Mako was caught completely unaware. Even though he managed to bring the shield up in time, he didn’t have his footing set for such a hit. The screech of metal of the general’s arm spike sliding across the shield rang across the battlefield. Mako slid across the ground, his arms splayed out. Sorodexis was upon him in a moment. One foot was set on Mako’s chest, and the other was on the shield.
Mahina started to move, but one of the other entourage Shins held up an arm.
“Let them decide this battle.” They stated flatly.
“What?” Mahina was shocked. If all of this could just come down to 2 people fighting, then what is the point of having an army?
“Since this battle has resulted in a stalemate. This is how it may be decided.”
“You just randomly attack a lower tier opponent without warning and call it fair play?”
“It was always an option. Your general could have attacked ours at any time. It is the privilege of the strong.”
Mahina responded derisively. “Oh, you mean your general who was hiding behind a force that numbered more than 10 times ours and in the midst of a group of high tier soldiers?”
They looked a little uncomfortable at her words. She briefly wondered if she could take all 3. She thought she could surprise one and possibly hold off another. But 3 was too much. She sent a message to Jhakaas.
Mako was still a little stunned by the action although he was physically fine.
Sorodexis stood upon him and snarled. “I will kill you myself and then we will destroy your people. You are a formidable general, but to have held against me you must have put all your power into battlefield tactics and abilities leaving you personally weak. I have not made such a foolish mistake.”
Mako had no idea what the lizard was talking about, but he had had enough of them. He roared, “I am done trying to be reasonable with you hissy, treacherous shitbirds!”
Sorodexis was taken aback at Mako’s lack of concern and his insult. No one had ever talked to them like that. They drew back to slam a spike into Mako’s chest, but they never had a chance.
Mako flipped up his shield launching Sorodexis up into the air. With explosive motion, Mako was on his feet. Sorodexis stumbled to the side and Mako was there slamming his shield into the general. It was their turn to slide across the ground. Mako grabbed the Shin’s ankle and used it like the handle of a club. Sorodexis was whipped around, lifted up into the air, and slammed into the ground. Once, twice, and thrown 10 meters across the field. They rolled like a ragdoll.
Mako started calmly walking toward them. Sorodexis staggered to their feet. They were covered in dirt and mud. Small streams of blood poured from their mouth and a myriad of small cuts. They collected themselves. Clearly, they were durable. Damn did it feel good to slam that haughty dick on the ground.
“That won’t be enough, Human.” They spat with a grin.
“I’m just getting started.” Mako grunted.
One of the entourage Shins twitched as if they might get involved.
“Don’t even think about it.” Mahina growled as she held up an arm. Jhakaas was now in position.
Sorodexis charged Mako and slammed into the shield. This time he stayed on his feet just being pushed back a bit. He shoved the Shin back with what felt like little effort. They staggered but managed to remain upright. He quickly drew a Magnetar and fired a couple bursts. A shield popped up and all the projectiles stopped and dropped to the ground. He shrugged and holstered his Magnetar.
Charging again, they tried to reach around the shield with a spike on Mako’s right to stab him. He grabbed the spike on the arm and bashed out with his shield. The Shin swung sideways and Mako kicked forward into their left leg just below the general's hip as he pulled back on the arm. The armor on their leg didn’t prevent their version of a femur from coming out of socket. They cried out.
The general apparently had done too much investing into group power and not enough into personal power, because even though Mako hadn’t even reached the point of having a first-tier ability, they were weak. Except for their shield. Although it seemed to be only for projectiles.
As Sorodexis continued to grunt in pain at their damaged hip, Mako shifted the spike he held from his right hand to his left so that the general was facing away from him. Holding the spike, he threw a forearm into the general’s elbow forcing the arm to bend the wrong way. Without hesitating, he reacquired the spike with his right hand and turned the general to face him by twisting the left arm.
Sorodexis screamed in pain again. They pathetically tried to hit him with their right arm spike. Mako caught it and dropped the other arm. It fell limply.
“These arm spikes are stupid.” Mako punched Sorodexis in the face. Teeth and blood flew. "They are like handles for you enemies." He punched again and again and again. He let go with the last punch. The general spun a half turn with the force of the hit and fell to the ground, face down. He stepped on the Shin’s upper back and reached down grabbing a handful of plumage and ripped it out. Mako threw the handful of plumage on the ground. Then, he drew his Magnetar and put a burst of bullets into the back of their head. No shield.
