Ash and soot choked the air, drowning the moonlight as the battle raged. Sonera could barely make out the figures in front of her, every sense she possessed having been clogged by sound and fog. Only her Psionic gaze could keep pace, biting at the back of her skull with brief images of the Infestare.
"Horrid creatures aren't they," Yrix stated casually, slipping her words into Sonera's mind.
Like a swarm of bugs, they spilled out of the shattered pods, stumbling over their dead brethren as the Consortium cut them down at distances both close and far. The lesser of their ranks, known as Incipents, were easily the most abundant, their bodies torn asunder by a single Daregen.
Yet Sonera knew a distraction when she saw one, as the biting masses, with their feral claws and skeletal teeth, were merely serving as a shield for their larger counterparts. For deep within their blank faces, obscured by a sealed orifice that resembled a flower, lay a powerful seed.
"Pennants," Yrix spoke hastily. "Tougher forms, given new strength by rite of growth."
The larger figures charged out of the dust with a much greater pace, using their longer, stalkier legs to clamber over the craters left in the wake of the Consortium's efforts. Their flesh, having been hardened and carved out to resemble armor, was enough to shrug off nearly a dozen rounds from the Daregen. Fortunately for the time being, plasma from members of the Vesper seemed sufficient in piercing their skulls, exposing a vine-like substance beneath with an eyeball attatched at the tip.
Sonera had seen enough. She understood in one single moment why Lunae had censored the appearance of her own family for so long. In no way did they resemble her beauty, nor did they bring assurance to the girl's sanctity. Even the blood of such creatures glowed a different hue, judging by the amount of guts Sonera had witnessed shoot up into the air after a crate-sized grenade was chucked into the fray.
"Focus." Yrix chided. "Hold no sympathy for them."
The Arch-Flayer barely finished her sentence before levitating into the air, calling forth her Psionic longbow before firing a volley of arrows into the pack of Infestare with a single tug of her string. A few keen Vesper took notice, prepping a half dozen or so plasma grenades to pummel the creatures just as soon as the Psionic constructs pierced their bodies and pinned them to the floor. Sonera could only watch in silent awe as the Infestare disintegrated before her very eyes, only to be replaced by another horde.
Sonera nodded, sprouting a pair of solar wings before soaring into the air, raining a barrage of radiant knives down on the enemy as they orbited overhead. Despite hitting her mark, however, she was taken by surprise when a long, bony hook pierced her leg, pulling her down to the floor as if she were a wrangled fish. Surrounded by the clamping jaws of nearly a hundred Incipents, one might expect her to panic.
But Yrix knew better.
She had chosen Sonera for a reason.
"Die." Sonera scoffed, punching one of the smaller dregs in the face with her gloved fist.
The horde came down on her just as soon as the assasin could rise to her feet and kick with her legs, attempting to devour Sonera like a swarm of ants. But with tooth and claw, she fought through, using an array of orbiting shards to protect her frail body. So long as Sonera maintained her composure and will to survive, she could hold her own in the heart of the battle.
That being said, Sonera's current predicament was largely due to the chaff she had been tossed into. The true culprit behind her fall only revealed itself once she had expended the last of her radiant knives, leaving her finally vulnerable. Rolling to her left, Sonera barely managed to avoid a second hook as it came screaming towards her face.
"Tsch." She grunted in silence, feeling the throbbing pain in her wounded leg.
Before her stood a slim figure, clad in shining, sticky, sap-like armor that covered it from head to toe. Its visor, elegant and strangely feminine in nature, twitched with anticipation through its dark slit. The Infestare towever over Sonera, aiming its hook at her with the intention to drag her into its hungry maw.
"Tillers," Yrix spoke calmly, casting a Psionic wave that split the battlefield ranks in two. "How fun. Always trying to feed their young."
Sonera offered no response, sliding across the floor while splitting her legs, diving under her enemy like the graceful dancer she was. Calling forth her radiant blade, she struck at the Tiller, burying her blade in its chest as it pulled itself closer. The creature's petal-like face opened wide, revealing a winding cord of organic material that lunged at her like a snake.
The assasin whinced, her Psionic Ambience flickering as the creature's hidden face bit into her flesh. She responded with a powerful Psionic push, severing the body from its squishy insides after holding the writhing face steady with her shaking hands. Sonera would stop for nothing.
"Watch the-."
Yrix's warning was cut short as Sonera swiveled around with her blade in hand, cutting apart a writhing tail as it attempted to impale her with its sharpened tip. She, more so than even Yrix, was well aware of how an Infestare could hide such a secret weapon. Only, her experience with its long reach was substantially different.
Thanks to Lunae.
Having killed the Tiller that pulled her down to the ashy floor, Sonera fought her way back to Yrix, her attire covered in dirt and blood. The Arch-Flayer assisted in clearing the path, standing in the same spot for minutes as she leisurely cleared her enemy from a distance. Whatever she was expecting had clearly urged her into a position of patience and restraint.
For the worst thing one could do against the Infestare was grow weary.
The battle had only just begun.
"Huh-." Sonera gasped, her meek voice barely escaping her throat as she stumbled back just in time to avoid a streak of purple energy.
She was surprised to find that the Infestare Pennants were wielding biomechanical firearms of some sort, welded to their arms and made visible as the fog began to clear. Using their height and natural armor, they fired their weapons at arm's length with little regard to accuracy or safety, hoping only to slay an enemy beyond the reach of their claws. Unfortunately for the Consortium, such recklessness prevailed as their ranks began to dwindle through the onslaught.
Even the Vesper's shields, having previously shown to be quite durable, buckled under the heat of the Infestare weaponry. The Daregen, along with the smaller Psions didn't fare any better; their armor and bones desolving under the acidic substance as the Infestare pushed forward. Yrix, however, was quite safe. Her projected shield barely even registered the impact from an entire volley of Pennant acid.
"Stay close," The Arch-Flayer muttered, snapping her fingers and expanding her shield into a dome that covered Sonera. "Let them come to us."
Sonera nodded with a cold look.
She was ready.