexterity and timing to ever hope of making it.
-
A/N: Thank you for reading! Check out my Patreon for more!
patreon.com/Writers_Ablood