“No!” One of the entourage Shins screamed and moved.
Mahina was ready. She triggered Overdrive to increase her stats by 50% for 2 minutes. She immediately followed that with Titanslayer to give her a 300% increase for a single melee strike. The Shin was halfway to Mako. She started her punch and used Engage. She was immediately next to the Shin and the punch with her tac-shield fist landed on the side of their head which proceeded to implode with the force. Blood and brain matter spewed out like stomping on a food packet. The fist of the tac-shield shattered along with their skull.
Something hit Mahina from the side and the comm went crazy. Mahina rolled with the force and came up to see another Shin coming at her. They seemed to have been pushed back or surprised by the effect of her Reflection aura. She brandished Venom’s Lash and the Shin pulled out a Battleaxe from seemingly nowhere.
The Shin didn’t hesitate to advance and swing. Mahina used chronomancy to speed up time for herself. The slowed swing allowed her to easily dodge, move in close, and slash their throat. Her HUD indicated that at the current rate of time increase, 50% she had about 120 seconds. That wasn’t right. It should have been 1 Power point per 25% of increase per second. Even boosted with Overdrive at 50% it shouldn't be more than 17 seconds. She restored the flow of natural time but didn’t take the time to investigate further.
The Shin didn’t realize they were already dead. When they couldn’t find her, they looked and when they found her, they swung their axe at her. She danced back out of reach. Then, an odd look came over their face. They stumbled forward a bit and touched their throat with a hand where blood poured out. Shock dawned on them coupled with pain and confusion. They dropped to their knees and fell forward.
She looked over at Jhakaas finishing off the third Shin. He had a severe cut across his chest, his faceplate was cracked, and his left arm looked severely injured. Then, she heard the com. Chaos erupted.
The rest of the Shing’risgi army was charging them. Mako and Jhakass started launching grenades at the oncoming horde. Other humans were doing the same from the sides along with firing projectiles. The group was already decimated.
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Then, the Starfire turrets started up again. For some reason, the shields didn’t come up again. They were getting slaughtered. But they still came.
The first of the Shin reached them. Ice and fire and lightning flew at them. Mako was able to use his shield and Jhakaas tried to dodge as much as he could before he finally took several ice bolts to the chest and respawned.
Mako was using a rifle and his shield to great effect but was backing up.
Mahina could feel her stats soar as many of the Shins targeted her. She triggered Power Spike and started to glow and retriggered Overdrive. She slowed time and started to slaughter them. Her HUD indicated that she had 130 seconds of time increase and as she defeated enemies it didn’t decrease as fast as she thought it would. So, she increased it to 75%. She was a blur among the bodies. Streams of blood and body part flew up and out.
She dodged and ducked the swings and stabs of weapons and used the mass of bodies to absorb the effects of fire balls and energy bolts of the enemy while slicing them with Venom’s Lash and punching with the left hand. Armor crunched under the force of her hits and anything the blade of Venom’s Lash touched parted like leaves. Knees buckled with a kick. As surrounded as she was, she was a little surprised they weren’t doing more damage to her. But their hits seemed very ineffective.
Shing’risgi bodies flew as they were thrown about by Mako’s shield strikes. He was going to pull out a weapon, but the enemy was being effectively crushed by fist, foot, and shield.
A large Shin in custom armor moved at Mahina at what felt like almost normal speed to her. She triggered Titanslayer again and Engage. She leapt at them and slammed her short sword into their forehead, cutting clean through the armored mask. As they slipped off her blade. The Shin army broke and ran as Mako’s Menacing Honormark finally overcame them as their frenzy ended. She hacked apart a few more that were too slow to run.
The Menacing Honormark will give you a 3% chance to inspire fear in any enemy below Tier 4 while you are leading a party. This chance is doubled for any Shing’risgi. The effects of fear depend on the overall level compared to you and the Control attribute of the affected.
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Mako examined the battlefield as their routed enemy fled for Tedexa Goran. He was breathing heavy as he nodded to Mahina who was not.
“Skeet,” He gulped in breath, “follow them back.”
“On it.”
“How many do we have left?”
“22. Not including you or Mahina.”
Then the notification hit.
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Congratulations!
The colony defeated a sizable and significantly larger Shing’risgi force.
Irragen points will be awarded based on Contribution Points and Direct Action.
