The Distorted quickly made itself a major threat. Syndicate Dust flew all around it, covering everyone in the dust. In unison, all the victims collapsed dead.
"DANA, DANA, BREESH!" it chanted.
Distorted darts formed overhead, their murderous energy patiently waited for its master to allow them to fall. The Distorted unleashed the darts, they rained down against Digon's snow.
Jakery tried to charge at the Distorted, but Ether caught him before he left. "Jakery, go back and help our side fight forward. That thing is mine."
Ether let go of Jakery, then he embraced for the heated battle. After getting a feel of the scene, he quickly ran for the Distorted.
It saw Ether coming, so it brought up its hand and pointed the open palm at Ether. Then it unleashed a blast powerful enough to knock Ether down.
An unnerving dread crept into Ether's mind, he heard the same voice he would sometimes hear speak again.
"Do you really wish to fight it again? Is it really worth it? Do you really believe you'll make it out alive? Cease your attempts, you'll live another day. You're unfit for this fight..."
Ether forced himself to look up at the Distorted, who was now picking up Primes and turning them into piles of gore.
"Tellendor, let's dance one more time..." Ether spoke to his weapon.
He stood up and ran at the glossy figure again. This time, the Distorted wasn't paying attention to him. Ether lifted up Tellendor and attempted to cut an arm off.
But the arm instantly hardened to become metallic. Tellendor bounced back, leaving a lingering ding sound as it retreated.
The Distorted turned around and see Ether. "Tarna oot? Yasi da'cuor? Rimbinishi, doona toour!" it howled.
Then it made Syndicate Dust latch itself onto Ether. Soon, Ether was encased in Syndicate Dust. He wasn't capable of fighting out of it, for some reason, he didn't want to.
Despite wanting to break away and fight the Distorted deep down. Ether knew he wasn't powerful enough to fight back against the figure. So he accepted his end and allowed the Nine to run their plan.
Now with the only threat active on the field being taken care of, the Distorted was free to do whatever it wanted. It used its dust to form two massive claws from its hands.
Then it swiped all around itself. Cutting creatures and Variants alike. Their bodies lifelessly dropped to the ground, painting Digon under murder.
But three Primes arose for the challenge. These three weren't normal warriors, these were elites.
The Splintered team, one that used to be allied with Divinity, were deployed to fight during the invasion. Their traits as Thawed made them useful and their ability to brutalize anyone made them a powerful group.
"Menkas, Troni, attack from opposite sides. I'll beat it down from the front," an elite said.
The Distorted felt their presence closing in on it. Despite being outnumbered, the Distorted knew it had a good chance of surviving.
Splintered wore matching armor. A heavier and tougher version of the standard Light Legion armor. Heavy rings around their wrists turned their arms into weapons and reinforced plates around their body made them menacing.
None of the triplets had weapons, they barely needed them. And Troni was there to show why.
He swung his arm against the Distorted's back, knocking it forward but not down. It looked back up to look for whoever did it, but Menkas bashed his wrist against its head.
The Distorted howled in anger, creating spikes all around its body. Not allowing anyone to touch it.
"Look, Enes, it's scared!" Menkas taunted.
It understood what they were saying, which made it even more furious. The Distorted formed a sickle using its left arm, then swiped away at Menkas.
He stood there and watched the Distorted bring down the sickle against his armor multiple times. But he didn't budge. This Distorted was too young and unexperienced to turn its body acidic.
Troni came from behind and grabbed it two feet, sending it crashing down backwards. As it touched the ground, its body evaporated.
Slow winds carried away the Syndicate Dust. But they were aware of a Distorted's tricks, they knew not to let their guard down too early.
After several minutes of looking around, Splintered prepared to ascend Digon's side. Just as they began running, something snapped.
The same Distorted lifted them all above their army. Light Legion warriors looked up as three of their elites floated above them. Enes looked back and saw the Distorted.
It dropped them before he could get a clear look. They crashed down against the snow, their armor bent from the impact.
Before they could recover, the Distorted grabbed Troni by his neck. Then forced him onto his knees. The Distorted laughed, then placed its foot over the back of Troni's legs.
Syndicate Dust wrapped his brothers, only allowing them to watch the Distorted punish their brother.
The Distorted took Troni's helmet off, then made claws on its head. It scratched Troni's face. Blood oozed as the Distorted kept going, it laughed manically as it did.
After what felt like an eternity, the Distorted let Troni go. He slumped forward, blood poured onto the snow. Troni looked up to beg his brothers for help, but before he could utter a word.
The Distorted grabbed his neck again and pulled him back. Menkas and Enes watched what the figure did next. It used its index finger and middle finger to form two larger claws.
Before the Distorted did anything else, it forced Troni to look up at it. When he looked up at the Distorted, it drove both fingers into his eye sockets.
He screamed in agony, the Distorted retrieved its fingers from out of his eyes. Then allowed Syndicate Dust to consume Troni. The screaming ceased, and it took aim for the other two.
Menkas and Enes found themselves free from the Syndicate Dust. They quickly got up to make a run for it. But the Distorted was too furious to let it happen.
It formed a whip and dragged Enes back to it. The Distorted chuckled as the helpless Enes tried to fight away from its grasp.
"Marna, danatoo, dakrashi bumdon..." it said to Enes.
Before he could respond, the Distorted violently whipped him upwards. The whip made its way to his neck, then when he reached maximum height, it suddenly stopped.
Half of the whip stopped moving, allowing the other half to fall back down. Menkas watched in horror as his own brother's lifeless body hung.
Menkas knew it was better to run than to challenge it. And unsurprisingly, the Distorted allowed him to escape.
It was common for Distorted to mentally scar a group of victims and leave them be; they feasted on suffering, and letting one live after witnessing those they cared about die was a good way of earning that delicious meal.
The Distorted freed Ether from his case. Ether struggled to get back on his feet, but the Distorted helped him get up.
"What the..?" Ether murmured.
The Distorted gave him Tellendor, then lifted his helmet. It looked Ether in the eyes before doing something strange.
Syndicate Dust flew off the Distorted. It became smaller and smaller until it was nearly as small as Ether.
Whatever this was stood in front of Ether naked, with the only thing being covered was its face by long silver hair. Then it brushed its hair away from its face.
Ether's eyes widened. That wasn't a Distorted, that was Demon. His younger brother was standing right in front of him.
Before Ether could ask him what happened, the Distorted regrew to its old size. Then it vanished again.
Ether was alone. No one was around, only several corpses. This moment of peace quickly disappeared when someone tackled Ether to the ground.
"Ah! You're still alive? Weird..." the person spoke.
He instantly knew who it was. "What do you mean?"
Talis laughed and forced Ether onto his back. "One of our Ferals found your bloody, beaten helmet in Etek Dur. We crowned you as dead and held a celebration. But it appears we were wrong! You are now Ether, Undying Moron!"
"Well then..." Ether grunted.
Talis allowed Ether to stand up and pick up Tellendor. He knew Ether was going to need it.
After seeing him eye-to-eye, Ether watched as Talis shaped a massive spear made from ice out of nowhere. He was going to need a lot of willpower to survive an enraged rival with a Third Rule unlocked.