Enemy reinforcements surged forward, spearheading their counterattack in a disciplined wedge formation. Their intent was clear to crush the advance I had established. Each wedge comprised of seven armoured vehicles each in a cluster roared over the cratered expanse, their engines kicking up dust and debris as they advanced relentlessly from the north and east.

I watched from the etheric plane, each detail fed directly into my mind by the war and intelligence sub-minds. Heavy volleys erupted from their cannons, shells cascading down like meteor showers, slamming into the front lines where my burrowers surfaced. The ground trembled beneath the unrelenting barrage, tunnels collapsing as the suppressive fire intensified.

The intelligence sub-mind reported the staggering casualty numbers. Burrowers were shredded, limbs severed, and armour fractured beneath the sustained bombardment. Entrails of organic plating leaked across the rocky ground, hissing as fluids vaporized in the thin atmosphere.

Pull them back, I commanded, the thought echoing across the hive network. The war sub-mind responded instantly, recalling the surviving burrowers through the labyrinthine tunnels beneath the surface. The surviving burrowers retreated south and west, away from the encroaching enemy.

Enemy shells chased them, punching holes into the retreating mass. Some burrowers were injured and detonated prematurely, causing some tunnels to collapse, while others exploded to falling debris.

Withdrawing came at a cost. As my forces pulled back, the pressure I had placed on their base defences diminished. The counterattack pressed harder, gaining momentum as enemy forces pushed deeper into the expanding debris field. The battlefield was no longer recognizable.

A dense shroud of wreckage covered everything, the shattered bodies of fallen drones and infantry alike. Destroyed infrastructure, broken mineral deposits, and scorched dust swirled through the vacuum. Every volley of orbital fire only thickened the cloud, choking the field and obscuring the view for both sides.

Above, the enemy's orbital fire did not relent. A dozen flashes of light indicated more bombardment, the rounds fell, incinerating anything that dared surface.

Burrowers melted, charred husks left strewn in smouldering craters. Their advance was gaining traction. If left unchecked, they would carve straight into the southern tunnel network and cut off our last holdout.

The war sub-mind calculated losses in real time. The projections were grim. If left unchecked, their forces would push straight to the southern tunnels, cutting off any hope of regrouping.

There was no choice left. My thoughts pulsed into the hive network. Launch the third and final wave of suicide drones.

Suicide drones launched out of their tunnels, swarming forward like a cloud of locusts. They split into two formations, one barrelling toward the eastern flank, the other looping north to harry the lead columns.

The enemy’s counterattack rolled forward in unison, each armoured vehicle maintaining formation. But as the suicide drones descended, the pattern shifted. The war sub-mind and I watched as the enemy adjusted their positions into a defensive and focusing fire on the incoming swarm.

Enemy turrets pivoted to track them. Explosions erupted across the battlefield, slicing through dozens of drones mid-flight. Some careened off course, spiralling into the ground, where they exploded in bursts. But enough survived.

The suicide drones struck the armoured vehicles first, crashing into the exposed rear. A half-second pause. Then, fire blossomed from their cores, ripping through steel and ceramic plating. The northern column erupted in chaos as vehicles gutted, molten wreckage strewn across the battlefield.

Burrowers, sensing the shift, resurfaced. They surged forward like an unstoppable tide, scrambling over craters and debris. Clawed appendages latched onto surviving infantry, tearing them apart limb by limb. The air filled with the silent screams of soldiers as they were pulled under, bodies ripped open by organic saws.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

But the enemy did not falter. Even as their formation fractured, the wedge reformed.

The intelligence sub-minds pulled my focus for a few seconds, my vision refocused on another advance approaching from the west. It calculated fifteen minutes until they arrived.

It was time to finish this.

The remaining combat groups mobilized. Assault drones, snipers, and heavy units began their ascent. Long tunnels, carved deep beneath the surface, erupted as explosives detonated in the rocky overburden. In coordinated bursts, drones flooded out into the vacuum above, rushing headlong toward the enemy base.

