The four tides each spun around the altar, surging and receding in rhythm, forcing the players to constantly stay on the move.
Besides them, tall stone formations that had sheltered them in the last shockwave phase began to move. Stone grinding against stone, each pillar slowly shifted from its position, now circling the altar, narrowing the viable space on the altar's ring with every step.
"The pillars are moving!" Undecided shouted, breaking into a sprint to stay ahead of the nearest one.
"Keep moving. Don't let them corner you." Waffles tracked the two remaining Axis Minds and the moving pillars to stay near them.
At that instant, the Imminent Mind's barrier shattered.
"IMMINENT!" Waffles called.
Every player turned their weapons to it and fired. The Mind stayed kneeling, absorbing the damage while returning its own, dark bolts fired towards the players and forced them to dodge mid-attack.
Void took the opportunity and zig-zagged ahead, using a shotgun at close range to crush the Mind's outer armour.
The invulnerability barrier flickered back in, and the Imminent Mind surged forward, charging towards Void.
With a deft step to the side, Void vanished into the shadows, leaving the Axis Minds utterly baffled.
"How much?" Undecided shouted.
"Halfway, maybe a bit under," Waffles's eyes widened as she realised what the Heart was about to do, and raced towards the nearest pillar, "Quick! Hide!"
The instant the damage phase ended, the Heart pulsed outward, releasing a shockwave that erupted across the altar.
Gandalf, BearSpray and TheOneWhoKnocks slide to the nearest pillars. Undecided crouched under the one beside him, but IEatPaint stumbled two steps too late to the pillar's edge, the shockwave crashed into his chest and flung him towards the endless abyss below.
IEatPaint reacted immediately.
As if the gears in his mind turned, he consumed all his light to unleash a Thundercrash that sent him flying towards the altar, his arms flayed out, and he barely grabbed the ledge to pull himself up as the shockwave passed overhead.
"NOT EVEN CLOSE!" IEatPaint howled, rushing back into the heat of the battle.
The players ran amok, dodging the tides, the attacks, and the enemies, all biding their time for the instant one of the Axis Minds dropped their barriers.
Void did the same, albeit he lurked in the shadows, prowling the altar, discreetly dismantling one enemy after the other and occasionally picking up a revive or two.
Each phase felt longer than the last.
But after five full minutes of multiple damage cycles, the Primeaval Mind's chassis finally buckled, leaving only one boss behind.
"We're close!" BearSpray chuckled victoriously.
As the Imminent Mind stood alone before the Heart, the altar went quiet for the span of a single breath.
Void felt a shiver run down his spine.
The Heart trembled, as if aching for the loss of the Vex. Then, it shivered again.
For the first time, the viridian flames that had burned steadily across the Imminent Mind's chassis since the fight began erupted outward, doubling in volume, climbing the full height of the construct in rolling waves of infected green.
The Mind's eye, which had been pale and mechanical throughout, now burned the same deep viridian as the Heart itself.
"What the f*ck?" Undecided's jaw went wide open.
The Imminent Mind raised its head again, born anew within the Viridian flames.
It burned with power, and a seam split across the centre of its chassis, running vertically from collar to base, and from within it a laser flashed brilliantly before the Imminent Mind turned towards the players.
"Get Down!" Void hit the floor.
The air bubbled.
A heatwave erupted overhead, and plasma burned in a straight line, shooting out of the Axis Mind's chest. The beam passed over Void by inches, its intense heat registering even through his armour.
Around the ring, the players dropped, rolled, and vaulted over the beam as it swept.
The Mind stomped, and the altar shook. The shockwave from each footfall radiated outward from the point of impact in a visible ring across the stone floor, and the players who didn't read the timing and jump were lifted off their feet and thrown sideways, dangerously close to the edge on every side.
TheOneWhoKnocks went over.
His fingers grazed the altar's lip on the way down, and his body hung over the endless violet, just then Void flickered backwards and caught the hem of his cloak, pulling him back up.
The Axis Mind swept its beam across the arena once more and stomped. The viridian flames on its chassis intensified with each passing second as the Heart poured everything into its final guardian; now, all the players could do was dodge.