Your War Party defeated an enemy force of 2531 combatants. 2139 were killed or rendered combat ineffective.
1679 Tier 1 Enemy Combatants with an average level of 24, were neutralized.
377 Tier 1 Elite Enemy Combatants with an average level of 35, were neutralized.
68 Tier 2 Elite Enemy Combatants with an average level of Tier 2 Level 12, were neutralized.
10 Tier 3 Elite Enemy Combatants with an average level of Tier 3 Level16, were neutralized.
5 Tier 4 Elite Enemy Combatants with an average level of Tier 4 level 22, were neutralized.
Total losses
212 Tier 1 field combatants with an average level of 8.
0 Support personnel.
You are victorious!
All combatants and support personnel will share the total irragen points.
Bonus point will be awarded based on Contribution points earned.
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Notable Personal Contributions to the battle:
- Boosted your forces by 10% thus indirectly giving you a hand in all non-Turret neutralizations.
- Additionally boosted by 93 attribute points in each available attribute over the course of the battle with the Unstoppable Force Honormark. This resulted in a nearly 1000% increase in effectiveness for the lowest stat members of your war party.
- Neutralized 1 Elite Tier 3 Marshall.
- Neutralized 2 Elite Tier 4 Warlords.
- Neutralized Elite Tier 4 General.
- Along with an overwhelming blow to enemy morale, your passive Honormark Ability inspired a retreat.
Irragen points have been awarded.
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Mahina shook her head as she was looking over her own messages. “Your honormarks are formidable. I think we would not have stood a chance if not for the boost they were giving us.”
“I never looked at my stats during the battle, that was way more than I would have guessed.” He laughed. “It almost seems unfair for them.”
“Surely they would have people that would have similar powers?” Mahina considered.
“I think it is like you said before. We are a bad matchup for not only the fauna here but for all life here as a whole. The PHENOSystem rewards strength and power with more strength and power. If we started with a significant advantage, that advantage is only being amplified.”
“If that is the case, we truly might have abilities they simply do not.” Mahina tilted her head. “Perhaps we should go and take Tedexa Goran by force.”
He shook his head. “This was a defensive battle. Maybe someday, we might want to go through that portal. For now, I just want to block it off and get to the business of colonizing this planet. Going on the offense will only set us up for future reprisals. They have an empire. I don’t want to get in a protracted war with an empire.”
Mahina nodded. “Fair enough.”
Mako received another notification.
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Congratulations!
You have upgraded 2 Honormarks!
-You led a war party in defeating an enemy force that outnumbered yours by more than ten times and vastly out leveled your party by an equivalent of more than 50,000 combined levels! This is an unprecedented achievement. The Warlord of Momentum Honormark is an upgrade to the Unstoppable Force Honormark will temporarily boost the attributes of any party you lead that faces a more numerous and higher-level enemy by 2 points in each attribute for each defeated enemy for the duration of combat. This effect is halved for a raid party.
-Your war party forced a much higher level Shing’risgi force that outnumbered your force to flee. The Dread Sentinel Honormark is an upgrade to the Menacing Honormark. It will give you an aura that will warn and discomfit forces hostile to you in your presence. This effect is magnified by the level of hostility and the size of the party you lead. 10% chance to inspire Terror in any hostile enemy below Tier 5 while you are leading a party. This chance is doubled for any Shing’risgi or any of their direct agents. The effects of fear depend on the overall level compared to you and the Control attribute of the affected.
You have earned a new Honormark!
-You defeated a significantly higher tiered opposing general in battle and personal combat. The Master Tactician Honormark allows you to force an enemy’s ability on cooldown for the duration of combat. This is effective on ANY ability tier 5 and below. Lasts for the duration of combat or until a different ability is chosen. When an ability that can be blocked is witnessed, User will be informed of the possibility to place it on cooldown.
You have acquired sufficient irragen to increase your level!
You are now Tier 1 Level 16.
You have acquired sufficient irragen to increase your level multiple times!
You are now Tier 1 Level 18.
You have 3 attribute points to distribute.
Note: You have a total of 18 undistributed attribute points.
You have enough irragen to increase your level more, but you must choose your Phenotype before advancing past level 18. This will be done after your Phenotype is accepted.
Note: It is recommended that you apply any undistributed points before choosing your Phenotype since your current total points may have an effect on your available options.
Would you like to distribute your points now?
Y/N