Heavies led the charge, shielding the smaller drones with thick layers of bio-armoured plating. They absorbed turret fire, smashing through defensive lines as snipers picked off base personnel from afar.

Burrowers followed closely behind, swarming over the wreckage and gnawing at the exposed entrails of fallen soldiers. Blood smeared the rocky expanse, staining the battlefield in crimson arcs that spiralled weightlessly into the vacuum above.

Still, the enemy held there ground

Fire rained down from orbit, scarring the landscape. Three heavy drones collapsed, their upper torso severed clean by a rail gun round. There, molten innards spilled across the battlefield as smaller drones scrambled to take cover.

Enemy infantry began moving outside the base perimeter, targeting assault drones with heavy suppressive fire. Their armour-clad suits deflected initial rounds, but assault drones clawed through, tearing limbs apart with sharpened appendages. Vacuum filled the gaps where their armour failed.

Close-quarters combat intensified. Heavies overturned vehicles, ripping them open with brute force. Assault drones swarmed what remained of the defenders, their acidic gel weapons melting through the suits as their occupants screamed tearing at their suits.

Snipers repositioned after every shot, ensuring their survival while chipping away at exposed targets.

The enemy base was lost to them now.

Prefab structures crumbled under sustained attacks. Small teams of burrowers pressed deeper, detonating inside key facilities. Explosions punctured walls, sending fragments of metal and fragments of burrowers flying through the vacuum.

Still, the advancing columns pressed forward.

The enemy found gaps in the perimeter and surged inside, forcing the combat groups to split their attention. In response, the war sub-mind directed a secondary push—combat drones breached the outermost walls, forcing their way into surviving structures.

Then, as the tide began to shift in our favour, the orbital fire ceased.

A pause.

The enemy hesitated.

I could sense their uncertainty—their reluctance to destroy what remained of their base. But hesitation was a mistake.

The last burrowers tunnelled beneath the central compound, detonating in a synchronized blast. The shockwave rippled through the base, gutting the remaining structures.

Etheric energy shifted.

The sphere flickered.

For the first time, I felt its walls weaken. Energy poured inward through the fractures, drawn to the core of the battlefield. I moved closer, directing assault drones to breach the enemy’s command headquarters.

Wipe the out, I ordered.

They swept through, cutting down what little resistance remained. The drones moved room by room, dismantling machinery and slaughtering the survivors.

The deeper they pushed, the stronger the resistance grew. Room by room, the drones advanced, clearing out entrenched infantry with relentless efficiency. Each corridor led to another battle, and the hive’s assault pressed forward until the final layer was reached.

A massive reinforced door loomed ahead, blocking the path forward. As I examined the sphere embedded within it, I could sense its instability it was fragile but refused to yield. I ordered the heavies forward. With each charge, the metal bent and groaned, denting further under the relentless assault.

A lone burrower surged past the others, latching itself against the base of the door. The drones pulled back, seeking cover. A controlled explosion followed, tearing the door apart in a cloud of debris and shrapnel. As the dust settled, the burrowers advanced, rushing into the chamber beyond.

At the heart of the room stood a towering Nullite crystal, crackling with deep purple arcs of energy. Coiled cables fed into its base, pulsing as they siphoned power from an unseen source. Electricity danced across the crystal's surface in unpredictable waves.

Was this how they wielded it?

I ordered its immediate destruction. Heavy rounds struck the crystal, sending splinters flying with each impact. Drones targeted the surrounding equipment, dismantling the infrastructure with ruthless precision.

As the crystal fractured, I felt it etheric energy shifting wildly, as if something ancient and immense had been unbound. The air trembled as the crystal’s core shattered, releasing a surge of power that rippled through the tunnels like a floodgate had burst open.

For the first time in cycles, I felt everything. The chaotic hum of the etheric plane surged around me—raw, untamed. Emotions from the enemy poured in—panic, fear, and dread. Their terror echoed across the battlefield, amplifying my awareness.

I was free.

And there were targets everywhere.