The over two-meter-long Warscythe cut through the air with terrifying speed, the massive blade carving arcs through darkness.
The weapon emitted a series of buzzing screams, sounds that seemed to blend the howling of ghosts with the cries of dying wolves. The noise resonated at frequencies that made human teeth ache and set nerves on edge.
Accompanied by low sounds produced by countless electro-fiber bundles contracting and releasing within the power armor, combined with the constant hum of servo devices operating at maximum output, Nolan charged forward.
The massive scythe dancing back and forth between his two palms moved so rapidly it almost formed a dazzling green light curtain before him. The Necron weapon blurred into continuous motion, the brilliant emerald glow creating patterns in the air that lingered on the retina.
Simultaneously, across the ground within a radius exceeding ten meters from Nolan's position, something impossible began occurring.
All the stinking blood lying in pools and streams, regardless of whether it possessed the supernatural animation demonstrated earlier, seemed drawn by mysterious power emanating from the Warscythe.
The crimson liquid trembled and rippled constantly, surface tension breaking as wavelets formed and collapsed. The blood emitted extremely violent vibrations, shaking with increasing intensity as if trying to escape some inescapable force.
The next moment, Nolan's entire tall armored form moved like blue lightning given solid shape. He closed the distance to the blood-colored figure in a fraction of a second.
He didn't wait for his opponent to mount any defensive measures or attempt escape.
The Warscythe waving constantly between his two metal palms suddenly slashed through the bloody figure's flowing body, the weapon passing through the entity composed entirely of animated gore.
"Did you really think swapping weapons would somehow change anything?"
The blood-colored figure's vague voice emerged with slight trembling, the liquid form vibrating as words formed through inhuman means.
The priest prepared to continue mocking Nolan's apparently useless efforts, confidence still audible despite the unnatural method of speech production.
However, something unprecedented occurred.
The Warscythe that had passed through the opponent's flowing body didn't simply phase through harmlessly as the priest expected. Instead, the weapon forcibly extracted from within the blood construct's mass, pulling away and wrapping up most of the stinking blood that comprised its form.
In the blink of an eye, the blood-colored figure that had originally matched an adult human's size shrank rapidly, diminishing to barely half its previous dimensions. The reduction was instant and dramatic.
The extracted portion, roughly half the entity's total volume, found itself heavily wrapped in dazzling green light emanating from the Warscythe. The captured blood splashed across surrounding buildings as Nolan swung the weapon through its arc, the liquid painting walls and pavement.
More critically, the blood completely lost its special animation, its unnatural life force stripped away by contact with the Necron blade. It became ordinary stinking gore once more, inert and lifeless. The supernatural vitality had been severed at a fundamental level.
"This is impossible!" The blood-colored figure, forcibly reduced by half its mass, suddenly released an extremely sharp scream. The sound carried genuine terror for the first time, all pretense of invulnerability shattered.
As the physical size of its body decreased dramatically, the priest's extremely inflated self-confidence collapsed completely. Reality had delivered brutal education about the limits of its abilities.
Now the blood construct possessed no desire to take on Nolan's attacks or even attempt counterstrikes. Survival instinct overwhelmed all tactical considerations.
It simply wanted to absorb more of the blood scattered across the battlefield, replenishing its catastrophic losses and restoring itself to functional size.
Unfortunately, Nolan standing mere meters away had absolutely no intention of providing such opportunity.
With the contraction of electro-fiber bundles and the violent humming of servo devices cycling through maximum power output, Nolan reactivated his power armor's full combat systems.
He lowered his tall armored body slightly, adopting a different combat stance. Weight shifted, center of gravity dropped, energy channeled for explosive movement.
Behind the elbows of both sturdy arms, brilliant bursts of energy suddenly erupted from the integrated nozzles. The thrust added tremendous rotational force to his movements.
Accompanied by heavy magnetic boots turning repeatedly against blood-soaked ground, their traction systems preventing slippage despite the liquid surface, Nolan began spinning.
The Warscythe gripped tightly between two metal palms cut through the dark night sky in a devastating circular pattern.
A terrifying scythe windmill formed, the weapon's edges trailing brilliant green light that painted complete circles in the air. The rotation accelerated with each passing second, energy nozzles providing continuous thrust.
In an instant, the spinning death approached the bloody figure that struggled and squirmed desperately, trying to flow away from the approaching destruction.
