Hive

Those figures, they have to be Hive Thrall, they look exactly like how I did when I was just born! And now they're about to be fucking killed by Fallen!

I swear on my life, if I let that happen!

Moving faster than I ever have, I run back into the building where I had left my sniper. If I was going to save my Hive family then I'm going to need it. As I grab the gun, I hear the sounds of gunshots being to erupt from the clearing a small ways away.

Fuck! I'm still so slow!

Dashing back outside, I look towards the clearing. It was a fucking massacre, the black ship practically stranded these guys to die. Only ten or so Thrall were sent to deal with the three ships worth of Fallen, each ship containing around seven of them. It was two armed Fallen for each unarmed Thrall, there was no hope that these guys were going to win at all.

As I stare in despair at the dying family of mine, I hear a strange noise above me. Looking up, a greenish vortex of what I assume is darkness spirals around a center around ten meters above the ground. Edges of a black ship start to emerge from the strange vortex.

Another Hive ship, hopefully carrying reinforcements for the ones already here. These guys are fighting for their lives, it would be odd for me not to assist.

Clutching my gun, I run closer to the clearing, getting within a sniping distance of the Fallen. Snipers are horrible for multi-enemy battles, so I'll have to steal a gun from one of the Fallen. Around twenty meters in front of me, two Fallen stand hidden behind crates, popping up to shoot at the Thrall that are charging like they have nothing to live for.

Lining my sights at one of their heads, I take a deep breath, preventing my breathing from interfering with my aim, before pulling the trigger and send a bullet spiraling to the temples of one of the Fallen The bullet blows through its head, sending bits and pieces of flesh blowng off onto its ally beside it. The adjacent Fallen starts to search the area, trying to find any sight of me, as if that would work.

Loading another bullet, I change my sight to sit on the head of the Fallen who is still looking around for me. Taking a deep breath, I pull the trigger, letting another bullet soar through its face, blowing it to complete bits. This sniper holds such a punch, it's both good and bad, however the bad can be ignored for now.

Loading another bullet into my sniper, I find that this is the last one before I have to find another green package. I wasn't planning on using the gun much more during this battle anyways, so this is fine.

The gun that the Fallen dropped would be the more sensible option for such a large battle. As I run to their corpses, I look over at the rest of the battle. Three Thrall have been killed and all of the Fallen, apart from the two I shot, are still alive. The Hive ship finally stops over the clearing and sends down another batch of ten Thrall.

I would say that they would be safe in numbers, however none of them seem to be any more evolved than the second I hatched. Do they not even bother to upgrade themselves? Or maybe they've sent these guys so freshly out of an egg that they haven't had any Biomass nor time to upgrade.

I guess that's for later though, seeing as I have made it to the two Fallen corpses. Setting my sniper rifle down, I rummage through the corpse and grab its small pistol, however I also find a short black stick with several blue lights along the side, presumably a kind of grenade. Looking over at the second Fallen's weapons, I opt to leave it behind. Dual wielding is hardly ever a better option than a single gun, the only time it would ever be better is if you had to fire at a wall.

Pistol in hand, scout the battlefield. Two groups of six Fallen are nearby, along with a group of seven who are in a standoff with an equal amount of Thrall. I guess my next target has to be one of the groups of six.

The closer group stands around fifty feet away from where I am currently, they all seem to be hidden behind one large box. Taking a glance at my grenade, it doesn't appear to have a pin to pull. It does however seem to have a rotating top. Grabbing the top of the grenade, I twist it slightly and hear a slightly audible click, followed by a slow beeping noise.

Well, that did something. Alright grenade, go save your Hive bretheren!

Rearing my arm back, I launch the grenade towards the cluster of six Fallen. As it arcs through the sky, the blue lights along the side seem to pulsate faster and faster before landing in the middle of the group as all six Fallen turn to look at it. Seeing the grenade, all of the Fallen attempt to lunge out of the way, but it's too late for them.

The spots where the blue light radiate from let out streams of blue lightning, the electricity chaining between the large group. All of the Fallen drop to the ground and begin to slightly convulse.

What? What kind of grenade blasts lightning? I guess this world has much more different weaponry than I had previously thought. No matter, it seems like the grenade was very effective, taking down the whole group at once.

