Only rage fueled the Bligh Squad Leader; fighting these hulking behemoths that reached the Blessed incarnation was above their paygrade, in this case their punishment. If his squad was made of fighters like him, they would have an easy time; these cursed abehations were unractional and slow, perfect for a cohesive team to end them.
But his teammates were weaker than him, the stronger aside from him being John in the middle of Touched incarnation. Unfortunately, the place's defense system was activated, closing John and another of his subordinates off. The reason for the area's defense activation against them still eluded him; they were part of the emperor's creation forces, and the system defense should have protected them, or at least ignored their presence.
This whole endeavor was disastrous from the start; most of the deaths of their squadmates were because of carelessness. Both the research station and, more importantly, the danger the undead behemoths presented.
They knew the regeneration of the beasts crossed what was superb, but this was on another level; unless he did a killing strike with his most powerful spell, these beings would keep coming back again and again until the blight squad became a smeared blood remembrance on the floor.
It was not easy for him to use his [Lightning Smite]. He needed time and the perfect opportunity to unleash it; any mistake on his part and the beasts would regenerate the damage, so the attack needed to be fatal.
The cost of the spell isn't only mana; each of these strikes used most of his vigor, his body being used to the limit, being a pseudo catalyst to the lines. This spell should have only been used by the ones in the Blessed incarnation; the smite is only one of the few spells he knew of that someone in the limit of the previous incarnation could use.
Learning the spell was one of his most proud moments, and now it's the only thing keeping him and his team alive. Three of them died to kill their first behemoth; they had an easier time because the cursed beast was alone, but experience was paramount to fighting any enemy. Their deaths were the price of learning how to eliminate these undead nightmares.
I can only use [Lightning Smite] once. Hahaha, Lethe's heretical; your coming can only be a blessing of the emperor. Use your cursed line and kill him!, Maximilian didn't relent on his attacks on the behemoth the squad was fighting; their cooperation was like a well oiled machine, attacking the beast in turns, cutting its hands, legs, arms, neck, everything to slow down or desorient the behemoth.
The blight squad fought like a pack of bees attacking an invading bear; any of the attacks of the undead behemoth could be fatal. Evading the attack came at a cost, though, as the main cause of the armor's degradation during the battle was the air vibration brought on by the massive attack.
Sometimes even taking a glancing blow would damage the armor heavily, as if a car had been shocked against the mobile fortress that was the power armor. This didn't change their warrior spirits; they were fighting to the death. Here they showed their prowess; with their battle insight, death could be optional.
Getting out of the way of Shade and the other undead beast took priority; that's why they advanced on the hall, where they found a random null. The only suposition the group had was that the Nulls were some sort of serf of the Lethe; one of his attacks even seemed to wound the cursed thing. But that wasn't his priority; seeing three of his squadmates die and lose another two to fight only one of the behemoths changed things.
I will kill all the nulls I want after I finish this mission. I'm sorry, Claudius, but the squad takes precedence; they are my new family, my new blood. I will avenge you, but focusing on these cursed nulls would be a foolish move. They are a tool; don't fear, I will destroy this tool. But my wrath will be better directed at the clans; my wrath will purify their sin against the emperor's might.
Maxilimilian cleared his mind. It was time to finish this; they still had the individual from House Lethe to deal with.
"CHANGE, proceed with distracting tactics; I'm READY!", Maxiliam yelled, the middle words sounding like gibberish; the first and last one was what mattered. Their minds in battle were one.
His teammates sliced at the arms and legs of the beast, dividing into two groups, one left and the other right. The dumb mind of the undead behemoth is going crazy, like a broken machine that couldn't decide what work it would do next.
This tactic has a limit; they couldn't keep this maddened rush forever. Their mana and vigor were spent in each slice, imbued with flames and lightning, the favorite spells of the Empire of Creation. Sadly, the spells couldn't do more than cut flesh, and the beast regenerated it in one blink. They knew of creatures like that; even fellow fighters of the Blight could do such a feat, but for them to encounter such a beast, the clans that gave them this mission wanted a suicide mission.
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His visor darkened to improve his vision in such a dazzling display of spells, his power armor focusing on his battle prowess in this luminous ambient. But the beautiful yet simple spells are clearly seen in Maximilian's mind; that was his cue. "Feel my anger, feel my honor, feel my spirit CURSED BEAST!", Maximilian yelled at the top of his lungs.
Maximilian powered his spell, his mana draining like spilled water in a desert. The price for the [Lightning Smite] wasn't only mana. He felt the creation line invading his body, cursing like high-voltage energy in a damaged cable. His body was damaged in the process, but the genius battlemasters and researchers who mastered and improved this spell made it easier for him. After the fight, he could recover without sequelae.
