Chapter 4: a Combat Miracle (Fanfiction)

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Chapter 4

A Combat Miracle

“Never stop fighting… because you never know when a Miracle just might come your way.” Viran had once said to Qhira while seeing her off on her first deployment.

“What?” Zeraq would hiss as suddenly the body of the woman he thought helpless became engulfed in blue energy. Qhira’s body invigorated as some foreign element began moving through her body, repairing tissue and purging Zeraq’s blood poison, simultaneously restoring power to her suit’s shielding. With this newfound strength, the Huntress would yank herself out of the cultists’ grip and throwing a punch at the one who was seconds away from taking that which was most precious to her.

Zeraq would blast Qhira away just in time to raise his hand and stop several high-powered darts sent his way with a red forcefield. Above them was a figure in a blue hood with a sniper rifle. It didn’t take long for the Iresian businessman to figure out who this was. One of the heroes brought into the Nexus by anomalies of recent years, Ana Amari, the Sniper born of a realm called Earth.

At the same time as this, Eris would find herself whipping around just in time to raise her hand and block several oncoming energy projectiles, sent her way from two pistols wielded by none other than Lena ‘Tracer’ Oxton. The brunette fighter was sporting a yellow jumpsuit and that famous Chronal Accelerator on her chest, thrumming with power. Wearing a cheeky smile that only served to aggravate Eris, “Gravity warps ti-” Eris would attempt to be witty only to get smacked in the back of the head and sent sprawling forward

Tracer was just that fast, even if she was nearly caught off guard by several hooded fighters appearing out of a building and opening fire on her. As Tracer took cover, Eris got to her feet and would raise her hand to block another attack sent her way. This time an icicle moving at high speeds. “Dr. Zhou… a terrible shame we had to meet like this.” She said out loud, still holding a defensive stance. Eris comments dryly as she turned to the black-haired woman in large blue and white coat. The Scientist Dr. Mei-ling Zhou had her trademark ice weapon aimed at her and now, combined with a volley of rounds from Tracer, were putting pressure on her shielding tech.

And as all this was going on, the two Iresian Scientists would find themselves coming back to back, Zeraq blocking hate-filled swings from Qhira’s sword and Eris holding a shield around them against the Tracer’s pistols and Icicles from Dr. Zhou. Even as Zeraq was no doubt getting ready to keep fighting Eris in her worry and watching Ana pick off their followers one by one began making a call of her own.

“I am so glad I reverse engineered that warp technology.” She muttered as she would quickly press a button on the underside of her gauntlet, and then suddenly, every single figure in the area save the Nexus Heroes and Qhira were engulfed in red and then vanished.

“Hey, that’s cheating.” Tracer hollered as she came out from the corner she was using as cover. She, Mei and Ana all calmly came over to the person they had just saved from, well they didn’t know what the Iresian scientists had planned for the hunter, but it wasn’t good; that was obvious.

the Huntress would turn to her saviours and nod curtly, a frown on her face even as she said, “Thank you… now, what do you want?”

“Oi, there’s no need to be rude,” Tracer said, hands on her hips and a huff of her own.

“Just stating facts, there is no reason for Nexus Heroes to be this far into the tertiary realms without needing something specific,” Qhira responded, showing just how cynical she was. There is no way they could have saved her of all people just because there had to be something. The Mother Crystal for themselves, or maybe they wanted to enlist her for a job or something else, whatever it was, it wasn’t coincidental altruism as far as the Huntress could be convinced.

“Rescuing you was something we’d do regardless; being here is because we needed to know more about that relic around your neck,” Ana said, responding to Qhira’s callousness with her professionalism. However, that professionalism wasn’t enough to stop the Huntress from gripping her sword defensively, ready to attack.

“Not the crystal, information on it.” Ana clarified being the only one that didn’t move for their weapon, or at least visibly no naked eye could see, but even she had flexed her arm, ready to draw and fire her wrist-mounted sleep dart launcher. With all the tension, one wouldn’t be shocked if another titanic fight broke out at any moment.

Eventually, however, Qhira relented, “What do you want to know?” Logic dictating she back off. After all, she was good but to take on no less than three heroes brought to the Nexus without preparation or backup; no, this was not a fight she wanted if she could avoid it, even if all three of them had bounties on their heads.

“Why would a terrorist organization, a cartel of gold-loving goblins and about a dozen other factions suddenly be real keen on getting their hands on it.” Tracer would cut in with a glare and a rude tone of her own, apparently not above giving Qhira a taste of her own medicine.

“The shard of what other realms call a Singularity is one of the most powerful artifacts in the Nexus, one of the only things immune to the power warping effects of the Nexus,” Qhira explained.

“Yes, but the prices for it tripled seemingly overnight about a week ago.” Ana reiterated, “and said ill-intentioned groups have begun mobilizing for something.”

“A week ago…. that was the realignment of the Tertiary realms…. oh….” Qhira’s face fell as it dawned on her what must be happening. “They want the Mother Crystal to attempt to stabilize a realm before it returns to the aether,” Qhira explained.

“A realm they wish to plunder? and why are you certain of this?” Ana asked

“Because Iresia when it still stood contained the greatest technology in all of the Nexus… I would know it was my home,” Qhira explained sadly, her sadness at being reminded of her home not hidden even by her icy demeanour.

Sure enough, just like Qhira Hypothesized, in a far-off region of the Nexus, a large group of goblins were traversing through a wrecked city. The buildings were covered in dust and rubble as if dozens upon dozens of massive explosions had gone off; vehicles of all shapes and sizes littered the streets rusted and without power. As if all that wasn’t terrifying enough, the sky itself seemed to be coming apart, Hexagon shapes seeming to appear like cracks revealing all manner of different realms or chaotic swirling of colours.

