The iron-red dust of the plains gave way to a suffocating, neon-green haze. The Plague-Fens were a graveyard of weeping willow-analogues and waist-deep black sludge that bubbled with methane and necrotic essence.
[LOCATION: THE PLAGUE-FENS (HAZARD ZONE)]
[ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS: RANK 2 TOXICITY]
[WARNING: VITALITY DEGENERATING — 0.5% PER SECOND]
"Sarge, my skin is starting to smoke," Vance grunted, his new Iron Juggernaut skin sizzling as the acid-mist ate at his metallic pores.
"Keep moving," Kane commanded. He was at the front, his Ashen Scales absorbing the toxins and venting them as grey steam. "Sully, what's the visual?"
Sully, perched on a floating, calcified rib-raft, peered through her Void-Sight. "There's a cathedral of thorns in the center of the swamp. And Sarge... the life-signatures around it aren't beasts. They're human."
They pushed through the sludge until the "Cathedral" came into view. It was a massive hive of black briars, dripping with a luminous, emerald bile. Standing at the entrance were dozens of "Hollowed" soldiers—men from the 1940s, 1800s, and even ancient Spartans—all fused together by pulsing green veins.
In the center, suspended by a throne of living roots, was Doc.
But she wasn't the medic Alpha-6 remembered. Her tactical gear had merged with the briars. Her eyes were solid, glowing emeralds, and her skin was a translucent, sickly white.
[TARGET: THE PLAGUE-QUEEN (DOC)]
[RANK: 3 - PEAK STAGE (CORRUPTED)]
[STATUS: HIVE-MIND ACTIVE]
"Intruders," Doc's voice echoed, layered with a thousand whispering souls. "The Cycle must be purified. All flesh is rot. All rot must be Green."
"Doc! It's Kane!" Vance stepped forward, his heavy boots sinking into the muck. "We're Alpha-6! We're your squad!"
Doc tilted her head, a jagged vine snaking out of her sleeve and piercing a nearby Hollowed soldier, instantly turning him to a puddle of nutrient-muck. "Alpha... 6? A dead memory from a dead world. I have found the Cure."
She raised her hand, and the swamp exploded. Hundreds of thorn-tendrils, each tipped with a Rank-3 paralytic toxin, lashed out at the squad.
"Vance, Shield!" Kane roared.
Vance planted his feet, his iron skin glowing a dull red as he braced for the impact. "Sarge, I can't hold her off forever! She's stronger than the Warlord!"
"I'm not going to kill her," Kane said, his Twin Fangs manifesting in a burst of obsidian sparks. "I'm going to eat the sickness."
The Exorcism of the Void
Kane moved with 85 Agility, a flicker of black light dancing through the emerald thorns. He didn't strike Doc's body; he struck the vines connecting her to the hive.
SHLICK. SHLICK.
[SOUL-SIPHON ACTIVE: ABSORBING CORRUPTION]
As the Twin Fangs bit into the emerald vines, the black obsidian blades began to turn a sickly, glowing green. Kane's own system began to groan under the pressure of the Rank-3 toxin.
[WARNING: TOXIN LEVELS AT 40%]
[GOD-FEEDER MANUAL: UNABLE TO PROCESS VIRAL ESSENCE]
"Eat... it... all!" Kane growled, his silver eyes bleeding green light.
He lunged through the final wall of thorns, tackling Doc off her throne. They tumbled into the black sludge. Kane pinned her down, his scaled hands gripping her wrists while his axes hovered inches from her chest.
"Doc! Look at me!" Kane screamed, the Ashen Ghost form flickering violently. "Remember the oath! No one left behind!"
Doc shrieked, her emerald eyes pulsing as she tried to shove a thorn-blade through Kane's throat. "THE GREEN... IS... ETERNAL!"
"No," Kane hissed, pressing the flats of the Twin Fangs against her temples. "The Void is Forever."
He triggered the Soul-Siphon at maximum output. He didn't take her life-force; he targeted the "System Link" that was feeding her the plague. The green light began to drain out of her eyes, flowing through the axes and into Kane's own spine.
[RANK 2 (MIDDLE STAGE) \rightarrow RANK 2 (PEAK STAGE)]
[TOXIN CONVERTED TO ESSENCE: 80% COMPLETE]
Doc's body convulsed. The emerald glow faded, replaced by the dull, exhausted brown of her human eyes. The thorns around the swamp began to wither and turn to grey ash.
"Kane...?" she whispered, her voice cracking.
She looked at her hands, then at the monster pinning her down. "Sarge? Your eyes... what did you do?"
Kane rolled off her, falling onto his back in the mud. His skin was veined with green, his body shivering from the massive intake of corrupted mana.
[EVOLUTION THRESHOLD REACHED]
[RANK 3 (EARLY STAGE) IMMINENT]
"I kept the promise, Doc," Kane rasped, looking up at the two moons. "I didn't leave you behind."