I don't have time to sit here and think about a goddam grenade, Thrall are dying. Pushing my thoughts away, I grip the pistol in my hands and sprint towards the second group of six.

Holding the pistol up, I fire three bullets at the group. Each bullet burrows itself into a different Fallen's chest as three go down, clutching their armor and rolling around in pain. The rest of the group turn and look at me, aiming their guns at my location and let out several shots.

Quickly dashing to the side, I find cover behind a small rusted car and the bullets blow by.

All of a sudden, I hear several shrieks and look through the windows of the car. What I see amazes me, the Fallen that had shifted their attention to me were being swarmed by a group of Thrall. The grey Hive claw at the Fallen, ripping large pieces of their armor and flesh off. The Fallen let out several screams of pain, however are unable to do anything in retaliation due to the disparity in numbers. For each Fallen, three Thrall were shredding it alive. It was quite the sight, and definitely not one that I was expecting from these guys.

It seems like these guys have this group handled. Turning my attention to the other group of seven Fallen, I find that their numbers have been reduced to four, however, several Thrall were killed in the process. The dead bodies of the Thrall were piled onto of three dead Fallen, and the difference in corpses was upsetting. It took almost seven Thrall to eliminate three Fallen.

Were the Hive this much weaker? I hope it's only due to the fact that the Fallen have firearms and they don't.

Regardless, it seems like only two Thrall were left against the four Fallen. Leaving my cover, I run to where the battle is going on.

A small concrete wall stands about ten meters away from the Fallen group, a perfect place to fire from. Shortly, I crouch behind the concrete and peer over the wall, none of the Fallen seem to have noticed me yet, so I take a knee, aiming my gun at one of the Fallen before letting several bullets fly towards it. One bullet blasts straight into its abdomen, and another into its legs as it tumbles to the ground while holding its stomach, letting out several screams of pain.

As it falls, several coughs of blue blood escape from its mouth, and with a thud it lands on the dirt below it. One of the Fallen turn to look at its dying friend, and crouches down to aid it. Not sure how it plans on doing that as it doesn't seem like it has anything medical related.

That isn't my problem though, aiming my sights on the Fallen who is aiding the dying one, I let out three bullets, one of them striking directly into the head of the head of the Fallen, killing it on the spot. The dead body falls to the ground, slamming into the stomach of the injured one, this causes the Fallen to let out a cry of pain before spitting out even more blood.

The other two Fallen take a quick glance at their comrades, before turning their attention back onto the two Thrall slightly further away.

Do these guys have no sympathy for their teammates? They gave them nothing more but a quick glance. I can't blame them though, fretting over their deaths can come after the battle is concluded.

As I prepare to fire at another Fallen, several footsteps ring from behind me. Turning around, I see that the group of Thrall that had previously been mauling Fallen to death have started to sprint towards the two remaining Fallen. Noticing this, the Thrall that had been hiding behind a wall before jumped out from their hiding spot, joining in on the rush towards the group.

Fuck it... why not.

Discarding my weapon, I unsheathe my claws and dash towards the two remaining Fallen. Right before my claws slice into the throat of one of them, they turn to look at me with a face of pure terror.

I don't care if you're scared, maybe you shouldn't have shot at my comrades before, that's on you. My claws soar through the air whilst being covered in a green darkness. The neck of the Fallen offers almost no resistance as my claws pierce straight through, the green beginning to eat away. As the Fallen gets finished off from the corrosive darkness, a sharp pain fills my head as the other Fallen gets completely dog-piled.

.

[Weak Corrosive Ability 1 has evolved into Weak Corrosive Ability 2]

.

An upgrade, one that I'll accept with open arms.

As the final Fallen gets ripped to shreds, some of the Thrall stand up to look at me. One of them seems to emerge from the group, it looks slightly different than the rest. Its body was a slightly darker shade of grey than the others. My observations of the thing are quickly cut off as some strange connection forms between my brain and its, a deep and grainy voice sounding though it.

"Thank you for aiding us in this battle. What is your name?"

That's a good question. Anton was my human name, but I went by Erebus when I was working. Well, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Letting my thoughts flow through the connection, I speak for the first time ever in this world.

"My name is Erebus."