Roun’s eyes widened at the odd statement, but before he could contemplate its meaning, his attacker’s humanoid form had once again dispersed. Instead, what once bore a striking resemblance to a man was now a mass of tendrils racing out from a central location and snaking their way towards Roun and Kairi. The two Itami brothers watched in abject horror as the entity’s energy signature surged and the tendrils expanded – far beyond the volume that the strange creature had been able to occupy before. What was more fearsome was the fact that everything that these tendrils touched seemed to be completely dissolved. Long trenches were carved in the ground and equipment left lying around were completely dissolved as the tendrils closed in on Roun and Kairi.

Instinctually, their own energies surged, shrouding them in gold and lilac streaks respectively. Roun watched as his aesis flowed not just through his body, but through the two-handed blade that was modelled to be an energetic katana. This brought a smile to his face as he slid into a back-stance and braced himself, before unleashing a flurry of high-speed slashes to sever the tendrils from the source of these attacks. With each tendril severed, the black energy dissipated back into the environment, enticing Roun to hold his ground and continue his counter attack. But what started out as a manageable task quickly became overwhelming as the youngster found himself being more and more heavily assailed. Finally, with a panicked yelp and a flash of light, the youngster vanished from his location; reappearing some distance away to watch as that particular spot was completely engulfed in black energy.

Meanwhile, Kairi – who was much more adept at hand-to-hand combat – was using his own unique jenai energy, to hold these tendrils at bay. Forearm blocks served as the springboard for repulsive waves of energy that prevented the black goo-like energy-form from contacting his body, while knife-hand strikes and elbow-slashes severed the tentacles that continued to swarm his location. Much like Roun however, he soon found his location overrun by what was simply too many tendrils for him to deal with.

Roun watched in horror as the black energy surrounded his brother and obscured him from vision, slowly extinguishing the purple flashes that were still managing to escape from within this energetic cocoon. Naturally, panic began to set in, forcing the youngster to energise his body again as he prepared for a rushing slash; but before he could take off, he was stopped by the eruption of a familiar pillar of energy. What started out as a single verticle beam of jenai quickly expanded into a dome-like attack that cleared the area surrounding Kairi of black goo, severing the mass of tentacles used to assault him.

More missles and beams of energy provided the back-up necessary to push this strange creature back at this point, serving as Zed’s and Harry’s contribution to forcing it to once again assume a humanoid form as it erected a barrier to defend itself.

“It seems to be weakening.” Harry muttered over the link of his comm. “Daniel, deploy the Vulcans.”

No sooner than it was said was it done. The rooftops of the nearby buildings had played host to a team of twelve military-grade combat exo-suits since the beginning of the battles – each biding their time in a low-power state until they were called upon to act. Unlike the mechanical armours utilised for search and rescue missions, these exo-suits were made with the single goal of dismantling channelers.

In just seconds the edge of the battlefield lit up with powerful energy signatures, while the high-pitched whir of the spinning chain-guns from which these suits got their name could be heard. Next the clamps that anchored them to their location activated, stabilising them to negate the recoil of their overwhelmingly powerful weapons. With this done, the inevitable torrent of solid-state rounds came; peppering the projected shield of their target. Within seconds ground was littered with flattened rounds from these hulking exo-suits, each of which could fire hundreds of rounds per minute. But despite their best efforts, breaking the guard of their adversary appeared to be an impossible feat. All they had managed to do was suppress his attacks and keep him on the defensive.

“Daniel, any ideas?” Harry inquired, but the young analyst just shook his head from the control room of The Garrison.

“I’ve got nothing Harry.” He replied. “It’s clear that whatever this is, it’s struggling to organise its energies. Mounting an offense seems to be an almost impossible feat with this amount of pressure – but even in its severely weakened state… we haven’t manage to put a scratch on it.”

“Damn it.” He muttered in reply. “There’s got to be some way to stop it before this battle escalates and we have to deal with casualties…”

But as the very words were leaving his mouth, Harry realised that his fears were slowly coming to fruition. He could feel the creature’s energy spiking, increasing and improving vastly over what it had been exhibiting just moments prior.

“Ah, it has been millennia since I drank of the tyrant-mother’s Ki – but its nuances could not elude me forever.” Once again the anomalous entity hissed, but this time a sense of elation filled its harrowing voice.

