Chapter 7: Survival Instincts
The crimson sky above Proxima darkened as if the very planet was planning something big for them.
The Proximars came in waves, their hulking forms aglow with pulsating cracks of energy coursing through their bodies. Their molten eyes burned with predatory instinct. Their speed was unnatural-a huge contrast to their massive size.
"They're here!" Ava yelped, drawing an arrow from her quiver. As it notched with a faint psychic glow, all was steadiness as before.
First, the Proximar that lunged for them-all terrifying speed-yet Ava was quicker. Her arrow pierced its shining skull and transformed it into ash and sparks.
"Nice shot," Darius said, cracking his knuckles as his body was already morphing skin into metallic plates, plunging into the fleet of Proximars. With one sweep of his arm, one Proximar went high in the air, and Ava easily took him out.".
Mira stepped forward, her silver hair shining under the red light. Her calmness unruffled, she raised one hand. A group of Proximars froze mid-lunge, their movements suspended as though gravity itself had betrayed them. "Take them out," she said coolly, her voice cutting through the noise.
Caden didn't need to be told twice. Unsheathing his katana, he sprinted forward with fluid precision. The glowing blade hummed as he channeled energy into it, its arc slicing effortlessly through the immobilized creatures. With each slash, there was a small trail of light left behind as the Proximars were easily killed off.
"Clear a path!" Ava ordered, firing another arrow that exploded on impact and took out three Proximars at once.
But the swarm only thickened, more creatures emerging from fissures in the ground.
Caden looked at the growing numbers of Proximars and frowned. "We need to move," he said in a serious manner. "Staying here will get us surrounded."
Ava nodded, launching another arrow into the oncoming horde. "Agreed. Darius, clear a path. Mira, watch the rear."
"Got it," Darius growled, his voice changing as he morphed his arms into large claws. Charging ahead, he cut through with brute strength, his metal body deflecting the Proximars' blows.
Behind them, Mira raised her hand once more and conjured a gravitational field, slowing down the Proximars behind them. They moved sluggish enough for her to take well-placed shots of plasma bullets into their luminous bodies.
Caden rounded the whole, his katana a blur as he cut down any creature slipped through Darius's defenses.
"This isn't going to stop," Mira said, an edge of urgency tingeing her normally tranquil voice as more and more Proximars swarmed from the fissures.
"Then we'll make them stop," Ava returned, and promptly her psionic aura flared brightly, firing a hail of shots that all went supernova in brilliance and energy.
Despite their efforts, the swarm seemed endless. Caden could feel the strain in the air, but he also noticed something else: the Proximars were now growing stronger. They moved quicker, their shining bodies glowing brighter as if they gathered energy off their fallen brethren.
"We need a plan," Darius yelled over the din, his metal fists crashing through yet another wave of creatures. "They're not getting easier to kill only stronger!"
Caden's eyes narrowed behind his mask as he scanned the battlefield. "Stay together," he said. "Don't split up. If we lose our formation, we're done."
The team compacted, their formation moving singularly. Ava and Mira became long-range supporters, their attacks precise and devastating in effect. Darius continued to take the brunt of most of the attacks, his hardened form holding strong. And Caden moved like a phantom, his katana cutting through chaos with lethal efficiency.
Suddenly, a Proximar jumped in the air in a ball of radioactive energy. Mia tried to stop the movement of the Proximar but couldn't, and just when he was going to release the ball, Caden leaped off the ground as a crater in the solid ground of Proxima was formed, and division of Proximar into two parts as the dead body and organs fell to the ground.
Caden landed in front of Darius who stopped in his tracks shocked. "Let me handle this" Caden said and his katana lit up with a green light and he made an horizontal slash releasing a long energy beam
Instantly all the Proximars obstructing their part forward was killed as pieces of flesh, organ and bones slashed everywhere.
"Move now!" Caden exclaimed in exhalation because he put all his energy into that one slash, as it uses his entire savings. Quickly, Caden and his group got onto mountains easily, and quickly they find a cave to shelter into.
