Altar, leader of the Stolkatan Vintarics, sat in silence. He was the tallest of them all, with four thick arms ending in claws and grasping at enchanted firearms. His carapace was black and mottled with grey to intimidate his enemies. His Seeds had moulded his body that way, in accordance with their wants.

A hundred guns lay in and around him, a sheer display of his wealth and power. These ones were special, and he forbade the others from bringing their mandibles anywhere near the pile.

Angels flew around outside the perimeter of his tower on their glorious white wings, while he had to hide inside of Grandsmith Towers like it was his prison. They were ostentatious creatures that ignored him. They didn’t even know he was here.

He hated that fact more than anything else. Try as he might, his Hive was still not strong enough to match the forces of the Angelos outside. That was why they had taken the tower for themselves and used it as their base. Out in the open, they might’ve been smitten by the Angelos any time.

Altar himself could take a few of them down easy enough, but when the might of the city was against him; he had no chance. So, Altar stayed in his tower, sent out his patrols to grow stronger and fatter on the feasts they found on earth, before coming back to him and readying for his eventual takeover.

And it would come soon. He had been at it for too long to fail now. It was his legacy now that his heir was gone.

At least, that’s what the Vintaric had thought, before he heard the shrieking coming from the base of Grandsmith Tower. The centre of the tower was a large open space that Altar could look down and see his Hive working around.

In the middle of the fountain, where the Gate to earth was located, stood a woman he never thought he’d see again.

Scepter.

Altar’s blood began to boil when he laid eyes on her. The scars around his torso throbbing again as if they were fresh. There were humans around Scepter, and they were tearing apart his Hive members while he stood and watched. The only thing stopping the Angelos from hearing them all were the wards he’d had set up around the place.

She was here to finish the job she’d started. Only she didn’t know how much he’d grown. And this time he’d be the one to take her out.

His insectile, steel wings broke open on his back and he crashed through the window, spraying shards all over the ground. Altar let out a roar of defiance and went down into the centre of Grandsmith Tower to face his arch-enemy.

****

When Victor had popped out into Altar’s base, he’d expected something similar to what they’d gone through with Hemotep. He’d fight through the various levels of the tower and find the Vintaric at the end after his forces were diminished.

Only that didn’t seem like the smart thing for the Hive leader to do. So instead, the giant black Vintaric was barrelling towards them from above with barely constrained rage in his eyes. As he flew past the floors downwards, more windows broke around him and guns flew out to follow.

“That is Altarrr…” Scepter said with some hesitation. Bravado was great, but now they were face to face with the monster.

Altar stilled in the air and the guns behind him followed. Their barrels pointed at the ground all at once.

Lillie raised a barrier of light above the entire group to shield them from the hail of bullets that followed. Altar hung in the air, resplendent and sure of his power as they broke through Lillie’s panes.

Leo followed after, moving the earth around to form a barrier of stone overhead. While they waited out the hail, Victor, Amadeus, Ashley and Scepter killed the Vintarics that were surrounding the Gate.

It was only a second or two, but that was enough for them to reconsider. Lillie’s panes and Leo’s stone walls were breaking quicker than they’d hoped.

“Into the buildings!” Victor ordered them as they ran into the ground floor of Grandsmith.

From this side of the Gate, the tower looked much larger and more fortified. Even inside of the floors, Scepter had enough space to move around by herself and use her abilities. She shot sniper rounds that pierced through five Vintarics at once and continued through the halls that followed.

Lillie and Leo were bringing up the rear with more defences while they rushed through the floor.

“Scepter, where are the controls!” Victor asked as he exploded a Vintaric Adult’s head. Blue flames winked out from his ignistone pistol. He pointed the other at a Vintaric ready to pounce on Leo. That one was knocked back into the wall and froze against it.

“It is on the fifth floor!” Scepter shouted back. When they reached a hallway adjacent to the windows, they all blew in all at once. Shards cut Victor and his group as they braced against the bullets. Scepter provided them cover, as the rounds just bounced off of her body.

“Scepter! You have returned! Face me!” Altar boomed from outside. He had a strong voice about him and stopped only to reload his weapons.

Victor could tell the crystal blue Vintaric wanted to fight Altar by herself, but he stopped her.