The spike in its energy signature was accompanied by a surge of energy flowing through the creature’s barrier. Soon that very shield, which had been protecting it from the Vulcan fire, began to warp before stretching out as a massive tendril towards the nearest group of exo-suits. On the roof of a nearby vehicle hanger, five Vulcans were alerted of the attack, prompting the leader of this particular squad to issue the orders to retreat.

“Gamma team, this is Gamma-One – abandon your current location!”

As the squad captain and the most experienced pilot among them, Gamma-One immediately retracted his armour’s environment-clamps, forcing the exo-suit to be thrown back by the sheer force of the recoil from its powerful weapon systems. This provided him with the jolt needed to get him away from his current location quick enough to avoid the initial crash of the black tendril into the roof of the building. Soon, the armour’s thrusters were activated and its weapons deactivated, allowing him limited flight as he cleared the range of the attack. His charges would not be as lucky however. The initial crash collapsed the roof and sent these less experience pilots crashing into the hangar, before the violent thrashing of this projected appendage resulted in the destruction of two suits. Roun watched in horror as their energies were completely consumed by the dark tendril, leaving absolutely no trace of the suits whatsoever. Luckily, this thrashing gave the two remaining pilots a chance to deactivate their own environment-clamps and attempt to thrust away, but even before they could make it very far a swinging slash made quick work of their suits too.

In just seconds, this strange entity had gone from virtually harmless, to having taken the lives of four soldiers and it appeared that there was little that anyone could do to stop it.

Once again a sense of panic began to set in with Roun, whose energy levels began to fluctuate violently before time around him began to slow to a crawl.

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“Are you just going to watch, or are you capable of saving these people?”

An oddly familiar voice echoed in Roun’s mind, one that had been with him for quite some time but that he seldom seemed to take note of.

“Who’s there?” He questioned, looking around the environment as time itself seemed to have stopped.

“You know who I am. The question is: are you yet willing to accept my aid?”

Despite the familiarity of the voice, Roun could not quite place it. What was even stranger than this however was the fact that this did not unnerve him. In fact the disembodied voice was almost calming – abating his panic before the youngster could even take note of such.

“Show yourself.” He continued to press, sensing unfettered amusement at his attempts.

“Seeing me will not help you to understand, but if this is what you require to mobilise your resolve… then so be it.”

Suddenly he sensed a presence emanating from behind him, causing him to snap around and lock his gaze on what appeared to be a new addition to the battlefield. Before him stood what appeared to be a young woman, no older than himself, of similar height and with a more slender build. Like his, her skin was dark and the young woman possessed dual-toned hair of black and gold – unlike him however, her hair was long and flowing, reaching all the way down to her knees as it danced in the wind. Her attire was also completely unfamiliar to the young man, being comprised primarily of flowing cloth that barely managed to preserve her decency but did little to cover much else. Like her hair, this cloth seemed to dance in the wind – flowing around her as if under the influence of some external environmental force. At first, this seemed perfectly normal to Roun as so much else about this strange entity seemed to – but even the calming familiarity that her aura seemed to emanate could not sway his mind away from the most obvious of facts. With time slowed to a crawl, there was no wind to manipulate her hair and clothing. Roun’s gaze narrowed with this revelation, focusing harder before he eventually sensed an energy emanating from this young woman that was simultaneously alien and strangely familiar to him.

Roun’s eyebrow tipped upwards at the sensation. He knew within himself that he had never actually seen this woman before this day, but much like her voice and her energy signature, even her appearance seemed inexplicably familiar. Her golden eyes seemed complimentary to his and he couldn’t help thinking that the two were somehow connected.

“How do I know you…?” He muttered, but his question was quickly dismissed.

“These questions are of consequence, but not at this very moment, Roun. No, now you must stop Teros before this exchange escalates any further.” She explained, drawing Roun’s mind back to the task at hand.

“I’ve been trying, but this thing – whatever it is – is out of my league.” Roun replied, noticeably disheartened.

“That it is, there are few that could say otherwise. But Teros is weak, and I can help you… you need only accept my gift.” The woman replied.