“This would be so much easier if we had that Singularity shard.” Came the disgruntled voice of the man leading the Goblins, a one Gazlowe, the 4 ft tall Goblin leading the way with his backpack that, in theory, he shouldn’t even be able to carry. Making him look like he was 8 or 9 ft tall with claws that he controlled via analogue sticks in front of him

"Boss wasn’t it you who said, and I quote, “If we’re more ballsy than those bird brains, we’ll get all the loot.” Came the voice of a female goblin just behind him, the Goblin sporting miners’ garb and a shovel covered in blinking red and yellow lights.

"Yeah yeah, Jill, doesn’t mean I have to like it, now let’s get moving; the best stuff has to be at that big building that hasn’t crumbled over yet.

“My name is… hey, wait a second.” The Goblin said before she suddenly heard a beeping from a device on her belt, pulling off the machine and looking at it, “There’s something that still has power. this way.” She excitedly stepped in front of Gazlowe and sped up as much as she could while still cautious of the debris. As she followed by her fellows rounded a corner, they found a truck, large smooth wheels that were lifted off the ground to the point even Gazlow’s backpack couldn’t reach the top of it. The bright orange and purple painted truck clearly looked like it had seen better days, as had the rest of the planet it resided on.

The Goblin who’s actual name was Jane, turned to Gazlowe. “Whatever it is, it’s in the back,”

“Well, hang on just a sec then,” Gazlowe responded just as excited as she was as he reached one of his claws forward and yanked the tailgate off while Jane climbed up and pulled out the device she had detected still giving off energy. “Jackpot boss, one of these techno marvels guns.” She said as she pulled out what was unmistakeably a rifle, though it seemed to be made to shoot energy instead of physical projectiles given the power it was still giving off. As Gazlowe and Jane would look more closely, both intrigued by the weapon, one thing would stand out as well, an engraving on the side right by the trigger.

Defender of the Bloodstained freedoms across this land.” Is what it said, must have been some goody-two-shoes who owned this weapon, but something told Gazlowe that fellow wouldn’t need it anymore. as he turned his attention to the rifle itself

“If we get nothing else from this trip, we need to make sure this stays in one piece; I can already tell there’s something in the firing matrix far more destructive than what we can produce with this size of the weapon,” Jane said determinedly.

“Yeah, I hear ya, Janet. I’ll hold onto it for now,” Gazlowe said with a smirk as his subordinate handed him said armament.

As they trekked through the ruins, however, several of those hexagons in the sky changed. The swirling colours turned into a devilish looking, blood red, and lightning of a similar shade started crashing down. Before any of the Goblins could raise concern, however, one of these lightning strikes would land maybe 20 feet away from the group, and something would materialize out of it. A figure stood at an impressive height with a red glowing aura all around him, wearing what looked like a cloak and levitating on a cloudy kind of mist. The figure had what looked like a rib cage on his chest with nothing but that same red demonic seeming lightning inside.

Despite this, it reminded Gazlowe of some self-righteous alien he had met once or twice in the Nexus named Alarak, yet this… this thing made the cruelty he had always sensed off of the alien look like run of the mill puppy kicking by comparison. “I had feared there were no living creatures left in this realm.” The figure said as the blood-red energy blades ignited out of his claws and he charged at high speeds, every single Goblin forced to take cover as they did so.

Gazlowe was the first to react as he spun around and shot a large blast of blue electricity at the construct. The being was at best knocked off balance for a second before turning his attention to the Goblin.

“grudge match time!” Gazlowe yelled as he ejected several of his Rock Em Turrets from his backpack, immediately shooting at the figure. The Alarak lookalike repelled the shots with a field around him and sent blasts of his own at the Goblin.

Gazlowe would be knocked off balance as the energy hit his backpack even as he was still clutching the Iresian rifle like his life depended on it.

“Hey, ugly!” Jame yelled before swatting at Alarak with that shovel, a kind of kinetic blast would blast from the point of impact, knocking the beast back and sending the Goblin flying backward.

Gazlowe getting his balance as quickly as he could, would take the rifle in his hands and aim it square at the figure even as the attacker in question reached out with a claw like-hand and telekinetically yanked Jane towards him.

Tsssss

Boom

The loud boom of the Iresian Rifle discharging… preceded mere milliseconds by the sound of a red hot blade going through flesh.

“Come on, let’s get out of here!” Gazlowe called to his companions even as Janes body fell in two pieces, and Alarak was blasted back into an unstable building and buried under it as it collapsed.

Thus the remaining Goblins ran. They ran like hell as they could already hear more of that same Thunder that had been the arrival of the Dark Nexus creature.

What they didn’t know at the time is that their greedy little campaign to salvage incredible technology had just put them on the front lines of something dangerous beyond their comprehension.

Something… cataclysmic.

6 Likes

Qhira x Probius when? Lol jk

In all seriousness, nice chapter. C:

2 Likes

I’m not going to be able to forget that now. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Thanks Melke for another interesting chapter.

4 Likes

Nice story. Keep them coming.

1 Like

I feel an inside joke appearing at some point

Thank you

You’re welcome, not my best work but for a chapter that was giving me issue I think it came out alright

Your wish is my command

3 Likes

Jane noooooo!!

I can’t help it I’m a bit biased for goblins. Sure they started something terrible but come on. You just can’t stay mad at them.

Great read as always!
My reader’s intuition did tell me this chapter was difficult, since a lot was happening and many characters showed up. But hurrah I agree that it came out well.

1 Like

As awful as the goblins can be this time it ain’t their fault, they just happened to have a front row seat to something that would happen regardless of their presence.

Anyway I’m glad you enjoyed the chapter, I admit I was concerned about overloading the chapter but at the same time it wasn’t necessarily about the characters as much as what happened to them that will impact the story later.

1 Like