“You won’t be able to take him on alone! We have to get rid of his backup!” Victor told her.

The Vintaric warred with herself, her very nature, before desisting and listening. She fired a sniper round into Altar’s wings and knocked him off-course. His floating guns stayed in the air though, and Lillie was forced to throw up more shields against them. at the end of the hall stood two more Vintaric adults, and their mouths contorted into giant cannons.

Amadeus stepped in front of Victor and shot lightning into the Vintarics. They stuttered in place and their blast came up only to their throats. Victor saw a slight glow escape their mouth before the heads of the Vintarics burst apart gruesomely. Scepter raised a wing to guard against the splash of green blood, and the group went forwards towards the next floor.

There, Scepter paused ahead of them. A bullet large as a man shot into her a moment later, pinning her against the wall. The bullet turned out to be Altar once more, and he looked none too pleased.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

He had two hands holding Scepter while the other two shot into her abdomen with his guns. Looking at them up close, Victor could see the intricate designs of the pistols and rifles and feel the power coming off of them.

More Vintarics popped out of the other end of the room and the group had to defend against those while Scepter was pinned. Victor knew they wouldn’t make it far without her, so he shot two rounds right into the back of Altar’s head and caught his attention.

He faced down the Stolkatan boss with indignance and hatred in his eyes. The bullets had barely done anything to damage him.

“Why would you humans accompany her?” Altar asked.

“Shouldn’t you be sssslurring your words?” Victor asked mockingly. To his surprise, Altar chuckled in reply.

“You’re the Weaponsmith boy. I can smell the scent of it on you,” Altar told him.

Victor hid his guns behind himself but it was of no use. Altar’s focus was squarely on the knife at his belt. The one he’d messed up the infusion on.

“As I understand it, you killed my heir and took that Seed off of his corpse, didn’t you?” Altar said while keeping Scepter contained. He did it like it was barely an inconvenience, but that meant he was left open for surprises.

Scepter’s rifle was pinned against her chest. But if Victor could help her position it right, she could get a straight shot through his chest. He just needed to buy some time before she got that opportunity.

“I did. Your people shouldn’t mind that much, considering you only let the strongest rule,” Victor told him.

“Only among our own. You have no idea what you’ve done by taking that Seed from my Hive. I’ll take those Wayland pieces off of your body as compensation,” Altar said.

“But I know what the Seed itself can do,” Victor told him.

Blue flames burst to life around Victor’s guns and he shot the bullets right at Altar’s chest. The giant Vintaric winced as they hit him, and more so when he realized he’d let Scepter get the better of him.

One of her piercing claws scratched Altar across the chest while she knocked the butt of her sniper rifle against his head. Once freed, she fired a round straight at his chest that took him back. Altar flew into the wall and Scepter spat out blood from her insectile mouth.

Altar was the first to recover, and aimed his guns at her again. The stone above his head crumbled and blocked his vision, Leo was holding up his arms and bringing an entire side of the building down on the Vintaric.

Carving out the hole took effort, and exposed them to the outside. Though there were few Angelos in the sky beside them, the commotion got their attention.

“Come on! They’ll keep him busy for a while!” Victor shouted for his group. Most were done with their enemies, and a few well-placed shots took care of the stragglers.

They all jumped onto Scepter’s back at the Vintaric broke through another window. This one led into the inner courtyard, and Scepter started climbing the walls upwards. She dug her sharp claws into the concrete like dirt while the others hung on for their lives.

They’d scarcely made it a step before Scepter lurched into the air suddenly. A cannon shot followed right after, crashing into the ground and ruining the courtyard.

Victor looked up at its source and found a turret hanging from the tops of the building.

“Crap.”

The others echoed his sentiment and they continued to jump between the inner walls of Grandsmith Tower. The bullets tore up the ground underneath, uncaring for the Vintarics that were trying to escape. More and more turrets joined in on the fire, landing shells on separate floors and breaking the building apart slowly.

Victor notices that not all of the giant turrets atop the building were aimed squarely at them. Some of them aimed away at far away enemies. Most likely Angelos to silence them before it becomes a big commotion.

The second those turn towards us is when we’ll know Altar is free.