Roun’s gaze narrowed at her cryptic words and her strange offer but he had just watched as four men died before his eyes and he could not bear it if the same fate were to befall his brother. Such thoughts lessened his hesitation, producing a massive sigh before he finally replied.

“Fine.” He shook his head. “Whoever you are… give me the power to stop this.” He muttered, but the young woman just smiled.

“This power has always been yours.”

With this, the anomalous freezing of time was gone and everything returned to normal – everything that is, with the exception of Roun. His body was now mysteriously energised with a strange energy, which despite being golden like his innate aesis appeared to be far more potent. This gold energy rose up off his body, raging like flames as it danced on his skin and coursed through his veins before finally surging through the energy-sword that he had borrowed. He watched as it began solidifying the blade into a golden, crystalline structure.

Instinctually, Roun took off from his location with a flash of light, racing towards the source of the massive tendril that was thrashing wildly through The Garrison before his blade went crashing into the energetic appendage. This time there was no clean slice, in fact his sword barely managed to pierce the outer shell of the energetic construct responsible for the attack and it did little to actually stop its effects.

“Ah, the seer shows herself as well – how opportune!” The beast hissed – its voice betraying the glee with which it delivered such words. “I shall slay the harlot’s progeny and the seer’s host, all in a single blow.”

“Quit your mumbling!” Roun growled as he forced the crystalline blade further into the tendril now, mobilising all of the energy that he could muster to complete such a herculean task.

Unfortunately for him, in the distance, this particular appendage was already being retracted – drawn back in so that it could crush Roun and dissolve his form in a single blow, just as it had done with the Vulcan suits and their pilots. This reality was not lost on Kairi, Harry or Zed however, all of whom now turned their assaults to the tip of the tendril that was racing towards the mysteriously powered-up youngster.

Once again streaks of white energy and swarms of missiles careened into the retracting tentacle, slowing its motion towards Roun with every impact. Unfortunately, while these attacks managed to delay the inevitable, they had no chance of actually stopping it. Roun knew this, and as such he fortified his resolve. The gold flames that danced on his form began to explode from his back as his resolve strengthened, acting like jets to provide the additional thrust required to drive his blade through his opponent’s construct. What had been just an inch of penetration previously, quickly turned to inches as the youngster yelled, exerting himself fully as he thrust to counter the resistance put forth by the strange entity. His task became more desperate as the creature’s attack drew closer and closer to him, finally dismissing Harry’s and Zed’s attacks before Kairi threw himself into the way of it. But even with his body completely covered in jenai to protect it from the black energy’s dissolution effects, this hulking bruiser could do little to stop the terrifying tendril. After a brief clash, he was violently dismissed from the path of the tendril and into the fortress’ energetic barrier; leaving a clear path between the attack and its intended target. Roun growled at this revelation, noting that in just a few more seconds his opponent’s attack would be upon him and he was certain that even with his newfound powers he would not be able to resist it. This had quickly escalated to a matter of life and death – and this young man was painfully aware of it.

This further fortified his resolve, causing the jets on his backs to erupt with greater force while the flaming aura around him surged wildly. Soon these gold flames were leaking from his eyes and escaping his body on his breath, with even his short hair emulating the wild movements of flames and displaying a golden glow of their own. With a single, final push, the youngster gave it all that he could, growling as he drove the blade through his target with full force. As his blade cleaved the massive tendril, it quickly began to dissipate into the ether while his blade continue onward to carve a large trench in the ground just in front of the youngster.

Unlike the dissipation of the previous tentacles however, the sheer amount of energy being liberated from severing this particular construct created an almost immeasurable surge of energy within the environment. The result was essentially cataclysmic, turning what had previously been a harmless process into an energetic maelstrom of chaotic zeta with Roun and the odd entity trapped at the epicentre. Soon the earth was shaking under the sheer force of the maelstrom and The Garrison’s energies began to fluctuate even more wildly. Luckily, this effect only managed to sustain itself for a few seconds but while it did it battered the already heavily exhausted Roun with wild energy while the creature – Teros – was flung to and fro, losing cohesion under the punishment of the event before the entire phenomenon broke down.

The final result was a powerful shockwave that expanded outwards with explosive force, throwing the odd energetic entity to the ethereal winds and scattering the brave channelers and exo-suit pilots that had managed to fend it off about the grounds of the massive fortress.