They froze.
The air hung heavy with the acrid tang of burnt plasma and the chilling silence that follows a world-shattering revelation. The crater spewed a plume of smoke, a grim monument to the apparent defiance of nature itself. Rogan and his squad remained frozen, their faces a mask of shock, bewilderment, and raw, animalistic fear.
In that moment, they all thought the same thing: 'There is no way it survived.' Yet, the words that echoed from the smoking devastation of a crater suggested otherwise.
"I must applaud you outsiders," came the voice from the smoke, sending chills down the Quasars' spines.
"I had really not expected to go this far," the ethervore said as it rose from the smoke, levitating gracefully, appearing unharmed by the blast.
However, the interwoven tendrils of skin it possessed now had a darker, shinier look. Of course, the Quasars could not observe the ethervore for too long. With no idea how it had survived that, their first instinct remained to attack, so they did.
One of the Quasars, Ryan, hands now ablaze with flames and a face full of conviction, charged at the ethervore with blinding speed, his flaming fists ready to launch a barrage of attacks.
*Schluk*
The sound was louder than it should have been, and it had happened too fast for any of them to have seen. So, the scene felt almost absurd at first. Ryan's body pierced through by one of the thick dark tendrils that made up its skin.
They were like thick metal wires, but far stronger. To them, they had only served as a considerable durability asset for the ethervore. Until now, as Ryan, suspended in the air and impaled by it, let out slow gasps as blood dripped from his mouth.
"This guy is way more than a Abysshunter; I should have known from the start his speech and intelligence were too advanced to be one," Rogan thought to himself as he watched the scene.
"I will no longer play these games. Tell me where the power I had felt came from, or this planet shall perish, but not before I kill you all one by one," the ethervore exclaimed as the Quasars watched, their usual plan of attack in shambles.
Its attacks moved too quickly; mindlessly attacking would be a death sentence. They had to calmly formulate a different strategy, an effective one. However, watching their teammate and friend die made doing so difficult.
"I see, time's up," the ethervore declared. Just as quickly as the last time, Ryan's head was impaled by the wire.
He died instantly, the ethervore allowing his body to drop into the crater below him. It stretched its hand forward as a long rod formed before it from the tendrils.
"You all must still not understand, so I'll show you. Who dies next? ," the ethervore swung the rod.
Claire, along with the rest of the squad, watched Ryan die, pupils dilating, sweat forming across their faces, and indescribable anger bubbling within them. Precautionary methods or formulating strategies were now out the window.
"You evil bastard, die!" Claire exclaimed. Her guttural scream carried hints of desperation and bloodlust, and the ground trembled in response.
The street shook as it began to crumble into pieces. As the ground crumbled, each piece of it turned into sharpened projectiles aiming directly at the ethervore.
"Oh," the ethervore observed as it glanced at the attack.
"Quakestorm," Claire mumbled as the projectiles shot at the ethervore at high speed, the sound of the rocks smashing into its hardened skin echoing loudly.
When the assault was done, the rocks had fully engulfed the ethervore, its entire levitating form covered but only for a moment. With a loud shockwave, it all crumbled to dust, falling back to the ground.
"You really thought that was enough to defeat me? How pathetic," the ethervore's mockery carried a hint of disappointment as he regarded the Quasars, who he just noticed weren't all present.
"It wasn't meant to defeat you," Claire said as Astrid, a member of their squad, was now behind the ethervore, his giant sword coming down on its head with as much force as he could muster.
A deafening sound followed by a shockwave swept through the expanse as the metal blade connected with the ethervore's head. The other squad members raised their hands to cover their eyes as the shockwave hit.
Looking back at the scene, however, only showed them the failure of their attack and the consequences of its recklessness as the ethervore gripped Astrid by the throat. His legs flailed as he struggled for air, his sword barely able to crack through the ethervore's hardened skin, falling to the ground.
"It was a smart plan, but what use is being smart if you are still weak? Tell me the source of that power, or this one dies too," the ethervore said, its grip on Astrid's throat relentless.
Now they were back in the same situation, helpless as another member of their squad faced death.
"If we tell you, will you leave?" Elai, the sixth member of the squad, spoke up.
"What the hell are you saying?" Claire exclaimed as she turned to Elai.
"Do you really want our entire world going to shit because of one boy? Look at the bigger picture for God's sake," Elai snapped back.
"Enough!" The ethervore silenced their squabble as he released his grip on Astrid's throat.
"Tell me what I want, and I shall leave you and your world alone. I am only a hunter of the exiled and nothing more. I have no business with your world," the ethervore replied.
"It's from a boy not far away from here," Elai revealed.
"Where is he?" The ethervore asked.
"Rogan, tell him. Where are they? You were with them last," Elai said.
However, Rogan kept quiet. Along with Claire, they both fought a moral battle within themselves. It made no sense to sacrifice their teammates and their world for a child they barely knew.
"Follow me," Rogan said with a shaky, low voice. He had come to a conclusion on the moral dilemma faster than Claire had. It was a hard choice but the right one.