Heavy gasps resounded among the damp shadowy walls as they huddled up on it-the team. Mira flicks a flashlight into being; and instantly, long streaks of light or otherwise the silhouette on stone began flickering over its wall surface area.
Caden leaned against the wall, his katana still clutched in his hand, the glowing blade dim. His chest heaved as he tried catching his breath, and sweat oozed from his brow. Of course, he didn't show this to the others, though he knew they must have already noticed.
"That… was insane," Darius finally muttered, breaking the tense silence. His metallic skin shimmered faintly as it began to return to its normal flesh tone. He sank to the ground, groaning as he stretched his limbs. "You don't just clear a horde of Proximars like that, and with ease Caden. What the hell was that move?"
Caden shook his head. "Not something I can pull off again anytime soon, I burned through nearly all my energy reserves." He stared at his katana.
"Whatever it was, it saved us," Ava said, slumping down beside Darius. She pulled off her gloves and flexed her fingers-faint wisps of psychic energy crackled across the backs of her hands. "But that horde wasn't normal. They shouldn't have been adapting this fast. Did anyone else notice how their strength kept increasing?"
"I noticed," Mira said quietly, her silver hair plastered to her face with sweat. She was still watching the cave entrance, her plasma pistol ready. "Proximers are only like that when the a been controlled."
"Controlling them?" Darius snorted. "The Proximars are mindless brutes. They don't take orders."
"They do if there's a hive leader," Mira shook her head as she replied "We're not dealing with random Proximars here. This is a coordinated attack."
The group fell silent as the implications sank in. A hive leader was a creature that could organize and direct Proximars, they are the ones who are the real threat to humanity and the Humans leaders already thought they have all been killed off.
"Then that would mean…," Ava said, leaving her sentence hanging.
Caden completed it for her, "We are not safe here."
Mira nodded. "Not for long. The leader will track us. They'll want to eliminate us before we can regroup with the others."
Darius groaned. "Fantastic. And here I was hoping for five minutes to breathe."
Caden pushed off from the wall, straightening at his exhaustion. "Five minutes is all over we get. If the hive leader's targeting the students participating in this test, we need to know why." He turned to Ava.
Caden nodded, mind whirling. This time, there was total silence from the system.
"We need a plan," Ava said, rising to her feet and dusting herself off. "If we wait for them to find us, we're dead. If we run blind, we're dead. And if there's a hive leader…"
"We kill it," Caden interjected, surety dripping from his tone.
Others looked at him; some looked shocked, while some others were quite skeptical.
"You can't be serious," Darius said, crossing his arms. "We're barely holding our own against the grunts. A hive leader would be on a whole other level."
"We don't have a choice," Caden replied. "If we take out the leader, the rest of the swarm will collapse. That's how Proximars work right." He looked to Mira for confirmation.
She nodded. "He's right. The leader's death will cause the swarm to lose coordination. But getting to it won't be easy."
"Nothing about this has been easy," Caden said with a faint smirk. "We've made it this far. We can handle this."
Ava sighed but nodded. "Alright. But we need a solid strategy. No more rushing in blindly."
Mira came forward, her mind already working in analysis. "We use the cave to our advantage: Funnel them into a choke point. I can slow them down, Ava can thin their numbers from range, and Darius can block any that get through."
"And what about the hive leader?" Darius asked, raising an eyebrow.
Caden's hand tightened on his katana. "Leave that to me."
The team exchanged glances, doubt in their eyes. But they all knew Caden was strong, but not strong enough to kill a hive leader that hasn't been found. There was no other way out of this.
"Alright," Ava said, drawing another arrow and watching it shimmer with energy. "Let's end this."
The quiet hum of the Proximars outside grew louder, signaling the approach of the next wave.
And in a far-off distance, the echo of some sort of guttural roar that rent the air stretched over this deserted open area, was the voice of the leader.
Cut through heavy silence like a knife, a hoarse scream tore the wasteland asunder; the team held its breath as it shook the room.
