Master Chief
Once Geo Stelar had recovered himself and squashed a fair portion of the incoming amalgamations, John's magnum clicked empty. Out of ammo, and reserves. He tossed the weapon aside and grabbed one of the amalgamations nearing, proceeding to ram his knee into it, crushing its chest, before he tossed it aside like he had the magnum. The creature went sailing, disappearing over a building as John burst forward, slamming his fist into another of the few remaining creatures. Its head burst apart like a melon, and it fell to the ground.
"Where's Bennett?" He asked, glancing back to see only Red, Geo, Gengar, and Gamma were still with him. However, a large explosion boomed from beyond the rubble Geo had generated. "Gamma, get them to safety!" The Spartan shouted before quickly leaping to the top in time to see both Scorpion and Bennett crash into the ground, bodies smoldering, heavy black smoke billowing from the point of where they'd been flung from- and out of the smoke lugged Pyramid Head, dragging his knife behind him, body moving unnaturally with each step, the smoke clinging to him as he walked from within it.
Geo had rushed to Bennett's side, leaving John to hope that Gamma was at least getting Red and Gengar to safety. This wasn't a fight they could win, they just had to escape. Find the true source of all this and take it down. Geo was oblivious to the approaching Pyramid Head.
Whipping out his MA5B AR, John quickly unloaded one of his remaining clips into the creatures hide. Bullets sank into its skin and muscle, pinging off the metal helmet it wore. His attack did nothing to stop it as it reached Bennett and Geo- but it did not kill them. Instead, it cocked its triangle-shaped helmet in the Spartan's direction, and raised its free arm.
Out of the rubble, barbed wire began to erupt, enveloping Chief, wrapping around him from every angle. Normal barbed wire would have been easy enough to break, but this? This wasn't normal wire. It lifted Chief into the air as it began to constrict him, finding the soft points of his undersuit to begin trying to tear into him, wrapping around parts of him like a dozen many-coiled snakes aiming to constrict their victim.
John let out a grunt of pain as his shielding broke, HUD beeping to let him know he was vulnerable. Despite all of his immense strength, he could barely move as he struggled against the increasingly tight grip of the wire. His rifle fell to the ground, his muscles burned with the effort of trying to break it.
Pyramid Head raised his blade with John dealt with, preparing to ram it down onto Bennett, letting out an apathetic gurgling breath. "RAGH!" Scorpion roared as a pillar of flame began to push into the inhuman beast. Hanzo's entire skull was revealed, his skin, hair, muscle all scorched away. Flames billowed from inside his skull as fire jettisoned from his mouth like a glorified flamethrower, engulfing Pyramid Head in their intense heat and force.
Pyramid Head took a step back, stabbing the knife into the ground a foot away from Bennett, missing his target. The beast took another step back, raising an arm to shield the flames billowing into it like a tidal wave of intense destruction. A third step back. Scorpion began to walk forward, unrelenting his assault as Pyramid Head dropped to a knee, skin blackened into a blacker substance than obsidian. The wires around Chief relented, and with the terrible sound of ripping metal, John broke free of his restraints, dropping to the ground with a grunt, gritting his teeth in pain.
Scorpion pushed on, but to his shock, Pyramid Head's hand shot up and grabbed the Shirai Ryu survivor, hand blocking the flames as it grasped Scorpion by his face and lifted him into the air, cracking bones beginning to split through the air. A split cracked around Scorpion's skull as he screamed in pain into Pyramid Head's palm, unable to pry the fingers away- before Pyramid Head suddenly let go.
The boot of a Spartan had slugged into the beasts chest, a wet crack resounding through the air as the creature was lifted off the ground, falling backward and skidding several feet away, the ground ripping apart in its wake.
Falling to the ground, skin and hair began to quickly reform around Scorpion's skull as he winced. "We're leaving. That includes you." Chief ordered the ninja, before moving toward Bennett, offering a hand, glancing to Geo. "You two okay?"
He looked back at Pyramid Head, who had already returned to his feet, his body oozing puss, crimson leaking all around his charred skin, yet he didn't seem to be slowing in the slightest.
"What kind of monster is this!?" Scorpion growled, taking a step back.
Undyne
Her speech actually did seem to work, at least a little. They were on the move again, this time with a little more pip in their step. Just a little. By the time she started to realize who's room they'd entered, the group was assaulted by some automated defenses- which were quickly dispatched. This team was getting good. Real good.
Taking note that the only way to progress was past another Mark Guyver, Undyne narrowed her one good eye at it. "What ever did happen to Masaru?" She wondered. "We never actually trophied him, he just sort of ran away. You don't think we have to fight him again, do you?"
Undyne narrowed her brows, glaring at the mech, an idea beginning to form in her head. Without waiting for an answer, she turned to look at Tails. "You lost your mech. How's that one look for a replacement?"
Papyrus
Once the skeleton, with his goblin companion on his back, arrived at Green Team, he found the blue-clothed one yelling at them. This was enough to make Papyrus frown, listening to his words. "I'M NOT SURE WHY YOU'RE YELLING, BUT IT'S NOT VERY NICE!" He pointed out. "THAT ICE GUY LET US GET AWAY, AND I THINK EVERYONE BUT HIM IS HERE, RIGHT?" He asked. "SO WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT YOUR FRIENDS? FRIENDS DON'T DO THAT!"
Decimus
"War Chief."
