Stone tumbled away from the still charging Unique biotic, careening through the air now filling with dust. Thickened carapace protrusions ensured that the door wasn’t the only part that fell away, a gap in the wall nearly fifteen meters wide. It was a marvel that the wall hadn’t collapsed, perhaps due in no small part to the fact that Argedwall had heavily invested in defensive infrastructure.

Nonetheless, Axiom Breaker hadn’t seemed to so much as break stride. Dozens of pillars like legs, each tipped with dual gripping claws, propelled the beast onwards.

“Run!” I heard Terry shout in a rare moment of bare terror.

I noticed why a moment later, and actually felt my stomach sink.

Axiom Breaker had altered route only slightly, but was aiming directly for the pair of Ogres, the light blue arcing of electricity from the beating heart of the western Raijin Field flickering with what almost felt whimsical glee.

Knights that had been nearest to the gate were still reeling, and the order to flee from anyone but Harris hadn’t made it through to their conscious mind. Those around them, though, had noted the way that Terry had - for all intents and purposes - committed to a full unbridled escape and did the same.

A moment later, Axiom smashed into the generator even as I myself ducked to cover along the crenellations of the wall. Even so, I could picture with grueling detail what was happening, the heavy crash of metal and the sudden hitch of the generator.

A sudden deafening bang resounded, the world flashing white, so bright htat in its wake it almost seemed like darkness had rushed in afterwards. The clap of thunder and the smell of ozone filled the air, accompanied in no small order jolts of electricity. Even my biosteel filaments, hair on any standard occasion, stood on end with the sudden influx of electricity.

I rose a few moments later, hearing the moaning of an agonized biotic within the walls.

Molten steel remained of the generator, an equally molten crater of asphalt and glassed earth besides. Axiom staggered away from it, charred exoskeleton flaking away, some of it ash, from the still coursing electricity. Many of its limbs were curling in on itself, leaving it staggering drunkenly to the middle of the road. And then, unceremoniously, it crashed into the ground, drilling a trench through the surface of the road as pops and crackles resounded from its chitin.

Terry was the first one up, moving closer to the generator, checking it over. No one else moved, though activity on the walls turned from the currently downed creature to the walls once more. There were more pressing concerns than an immobile biotic that might very well be dead.

Though I couldn’t help but look down at the creature with no small amount of exasperation.

“Make sure it’s dead,” I put professionalism first, “take its head off.”

The Legion members that had already jumped to attention assented to the order with gusto, moving towards the Unique.

“Safe, generators dead. Very dead,” Terry mumbled the last part, shaking his head as he turned his attention to the body laying on the ground and then back to me. “I’ve got one spare, but we better hope they don’t have another breacher.”

I agreed with that sentiment, and once we were done with tearing this damn thing's head off, we’d go back to aiding in the defense. Most of the Legion would still be helping the defense, all told, but that defense had just gotten a great deal more complicated. However, the Knights weren’t without their own strategies.

A straightforward one, I could freely admit as I observed them stand shoulder to shoulder, bearing large shields and spears, plugging the hole left by Axiom.

“Alright, tear it apart,” I heard Daniel say, “let's get this over with and back on the wall.”

Yomar grunted as he drew a large pole-like device from his back. He held it in both hands and twisted the shaft, a bright red blade of energy emerging from the head of what quickly became an axe. The man didn’t hesitate, bringing the brilliantly shining weapon high over his head and swinging downwards.

It sizzled as it cut into the carapace, but only dug in half a meter.

“Damn, that’s crazy!” He laughed, “this cuts through steel like butter.”

“Glad it fried itself then.” Jeremy shook his head, glaring at the biotic for a few seconds, “is it just me, or are these things armor just getting ridic- look out!”

The warning came just in time for Yomar to dodge backwards, wrenching the weapon from Axiom's neck as it suddenly rolled. We backed away from it, many of us opening fire upon it instantly. Several of the shots bit into the softened chitin, Yomar himself evading several limbs as the biotic thrashed, attempting to crush him.

He smashed through a building after only seconds, knowing he was swiftly running out of space. The hissing buzz of the axe he bore made quick work of the walls even without the mass of his power armor to aid him. Axiom hit the building hard, and the backdrop of firepower only accelerated as Daniel’s additional armaments came into play.

Axiom, however, did not attempt to roll out of the way. It thrashed, pounding into the side of the two story structure, worming its away immediately thereafter into an adjacent building as well.

“Bring the building down on top of it!” I ordered, “it does not get away from us!”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Immediately heavy ordnance blasted out, intercepting it as it began to wrench through the walls of the first structure, what might have once been a restaurant but was transformed into storage for the front lines. The building we struck, even as it stuffed its oversized, wedge shaped head through the first wall was something similar.

A cascade of heat and blastwaves buffeted us, and Axiom bellowed, recoiling slightly as tons of concrete immediately fell on its scrambling form. If it had gotten up to speed, I had no doubt that it would have been able to plow through even that without difficulty.

We’d already witnessed as much.

However, it wasn’t finished with its tricks. A dull glow suffused its body, and immediately the Legion gave it a respectable distance. None of us fancied the idea of it exploding, which could very well be what was happening.