"That's it," Mira breathed. Her plasma pistol bit a little deeper into her grasp; usually rock steady, her hand betrayed her by quivering now. "That's the hive leader."
"Then we have no time to spare," Caden said, the heavy cloak of his exhaustion falling away from his suddenly straight back, his katara hanging laxly in the slight green glow that clung to its blade.
Darius groaned, pushing himself up from the floor. "I hate this plan already."
"Let's get one thing straight," Ava said, her voice sharp as she turned to Caden. "You don't charge in alone this time. We're doing this together. Neither of us is strong enough to take on a hive leader alone."
Caden met her gaze and let out a sigh before giving a small nod. "Fine. But when we get to the hive leader, I'll take the lead. You all focus on keeping the swarm off me."
"And what happens if you go down?" Mira asked, and everyone turned to look at Caden as they clearly still didn't trust his abilities.
"I won't," Caden said with confidence.
"Alright," Ava said, adjusting her quiver. "Mira, where's it coming from?"
Mira closed her eyes, her silver hair shifting minutely as she concentrated, and her iris shone like a silver light as she peered out of the cave. "North. It's not far, but it's moving fast."
"Then we don't have time to sit around," Caden said, stepping toward the cave's entrance. "Let's move."
They came out of the cave and onto the open landscape. The sky had turned a more blood-red color now, with shades falling everywhere, on the ground that showed only desolation. The earth almost shook beneath their feet, each beat a signal that something big was coming.
Of course, it wasn't very long before the Proximars made their presence known again. Another wave surged forward toward the group.
"Darius, front!" Ava called, notching an arrow.
"On it!" Darius bellowed, charging into the Proximars with relentless force. His claws ripped through their shining bodies, spraying the ground with molten blood.
Mira raised a hand, casting a gravitational field that retarded the movement of another clump of the creatures. Ava's arrows whistled through the air, detonating on impact and sending the slowed Proximars to broken, smoldering heaps.
In one swift flash of light, Caden moved his katana and struck down every Proximar his blade reached. His motions started to become fluid again; he was getting a bit of his energy back while saving some for the hive leader.
"Keep pushing!" Ava yelled.
With a single accord, the group hacked through the horde with indelible bloodlust. But the deeper they plunged into the hive-the closer they got to the hive leader-the more vicious the resistance became.
The ground between them suddenly blew open, and a Proximar the size of a small tank boiled up from the seam. Its bulk was enormous compared to the others, and its eyes blazed with a fearsome intelligence.
"That's no grunt," Darius growled, stepping backward.
"It's a vanguard," Mira said, her voice steady, but somber. "One of the hive leader's personal guards."
Caden stepped forward, his katana glowing even brighter still as he pumped energy into the blade. "I'll handle it. Keep moving."
"Caden—" Ava started, but he cut her off with a glance.
"Trust me."
Without waiting for a response, he launched himself forward. The vanguard roared, swinging a massive arm toward him, but Caden was beneath the attack in the time it took a lightning strike to land. He sliced upward, his katana leaving a glowing arc in its wake.
The vanguard stumbled, molten blood welling from the deep gash in its chest. Yet it did not fall. It launched itself at Caden anew, with increased ferocity.
"Caden move now" Ava shouted, firing an arrow that struck the creature's side, creating a small explosion.
The distraction gave him the opening he needed. He sprang onto the back of the vanguard, pressing his katana deep into the base of its skull. Giving a guttural roar, it crashed to the ground, causing the earth to shudder at the impact of such a huge mass.
Caden yanked his katana free, his breathing labored. "Keep moving," he said without waiting for any of the others to show up.
The roar of the hive leader became louder, and the oppressive energy radiating from its direction could be felt by the team.
As they neared the source, a vast crater opened up in the ground, and six vanguards emerged, firing over a hundred balls of radiation energy at them instantly. With a small expu of energy, Caden formed a small force field that threw all his teammates far away from him as the balls of radiation landed where he was, and a huge explosion occurred.
{Guys tell me what you think of this chapter}