Decimus glanced behind him at the Jiralhanae currently bowing at the knee before him. Decimus simply continued to walk, passing by his collection of trophies, Doom Slayer now among them. Each had their bases concealed by 'trophy locks' as Decimus had called them, having designed and built them himself, they covered the trophy bases, preventing the trophies from being revived.
"Speak." Decimus commanded.
"The weapon is prepared."
Hm. This brought a smile to his face. Decimus came to a stop at his throne, something he'd also built himself. Without Atriox, Decimus was free to rule. Free to reign. Unopposed. At least among the Banished. Now, however, he would prove his might and crush the opposition. He would reign unopposed not just here, but everywhere.
"It's time we sent a message. One they shall not forget." Decimus grinned, revealing his row of fangs. "Launch it."
The floor in front of him hummed to life, revealing a holographic representation of the entire world as they had been able to scan it. Attempts to escape the planet were futile. There was nothing for them out there. Nothing for them yet, at least. They would utilize the Forerunner's Gifts by collecting each of them, then finally activating the Supreme Covet, which is what he had dubbed the mysterious, massive artifact resting in the center of the land. The entire world was generated around it, and everything outside of it left nothing to be desired.
So the only thing truly needed was the Supreme Covet.
On his holographic display, which took up a good portion of the room to give Decimus complete visual input on the battlefield, he could see Robotnik's city he had taken over and constructed. The alliance with him had been a ploy, one Decimus hadn't been keen to begin in the first place. It was through persuasion by Bri 'Filkom that Decimus had followed through in the first place. Now, Bri was gone. Forces were still trying to track him, but the ancient Sangheili was clever. Too clever for his own good.
Dots pinged all about the war table, many of different colors. Yellow represented the Gifts, most of which seemed to be blinking just outside of what could visually be seen- but was visible through sensors. Robotnik's ship. He did not want to attack it, for fear of damaging the gifts. The one in the great city seemed to be on the Warriors of Hope ship, leaving him to come to the same conclusion. The one in the Lich Yard remained. He feared his agent had failed.
But there was another in the jungle area. Decimus narrowed his eyes at that, before coming to a conclusion.
Everything was set in place.
A rumble beset the scene. A rumble that shook the ground for miles around. The since neglected Bottoms-Up Bay was the source. Bubbles began to surface in the bay, becoming violent and numerous in no time at all. The entire bay itself was churning like a boiling pot of water as a dark form began to manifest, massive in size.
With a burst, the weapon emerged from the water, easily dwarfing the Warriors of Hope shit as it rose into the air, propelled by two twin turbines, blue energy pulsing from it. Tidal waves flung themselves up along the shores from the sheer force of the gravity being pushed out from the structure. Higher and higher it rose into the air, gleaming off the moonlight. Finally, it came to a stop, and things became silent and still for a moment. The only sound was the soft humming coming from the turbines of the vessel. It was slightly spherical in shape, appearing like an enormous eyeball in the sky, held up by braces and the turbines on either side of it. Slowly, the iris began to rotate. An angry crimson glow began to emanate from within, pulsing as a hum began to grow louder and louder, like buzzing, before growing into a roar as more layers of the eye began to rotate, faster and faster. The light grew brighter and brighter, lighting up the entire night sky like a sun of its own.
Then there was a pause, like the calm before a storm. A moment of respite as the noise died.
An ear-splitting noise pulsed across the battlefield as a beam of energy fired from the weapon, searing through the air nearly as fast as light, red energy sparking off of it as it traveled, making the sky glow blood scarlet, an ominous sign of the power that was being unleashed.
The entire world shook as the modified glassing beam struck its target. Eggman's City. The beam ripped through several buildings and structures like a knife through wet paper before it struck the center of the city. A scream rang out from the blast, louder than even the pulse of the energy as the entire city became engulfed in white light. What wasn't vaporized, instead crumbled and fell into rubble, everything being superheated so much that most was instantly turned into pure glass on contact. The beam unrelented, pummeling still into the city, its blast radius becoming wider and wider-
Until all went quiet and still.
The portion of the city that had been converted into Eggman's own playground was now nothing but a crater. A remnant of molten earth, ash, and glass. All that cried out from it were dust and echoes. A silence was overbearingly forced after the attack that all could hear. All could see. None of this went unnoticed. It was practically impossible to miss.
As the dust began to quietly settle, Bottoms-Up Bay began to bubble again, and more vessels began to emerge. Large crafts (though not nearly as large as the weapon, or Eggman's ship) lifted out of the water. Banished Liches. They hovered upward, followed by Phantoms that propelled out, and even larger ships than them made themselves known. Light Cruisers.
Walking out of the water came Scarabs, stomping their way across the beaches with mechanical roars, supported by Wraiths as they emerged, Banished battle-tanks. Alongside that were Grunt Goblins, stomping their way up the beach, accompanied by Brute Exosuits, dwarfing the Goblins as they thundered their way along. An army and a fleet.
And finally, Decimus let himself become known. Above his weapon, another ship appeared, dwarfing not just Eggman's ship and the Warriors of Hope ship, but his new weapon as well. The Banished Corvette shone as it seemingly materialized in the night sky, its cloaking shutting off.
Decimus leaned back on his throne, smirking at the display before him. Whatever petty squabbles they fought before are over. The Banished now control this world, and everything in it. "Dispatch a Lich to the Jungle. Bring me the God's Gift, and the head of anyone you encounter." He ordered into his throne after pressing a button on the arm rest.
It was time for Robotnik to comprehend the feeling of complete and total fear.