Scepter jumped higher and higher until she finally smashed through the window on the fifth floor. More Vintarics waited for them there, and they shot as soon as Scepter stepped inside. Victor and his crew stepped aside as the cannons came whirring past.

They hit Scepter in the chest and sent her back out the window. That left Victor and his crew to deal with the Adults.

Victor pulled out his twin pistols and shot them both at the same time.

The bullets slowed them down, but these ones were made of sterner stuff. They fired despite their wounds and carved a chunk out of the floor.

Victor took cover behind a wall while he reloaded. Magazines materialized in front of him as more cannon fire crashed against the walls. His cover turned out to be useless, as it barely stopped the fire. The cannon hit Victor in his chest and cracked ribs as it took him out of the building.

“Victor!” Amadeus shouted for him. the others were too busy trying to stay alive. Victor fell like a brick. He would’ve splat across the ground had it not been for the pole sticking out of the building.

He stopped abruptly and his arm and shoulder screamed in pain. He had no time to rest. The turrets looked down at him with barrels pointed.

Damn it! Victor pushed himself off of the wall. He fell into the bushes and kept running. Scepter was nowhere to be seen, so he had to run into the building to find shelter.

He took down more Vintarics there with his rifle. Flaming carcasses were left behind after he shot them through. When an Adult broke through the wall, Victor placed a hand on his face and slowed him down.

He jumped over the Vintaric and fired into its back. He didn’t wait to be eaten, running away as quickly as possible.

He had to be fast. Not get caught by Altar and make it back up to the fifth floor by himself. The outside was too dangerous, and he heard the sound of turret fire redouble near the centre of the building.

If it hadn’t been that, it would’ve been the metallic flutter of wings that would’ve told him Altar was free.

His giant black wings cut the sides of the wall as he flew into Victor. The Timewalker ducked under the assault and took to the stairwell.

There was no scream, no shout behind him from the boss. Only the cocking of guns and unloading of rounds.

Everywhere he stepped was either frozen over, burnt or melted by acid. When he made it to the top, so had Altar. He’d done so with the help of a gun that made portals for him.

Victor fired his twin pistols into the Vintaric boss’ face to distract him. Half of it frosted over with ice but that didn’t seem to bother him.

It did give Victor the opportunity to dodge a swing of his claws, however. He jumped over and through the door to his friends.

Behind him, Altar just shook his head and broke the ice off of his face.

Victor kept running, but he wasn’t a match for the Vintaric boss. When they reached the hallway with the rest of his friends, Altar took aim. Stone walls and light rose to block his barrage of bullets.

When the guns finished their magazines, a hole opened up in the middle. Amadeus shot red lightning through the opening while Victor unloaded Slowdown bullets.

Scepter climbed through the window into the building right after them.

“Break the wards!” Victor commanded her.

Scepter formed her arms into a crystal blue sniper rifle once more. Altar tried to stop her but another wall rose in her way. He shot into it but the break was too slow.

A snap in the air and the walls of the security room blew in on themselves. They tore through the delicate work inside, through the wards and more and something changed in the air.

A rush of noise blasted into Victor’s ears from outside, of the city and the flapping of Angelo wings. The noises were mixing with the bombarding of turret fire, and the vibrations of their impact. every noise, or flash of light or plume of smoke that escaped from the building was now in full focus for the members outside.

It would look like another building to them now, one that was suspiciously fortified with Vintarics inside.

Altar shrieked a bug-like scream before blasting away the entire floor with his weaponry. Victor and his friends ducked behind Scepter and raised walls against the onslaught that followed.

Dust was kicked up and the whole group had to escape the building as it was being brought down.

When they reached down towards the centre of the building once more, they saw smoke and lights mixing above them. Altar’s rampage continued until he burst out of the floor himself with a manic expression.

He peered at them and clenched the guns in his arms. But then a feather fell beside him and he was forced to look up. An Angelo was flying past, curious of the new tower and its denizens.

When he got Altar in his sight, he flew away.

The Vintaric leader looked back down at them and spat.

“You’ve cost me my entire legacccccyy,” he said. He wasn’t trying to hold back his words anymore. Wasn’t trying to appear as anything more than he was. The only thing left was the monster, and Victor was glad to take another one of them down.