There was no more room for attacks. The final phase of the fight had all but descended into a chaotic round of instant death; whoever managed to dodge the lasers and the tides would survive.
The only opportunity they had was when the Imminent Mind's invulnerability broke down.
"ATTACK!"
The players converged everything they had, burning the last of their ammunition and the last of their light, but through it all, Imminent Mind took each burst and fought violently, carrying the Heart's full fury in its chassis.
"Don't Stop!"
Void joined in, revealing himself fully, and finally unsheathing his sword.
Lightning wreathed his form. He channelled every last ounce of light he had saved for just this instant. A deep and violently intense blue colored his form. Lightning overtook him, spilling over his surging silhouette.
His figure was no longer that of a man, but of a thunderous spectre. He swung his sword, aiming at the Mind's core.
A thunderbolt flashed, and Void cut through the Mind with such force that his blade shattered the Mind's chassis into a hundred pieces, leaving behind a gaping hole in the Imminent Mind's chestplate.
A fraction of a second later, Void's light fizzled out; just as he had expected, the Heart had absorbed it all in an instant. But he had already finished what needed to be done.
Then Imminent Mind seized up. A fracture started at its core and spread outward in every direction at once. The viridian flames boiled over, and the plasma seam went dark. The Mind's stomp faltered mid-stride, its foot landing without the shockwave that should have followed. Its eye dimmed.
The Imminent Mind, final guardian of the Black Heart, came apart where it stood, and its viridian flames went out.
The silence that followed was total and immediate. It was deafening and surreal.
The altar was still.
Six players stood scattered across the ring, breathing hard, their light bars at the edge of empty, their weapons dry. Nobody spoke for a moment.
Then, one by one, they walked toward the centre.
Toward the altar. Toward the Heart.
It hung there in the air, above the stone, its ichorous membrane still pulsing slowly with a deep violet hue laced with green.
Void stopped at the altar's edge.
"We did it." Gandalf's heart skipped a beat; reality slowly settled in. He turned to TheOneWhoKnocks, "Holy shit, we actually did it!"
"Calm down." TheOneWhoKnocks shook his head, but struggled to maintain his calm, "The raid's not over yet...we could still get screwed over."
Void moved again, this time stepping up to the altar. The players held their breaths and gathered beside him.
For the first time, since its creation, the Black Heart now faced the very thing it was made to destroy. The Black Heart thrummed, as if filled with purpose, as if it recognised who or what stood before it.
But Void thought that maybe it wasn't the heart at all.
Perhaps it was something or someone that was watching through it.
Void couldn't be sure, but the closer he got, the more he felt his strength being sapped away. Despite knowing that it had lost, the Heart still carried out its purpose, akin to a faithful yet mindless machine.
Was this the thing that had haunted the Guardians for so long? The reason the Traveller could no longer strengthen their forces? Faced with it, Void couldn't help but be dismissive.
'It's just a blob of darkness. Nothing more, nothing less.' He scoffed.
But the job wasn't done yet. No, there was still more to do. Void glanced down at his guns, but then his eyes drifted to his sword.
In the original game, the Heart was broken open and destroyed. Yet a thought lingered in his mind.
'A blob of darkness.'
The grip on his sword tightened, and a realisation settled in his mind.
'Of course. Why didn't I think of it before?'
Void raised his sword and held it an inch away from the Heart. The blade trembled, drawn towards the darkness. Void steeled himself and stabbed the Black Heart. As the sword pierced the membrane and entered the Heart's core, its blade shimmered.
The altar shook, the ground trembled, and the Violet horizon creaked and crowed. Void felt the sword slipping from his grip, and he grabbed it with both hands to pull back. The Heart's membrane fractured, and countless small cracks split open its form.
Darkness leaked through the openings, threatening to flood the realm itself. And then. It stopped. No, rather, it disappeared.
The Black Garden quaked with a newfound presence.
A pale grey light enveloped the world.
-
A/N: Took me a while to upload cuz just as I got free time, I got writer's block smh. Anyway, throw stones, or I'll throw you. Leave a review, or else.....Idk, just do it. Does everything really need a threat? Sometimes, I think asking politely works too.
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