The smite needed one last fuel, will, and emotion; he would summon this might to destroy his enemies. Wrath, pride, honor? For Maxiliam, it was a fusion of all of it, all for the glory of the Emperor of Creation.
Lightning started to wrap around Maxilian, as if he had donned a vibrating cloak of sparks. The sound was absurd; a mundane person near him would lose his hearing and might even die if the electricity didn't kill them already. His teammates continued the attack, even if some of the effects of the spell wounded them.
All this was only the beginning of the spell, the entrance of it in a way. The behemoth's head lied unprocted, as the massive hands of the beast tried to grab any of the blight squad members. Maximilian yelled at the top of his lungs at his squad; it was time to finish it.
"FOR THE EMPEROR!!!", all the pent-up energy of the spell concentrated on the chainsaw gun, only its quality making it possible to endure the influx of the spell. The chainsaw had an almost divine aspect to it, as an electric blue aura emanated from it.
Taking only a second, Maximilian dashed upwards, the chainsaw falling on the beast's head. Maximilian could almost detect a hint of fear in the maddened mind of the creature, but only for a moment. The chainsaw blade cut the flesh of the beast, but instead of keeping going down, first the spell exploded; a blue light orb expanded on the head of the beast in a flash, vaporizing it.
After that, Maximiliam forced the blade to keep going downward , vaporizing everything like a slice that incoporated a tempest in itself. The flesh that didn't vaporize was burned. The beast's healing ability kicked in and tried to heal the fatal wound, but how could the healing of this blessed creature know what a whole head would be? Even if that were possible, the body memory would have to deal with the burned flesh, sealing the blood inside completely. If that wasn't enough, the electricity cursing through its body would finish the deal.
Maximilian took a glance at his teammates; the ones that were nearer him during the spell had their armor burned. The burn was superficial but demonstrated the power of the [Lightning Smite]. We will fix your armor on the way; don't worry. Maximilian gave a nod at his teammates, too exhausted to talk.
The whole squad looked at the confrontation between the Shade's and the undead behemoth. All of them were glad that the giant didn't interfere in their fight; now they would do the same, both because they needed the undead behemoth dead and because they were spent. They were fighting the two beasts before finally finding Shade, not counting their fatigue from previous battles.
"Why isn't the Lethe using the oblivion line? This damage seems all derived from space.", Maximilian reflected with his squadmates, already recovering a little of his lost vigor after ingesting some pills.
The undead behemoth was with innumerous slices; the regeneration was compromised as these slices were like fissures of space, teleporting some of their regenerated flesh to another location similar to a dark space. It didn't matter if the beast changed positions; the space slices kept at the flesh of the beast, like curses.
Shade's gave two more slices to the beast, one focusing on its chest and another on its head. Even with its head sliced, the beast kept functioning as normal, the flesh recovering outside the fissure. Their basic needs to function were satisfied.
As the beast was pockmarked with space slices in all its body, Shade took distance.
The helmet visor took on an intangible form, with Shade's face on full display. A pure feminine white face could be seen—hair, horns, pupils, skin—all white, like a marble statue. That changed when all present felt a weight in the space; the face and hair got a blueish tint, and the pupils became like two shapires.
Almost existential connection with the space line, a pariah. That was all Maximilian could think of when he watched the coming spell, like it was a work of art on display.
The gravity increased, and the space slices of the beast vanished. As the beast became whole again, anyone would think that the first thing the undead behemoth would do was attack. But no, the beast was immobile, as if sealed in space. The beast didn't wait much and was soon reduced to half, with its head, torso, and lower body devoured by a space fissure, like a shard of space was summoned onto reality; the remaining arms fell to the ground; they were only intact because they were untouched by the fissure, like the only remaining part of the foot already on the floor.
Watching without a sound, the Blight Squad watched in amazement. Maximilian knew that this display wasn't only to kill the beast. That display of power was to show us; it was a warning.
"Be on guard, but don't take offensive measures, the last thing we want is a confrontation with this Lethe par—. Try to be respectful", Maximilian ordered, using his intercom. He cut himself short of calling her a pariah; he never knew what the Lethes could listen to.
Maximilian didn't want a fight, but if he had a fight with her, he preferred a fight with words. He couldn't protect his squad in a confrontation with that Lethe; he wasn't even sure if he could survive.
Shade broke the stalemate before Maxiliam could even formulate a word, with a simple phrase, but one that they dreaded answering:
"What is your mission?"