Instead, though, a sudden and massive amount of steam and crackling noise filled the air. It was like throwing bacon on a hot grill, and as the noise coming from Axiom increased, I committed every shred of my senses to discerning what was happening within.

Visually, it was impossible to see past the growing amount of dust and steam. Heat suffused the debris, rendering that form of vision less effective, save to inform me of the heated mass within the cooler cloud.

Noise, however, gave me the clarity that I needed. The moment when the bellowing increased in pitch, I’d grown wary, expecting some kind of explosion of force. What happened instead was that the noise suddenly changed.

Rather, instead of a single noise source, there were suddenly two within the wreckage.

“Axiom may have split into two! Be ready!” I shouted out, not willing to chance it. At best, it grew two heads for some reason and we’d be on the lookout for a second for nothing.

“I hate Uniques.” Daniel shook his head, “I really, really do.”

A few chuckles resounded as we expanded our encirclement, giving more space but pouring on more firepower. The dust and steam hadn’t cleared, but by now many of us had alternative sensors besides optical.

Chunks broke off of the mass steadily, the flare of bullets embedding into chitin sending Axiom into an increasing struggle to get out of the debris that settled further around its legs.

It was then that half of the mass broke off and rapidly grew in size, three fourths the size of the original Axiom.

“What the fucking hell!?” Terry cried out as the Axiom clone lumbered forward out of the steam and dust, bleeding rather heavily. One of the branching portions of its head had snapped off, leaving an empty, horn-like channel not dissimilar to what a cross section of bone might look like bare to the air.

We rained fire on it as it began to flee, and I couldn’t help but grit my teeth. ‘We really need a better way to keep biotics from running away.’ I thought as I mentally added that to a to-do list. Pumping another clip into its fleeing form, I noted immediately that it seemed to be cutting a straight line path towards the keep, a location that would certainly be housing a great deal of civilians in a bunker by now.

“Jeremy, kill that one! We’ll take care of this one!” I ordered even as he’d begun to mobilize his team after it.

He gave me a thumbs up as he went, “will do, good luck!”

I turned to the one in the debris, Terry, Alice, Daniel, and Fran all giving it the same murderous glare I did.

“Start by removing legs.” I ran forward, holding some of the most potent weapons we had in either hand. Daniel moved in closer as well, careful not to destroy the pieces of the building that helped to keep the biotic in place.

Long shafts of metal surged through the air in broad sweeps, many fitted together at once. Suddenly the air was clearing rapidly, less steam obscuring our vision. Fran had several such plates at work, though she certainly had many dozens of feathers free to strike into the biotic as it became increasingly visible.

Alice took advantage of the visibility, puncturing the armor with direct strikes that sizzled and spat vibrantly colored smoke as the chitin rapidly deteriorated. It made me miss having Richard’s arsenal greatly.

“I’m working on setting up another generator, don’t let it near me!” I heard Terry shout over to us as he began work on the backup he had.

That was likely a better use of his skills at this time, the Raijin Field had proven itself invaluable already. We needed to have that operational in order to control the tempo of the battle here. Already, I could hear the clattering of steel and clamor of Knights bellowing amidst a frantic melee at the destroyed gates. How much longer would they last when the Centaur joined the fray en masse?

I returned my attention to Axiom as a limb rose out of the debris, claws digging deep into something that gave it just enough purchase to try to push the lumbering giant upwards.

The two bundles of Reaper Mines in my hands vanished as I threw the first one at the joint where the leg met the body. The second pack went to another limb on the same side nearby, doing the same.

The vicious explosion rocked the biotic, and some of the debris fell away. However, the superheated plasma did quick work of the carapace, and both limbs were firmly separated.

“Clear!” Daniel shouted, a warning that I heeded as I dove out of the way, rolling to my feet several meters away. No sooner than I’d done so, he fired into both wounds on the flank, able to deal real damage with his ordnance.

Axiom attempted to rise once more, only for another limb on the other side to fall away under the continuous grinding assault from several of Fran’s feathers.

Alice filled the wound with arrows, each of which exploded with spikes deeper within. The biotic groaned, trying to pull itself forward even as the rest of its body quivered.

“Stay down, big boy!” Daniel jeered, cannons slotting into place over his shoulders and discharging howitzer shells straight into the wounds.

This time, the shells punched deep, and cracked the shell on the other side of the body. Axiom stilled for a moment, arcing painfully just as Fran moved several feathers into place, jamming them deep into its body. She moved over top of it, magnetics cranked to the maximum as several metal objects on the road, cars, structurally unsound buildings, and more swayed towards Axiom and the feathers embedded into its chitin. Some feathers ripped out, smacking into the nearest magnetized object, but most stayed firm, barbs keeping them tight.

I drew another bundle of mines, this one being the last of them that I carried on my person. With a pitching motion, I threw them into the middle of Axiom’s body just as it began to glow again.

The explosion literally cut the creature in half this time, the glow and sound of the biotic abruptly ceasing as it fell in place.

Daniel paused, barrels still spinning, “is it dead?”

I frowned, looking at it carefully.

Alice fired several more arrows into its neck, “one way to be sure, right?”

I chuckled darkly, hefting my rifle onto my shoulder, “indeed. Keep dismembering.”

As we worked, I sent a message to Jeremy, inquiring as to their status. Hopefully things were finished on their end soon as well.