"Lead the way then," the ethervore replied as he released Astrid, and Elai ran to grab him as he fell.
Claire stayed silent, unable to bring herself to oppose their decision.
"You only want the boy; you won't hurt anyone else?" Rogan asked, Haze and Irene in mind.
"You have my word," the ethervore replied as Rogan led the way.
****
Calyx, Haze, and Irene ventured onto the street, planning to return to the bunker and the Quasar HQ. Assuming the ethervore was defeated after the massive blast, they felt it was best to leave the area. Unlike Haze and Calyx, Irene didn't possess superhuman speed, so they walked and conversed amidst the desolation that surrounded them.
"So which one possesses Moros's power?" The familiar voice sent chills down the spines of Haze and Calyx as they heard it.
"The black-haired one," Rogan replied as Calyx, Haze, and Irene turned around to look at the terrifying creature.
The metallic clicks of the ethervore's steps echoed on the asphalt, each beat carving grooves of dread into Calyx and Haze's hearts. Instinctively, they formed a shield around Irene, summoning the last embers of courage to protect her. But Haze stopped first, his feet rooted as Calyx stumbled back, eyes fixated on Irene's safety.
"Calyx, run with Mom," Haze's voice cracked, barely a whisper against the thickening tension. He gripped his spear tighter, Rogan's words ringing in his ears – this ethervore was here for Calyx, and yet his squad stood silent, watching. Haze settled on buying time as his heart hammered against his ribs, hope dwindling and his action seeming more foolish with each thunderous step the ethervore took.
"Haze, get out of the way! It's not after you," Rogan exclaimed.
"Haze, get away!" Calyx's shout echoed, backing away with Irene.
"Sto-" Haze began, but the ethervore showed no sigh of a halt. Its footsteps closed in, and the clatter of Haze's dropped spear mingled with the looming dread.
"My arm..." Haze mumbled, a slow realization forming.
"Has been cut off." The chilling revelation followed a blood-curling scream that drowned out the ethervore's relentless approach.
His right arm severed, Haze dropped to his knees, agony etched across his face.
"Haze!" Calyx and Irene screamed as they watched, helpless.
Irene tried to rush to him, but Calyx held her hand in a vice grip.
"No, don't get close to it," Calyx urged, trying to shield her from the encroaching horror.
In an instant, it materialized before them, its imposing figure casting a chilling shadow over Calyx and Irene. With a forceful swing of its leg, the ethervore sent Calyx hurtling into a wall, the impact shattering bones and unleashing a wave of excruciating pain. Blood spurted from his mouth, vision hazed, yet he could see Irene standing defenseless before the ethervore.
"Show me, where is Moros?" The ethervore demanded, attempting to approach Calyx.
The air thickened with a suffocating dread as the monstrous figure loomed closer. Irene, eyes flashing with defiance, planted herself between it and Calyx, her voice trembling but resolute.
"Stop, leave my boys alone, please," Irene's voice quivered in desperation.
The ethervore briefly glanced at her before raising its hand. In that fleeting moment, time seemed to slow, with Haze's screams echoing in the background, foreshadowing impending catastrophe.
Then, with a swift, chilling motion, the creature's hand arced downwards. Irene, brave but fragile, stood no chance. A sickening mist of crimson erupted, and in its place, only half of her remained. A gruesome sight of her hanging entrails adorning her lower half plagued their vision.
"Insects," the ethervore declared, a cold disdain lacing its words.
A heavy silence enveloped them; not even Haze's screams penetrated the air as they both stared, grappling with a scene that simply eluded their comprehension.
"What just happened?" echoed in Calyx's mind; understanding it all a heinous task.
"You fucker, you said you wanted only the boy!" Rogan's enraged outburst filled the void as he charged at the ethervore.
They probably Engaged themselves, Calyx wouldn't know they became a distant backdrop to him, whose mind hung on the edge of unraveling into madness.
Each passing moment thickened the harsh reality, and a relentless realization echoed—he had once again failed to protect the people he held dear.
His body, a canvas of broken bones and raw wounds, protested as he forced himself upright. Blood stained his lips as he rasped, a whisper through the suffocating silence, "Moros."
The air shimmered, and a voice, deep and resonating, filled the space. "Child," it spoke, a soft rumble against the backdrop of devastation.
"My life, my soul, my body... Take it all, every bit. I only ask one thing in return: manifest my agony, my pain—destroy this thing before me," Calyx's plea barely escaped his bloodied lips, a desperate bargain for the release of suffering.
"As you wish, child," Moros replied, and what followed was destruction.
The ground ripped to shreds, and the buildings around crumbled in an explosive shockwave that rippled through the entire area. The world seemed to tremble, raw Quasarite seeping from Calyx's body, so potent that breathing for the Quasars became difficult.
A figure emerged from the swirling energy, its form coalescing from the raw emotion Calyx had unleashed. "How long has it been," boomed a voice, not Calyx's, but echoing with his pain, "since I sent an Exarian bastard to oblivion?"
"You've finally shown yourself, Moros, the exiled."