Clayton stalked the Forgotten Atlanta Expanse’s ruins, Shedskin’s fungal chitin plates shimmering with adaptive camouflage, thorned vines coiling like a ranger’s cloak.
His Regalia of the Verdant Warden hummed in spear form, Heartseed Core steady at 12 Genesis Embers, Aspect Strain moderate.
His Architect rank Aspect, divine-like with a 6,000 Embers cap, pulsed through Shedskin’s enhancements; 80% physical resistance, and 70% mind/soul resistance, stealth affinity sharpening his hunt.
His Aphid Network; 26 minions, including the Spore Plague Lord (Luminous Seed), Ashbloom Stalker (Luminous Seed), Spore Husk (Luminous Seed), and 23 Initiate Ember (Thorn Strays, Sporelings, Thorn Hounds, Howl Shriekers, Ash Sprites, Spore Drifter) all trailed, cloaked by Veil of Verdant Shroud, 60 kilometers east of his Rootsite.
The Plague Sovereign’s spore storms roared dozens of kilometers south at Ironhold-3, its Verdant Warden rank wrath cowing Behemorphs, fueling Clayton’s hunt.
He targeted another Luminous Seed Spore Crown. Most of them in the Forgotten Atlanta Expanse were of the spore crown.
The new guy was 12 meters large, with a fungal halo and a Toxic Veil, cowering in a tramp it.
Core Maw snapped, devouring its spores, Spine Bloom thorns piercing its core, Symbiotic Command binding it.
A rogue Initiate Ember Ash Wraith, 3 meters and with flaming tendrils resisted, its flames snuffed by Shedskin’s resistance, Regalia skewering it, yielding 3 more Genesis Embers.
[Behemorph Subordinated: 1 Spore Crown (Luminous Seed)]
[Behemorph Slain: 1 Ash Wraith (Initiate Ember)]
[Genesis Embers Acquired: 3]
[Genesis Embers Total: 15/6000]
[Minions: 4 Luminous Seed (Plague Lord, Spore Husk, Ashbloom Stalker, Spore Hound); 23 Initiate Ember]
"Growin’ the family," Clayton smirked, almost humming a song as the Plague Lord’s tendrils twitched loyalty.
The more his Aphid Network grew, the more powerful he became, and the easier it became for him to overwhelm other Behemorphs and add them to his Aphid Network army.
But then, Territorial Sentience pinged again, this time, Clayton sensed a tremor unlike the Plague Sovereign’s wrath.
’This...!’ Clayton felt goosebumps all over his body all of a sudden.
Dread gripped him in a chokehold. ’W-what the f*ck!’
Acting on instinct, he switched to his Hive-Sight, a facet of his Aspect linking Aphid Network’s senses. It flared, his vision shifting to a supersonic streak.
It took a moment for Clayton to realize what it was.
...Oblivion Cascade, blazing toward Ironhold-3 at supersonic speed.
Clayton didn’t have time to react when it hit.
Even from dozens of kilometers out, he felt the impact and the thunderous explosion that shook the Expanse.
A mushroom cloud rose, 2 kilometers wide, glowing with amplified Null Scion energy, its anti-Genesis shockwave nullifying Mycoglyphs, Earthcore Nexus screaming.
Clayton staggered, Shedskin’s defenses buffering the distant quake, his Heartseed Core flickering, Aspect Strain spiking.
"Holy slag," he rasped, humor fading, Hive-Sight showing ruins vaporized, spore storms scattered.
"Junkies went nuclear".
Ironhold-3, Ground Zero.
The Oblivion Cascade detonated, a Genesis-fueled inferno, Null Scion shockwave erupting, nullifying Plague Sovereign’s Reality-Warp Spores.
The 57-meter fungal titan roared, its nexus gashed, tendrils severed, Sporebloom Maws charred.
But the Ironblood paid a steeper price.
The explosion’s heat, 10,000 degrees, incinerated over a hundred soldiers in milliseconds, flesh vaporizing, Furnace Cores detonating, Embers snuffed.
Firestorms swept, melting steel, Titanforge Mechs; Lancebreaker’s wreckage, Pyreclad’s husk, all liquefying.
Spore clouds ignited, amplifying flames, burning 50 more, their screams silenced as lungs charred.
The blast wave crushed spires, shrapnel shredding 30 Ironblood, blood misting, limbs torn; visitors screaming as a Null Lance impaled a Corporal’s chest, his body folding into slag.
A few reacted, diving under obstacles.
Commander Vrenna, in Ironwrath’s battered cockpit, slammed her mech behind a collapsed bunker, Ironclad Resolve Aspect shielding as she strained her Aspect to the limit, the heat scorching her armor, Genesis Amplifier sparking.
As for Kael Draven? Aegis Bastion’s barriers shattered, and he dove under a tram chasis, Ironveil Aegist flickering, a shrapnel grazing his mech’s core even as this Commander poured his all into surviving.
His survival was not set in stone though. It was more likely that he would die.
Rhea, battered from Lancebreaker’s fall, crawled under a rubble pile, Drayce’s sacrifice and final wish ’Live’ fueling her, flames licking her Spore-Resistant skin.
Sylas, goggles melted, clutched his vox under a drone husk, signal sent, body trembling. It was a miracle that he didn’t die from the initial explosion.
Ten soldiers hid in a bunker, Null Scions faltering, heat seeping, their armor singeing; survival uncertain, Null Scion shockwave lingering, nullifying Aspects, including the Crown powers of the Plague Sovereign.
The death toll hit 180, Ironhold-3 a molten crater, 3 kilometers wide.
Survivors, barely 2 dozen, including Vrenna, Draven, Rhea, and Sylas choked on ash, fear and spite clashing.
A private sobbed, hands blistered, his squad’s ashes fused to steel.
Another spat blood, Null Blade warped. "We’re nothing to this hell!" he cursed, spite fading to despair.
Earthcore Nexus’s hunger pulsed, a dirge for Ironblood’s ruin.
Clayton’s Territorial Sentience flared, dozens of kilometers from Ironhold-3, Hive-Sight dimming as Null Scion shockwaves faded.
"...!" He was still stunned by what he just witnessed.
But then, a faint pulse hit.
The Plague Sovereign, it was still alive!
Its life was flickering, nexus core cracked, one step from death, but it was still alive.
Once Clayton understood what the faint pulse meant, he froze. The first thought that came to his mind was not fear, not horror, rather... ’Jackpot!’
Genesis Embers, hundreds, maybe thousands beckoned, a Verdant Warden’s bounty enough to push his Architect Aspect closer to divinity.
Greed surged, Core Maw ravenous, Shedskin humming.
Caution screamed. If he took too much time, time would elapse and his Rootsite would be exposed again. With Echoes lurking, that was dangerous.
Besides, his Aphid Network was untested against a Verdant Warden rank Behemorph.
Despite these rational thoughts though, Clayton’s greed won over his caution, his outlaw streak blazing. He was always a greedy man.
"Biggest score yet," he growled, humor dark as spores, Regalia shifting to spear. "Time to claim a dying god’s crown".
He signaled Plague Lord, and his other Luminous Seed subordinates, the other 23 minions growling, Aphid Network primed.
And then, Clayton moved.
He moved, Shedskin’s camouflage cloaking, racing toward Ironhold-3’s crater, Echoes of Ruin’s Rootbound Clans 50 kilometers north aware but unsure of the Expanse’s fate shifting.