Chapter 2: The Power of a Demigod
Omega moved like wind and shadow through dozens of city blocks, methodically destroying the Rangda war-beasts wherever he found them.
Such devastating effectiveness drew attention from both sides.
Within half an hour, Rangda slave-soldiers wearing neural collars flooded into the district by the thousands. Most of these shock troops fought empty-handed, relying on enhanced physiology and sheer numbers to overwhelm human defenses.
In minutes, they erased the advantage Omega had created.
Xenos packed every street. The human defenders fell back under the relentless assault.
Through it all, one figure stood firm against the tide. Omega faced attackers from both the ground and the sky alike. Every enemy that came within reach of his spear died. Corpses piled six or seven meters high around him within minutes.
But the enemy was endless. More poured in from every direction, obscuring the sky.
Omega glanced at a Rangda ship hovering in the distance, its hull covered in pulsating organic tentacles.
"Disgusting bastards." The vessel was clearly targeting him specifically. Still, despite the overwhelming numbers, he felt no fear. His strength was immense.
The Pale Spear in his hands was unbreakable. He fought and moved, leaving trails of severed limbs and shattered carapaces. The Rangda mind-control techniques did not affect him.
Within ten minutes, hundreds of thousands of slave-warriors filled dozens of blocks, pressing in from all sides like a living sea.
From above, Omega was barely visible, surrounded by enemies on all sides.
Just as the xenos threatened to bury him completely, a shockwave of force erupted. Hundreds of bodies launched skyward. A blood-soaked warrior stood in the center of the clearing, spear in hand.
Then Omega felt more than a dozen massive psychic attacks slam into him simultaneously. The psionic assault was so powerful that it became almost physical, tearing through nearby buildings and shattering windows into glittering rain.
Slave-soldiers who were caught in the psychic barrage exploded, their bodies twisted apart by the mental force.
Omega stood like a stone in the storm. He fixed his gaze on the source and spotted more than a dozen humanoid figures pushing through the slave ranks.
They wore heavy armor and black robes, but their exposed "faces" consisted entirely of writhing tentacles. No eyes. No features. Even their hands were masses of slender, flesh-like tendrils.
These creatures appeared to be woven entirely from countless tiny appendages. Utterly inhuman.
These were true Rangda Cerabvore elites, each one comparable to an Astartes in combat capability. As they advanced through the crowd, Omega and the xenos commanders locked eyes across the battlefield.
"Found you," Omega said coldly.
Before the slave-soldiers could shield their masters, Omega charged. He tore through the hundred-thousand-strong horde like a storm, sending xenos flying in every direction.
In less than thirty seconds, he reached the first Cerabvore elite just as it raised an ion cannon.
Whoosh.
The spear moved at blinding speed. The Cerabvore bent to dodge. Too slow. Its head flew free, and the body crumpled. By the time the surrounding xenos opened fire, Omega was already gone.
His armor moved as if it were weightless, despite its bulk. The Pale Spear flashed a dozen times, and a dozen Cerabvore commanders fell dead.
With their masters slain, the slave-soldiers wearing neural collars froze in confusion. They stared in shock at the warrior cutting through Rangda elites as if they were nothing.
Then a brilliant light flashed in the distant sky, an ion cannon charging.
Omega's eyes widened. The Rangda were willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of their own slaves just to kill him. He moved instantly, disappearing from his position and leaping across the heads of the packed slave-soldiers, using them as stepping stones to launch himself clear.
Just then, the ship in orbit fired.
A beam of devastating energy screamed down from the sky. The packed Rangda slaves on the surrounding streets looked up as the light filled their vision.
BOOM.
Tens of thousands of slaves vaporized instantly. The explosion sent shockwaves rippling across a dozen city blocks. Hundreds of thousands died in that single strike.
The beam's thermal energy turned steel buildings molten red as they collapsed like candles. Human aircraft warped and melted into slag.
Amid the collapsing structures, a swift figure raced ahead of the expanding blast wave, outrunning the explosion itself.
Omega felt his armor heating rapidly as debris and superheated air buffeted him from behind. His refractor field and power armor deflected the worst of it.
After the explosion subsided, Omega dove into a water reservoir. Steam hissed as his armor cooled.
He shook his head, checking for injuries. Nothing serious. Then he noticed the Rangda ship charging another barrage, more miniature cannons targeting his position. He flickered out of sight just as the reservoir exploded, turning into a cloud of superheated vapor.
The secondary strike not only vaporized the water but also melted the ground beneath, forming a crater of glowing, molten rock.
In a shadowed alcove, Omega gripped the Pale Spear as a strange ripple passed over him. His form wavered, and then he simply vanished from perception.
He walked openly down the street, clearly visible, yet the Rangda ship above no longer tracked him. A dozen xenos patrol craft flew overhead and stopped at his last known position, searching frantically.
But they found nothing.
Omega had already moved into the fleeing civilian crowds ahead. His distinctive armor and spear somehow drew no attention. The humans around him unconsciously overlooked his strange appearance.
As if he were just another refugee.
The Rangda had lost hundreds of thousands of slaves and over a dozen elite commanders, losses equivalent to a Space Marine strike force, endless slave armies still stretched to the horizon.
Each wore a neural collar. Each group had a Cerabvore overseer.
Millions of Rangda forces swarmed toward Balsavor's core city. The next wave was already overrunning the district where Omega had fought.
The xenos tide spread toward the human defensive lines. Overhead, more bio-ships with pulsating tentacles and scout craft with writhing appendages filled the sky.
From the human fortifications ahead, artillery shells and missiles were launched in volleys. Las-cannons and macro-batteries fired continuously.
Laser fire and explosions filled the air, but the bombardment did nothing to slow the Rangda advance.
Omega moved with the panicked crowds, looking back at the endless enemies filling every inch of ground and sky as far as he could see.
"Seriously, space warfare is no joke," he muttered. "There are too many enemies."
He sighed, reflecting on his situation.
Ever since arriving in this world and unexpectedly merging with this body's consciousness, he'd come to understand what he truly was. Even the term "Superman" couldn't encompass his power.
"Demigod" was perhaps a better word for the strength he now possessed, a power he'd never witnessed in anyone else here.
At least, not yet.
[End of Chapter]
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