Countless portions of blood were forcibly extracted and wrapped by the Warscythe's terrifying green radiance. Each rotation of the spinning blade stripped away more of the construct's mass. The blood completely lost its supernatural activity upon contact with the Necron weapon, neutralized at the molecular level.
Then the dead blood was flung into the air by centrifugal force, transformed into stinking crimson rain that fell across a wide area. Droplets pattered against surfaces like macabre precipitation.
The bloody figure, already reduced to half an adult's size, was forced to surrender most of its remaining animated blood. It couldn't even produce a scream before the loss, the extraction happening too rapidly for reaction.
The Warscythe's spinning assault continued relentlessly until only a squirming blood mass the size of a human head remained on the ground, writhing pathetically.
Nolan, driving his power armor with smooth precision, suddenly halted his heavy steps. The spinning motion ceased, momentum bleeding away as servo systems brought him to complete stillness.
"Gulu... Gulu... Gulu..."
Through his helmet's eyepiece, he looked down at the squirming blood mass beneath his armored boots. The thing could barely maintain cohesion, couldn't even form words through its diminished state. Pitiful bubbling sounds emerged from the remnant.
Nolan gently shook his helmet, the gesture conveying something between contempt and finality.
Then the Warscythe gripped tightly in his palm rotated smoothly. He turned the weapon so the scythe's tip, still emitting dazzling green light from its edge, pointed directly downward.
He thrust the blade heavily into the stinking blood mass that shook slightly, seeming to want escape even in its terminal condition.
The Warscythe pierced through completely, the Necron weapon making contact with the last of the priest's animated essence.
Accompanied by a final, extremely weak evaporation sound, like water hitting a hot surface, the transformation completed.
The nameless priest from the Blood Coven ceased to exist entirely. No resurrection this time, no reforming from scattered droplets. Complete annihilation.
At that precise moment, throughout the battlefield, dramatic change swept through the remaining people.
The insane people who had been fighting repeatedly with the mechanical tentacles wielded by five automatic servo robots also stopped all action completely. Their movements simply ceased mid-motion, weapons dropping from nerveless fingers.
They stood motionless with dull expressions painted across slack features, permitting the dancing mechanical tentacles to tear their fragile bodies apart without resistance. No screams, no attempts at defense, nothing suggesting consciousness remained.
Scarlet blood began flowing slowly from the facial features of each person. It seeped from eyes, noses, mouths, ears, running down faces in crimson trails.
Most of the controlled people collapsed to the ground almost instantly, their bodies hitting blood-soaked earth with wet impacts. They lost all breath of life in seconds, whatever force animating them withdrawn or destroyed.
The remaining individuals showed no reaction to any external stimulation whatsoever. They stood like flesh and blood puppets, empty shells with nothing directing them. Eyes stared sightlessly, chests didn't rise or fall, skin took on waxy pallor.
Even when Nolan tested the situation by swinging his Warscythe through the bodies of several standing figures, cutting clean through torsos, these flesh puppets remained upright. They simply stood there with numb expressions, minds and souls apparently absent or destroyed.
"The method used by the Blood Coven to control these people proves far more dangerous and consequential than I initially assessed." Nolan raised one armored palm suddenly, transmitting orders that halted the servo robots' systematic slaughter of the remaining controlled individuals.
He shook his metal helmet, the gesture conveying grim determination.
"These people are likely never coming back to themselves. The damage appears permanent and irreversible."
His voice emerged flat through the vox-grille, stating terrible facts without embellishment.
"This heretic sect cannot be permitted to continue existing. Complete eradication represents the only acceptable response."
Nolan hefted the Warscythe across one shoulder, the massive weapon balanced easily despite its size. He drove his power armor forward, approaching David's position with purposeful strides.
David, blue light flashing steadily in its optical sensors, first swept its gaze across the horrific battlefield. The bloody lake, the scattered corpses, the standing empty shells that had once been people. Its processors cataloged the carnage with mechanical precision.
Then the Man of Iron shook its metal head, perhaps the closest it came to expressing something approaching dismay. It looked up at Nolan's approaching form.
"My lord, I have positive updates to report."
David's synthesized voice carried reassurance despite the surrounding horror.
"The gang dogs have assumed control of Imperial Heavy Industries' convoy. They are currently en route to this location with estimated arrival in fifteen minutes."
"A full batch of flamers prepared by Tech-Priest Raditus has been loaded aboard the vehicles and secured for transport."
David paused, its tone taking on notes that might have been amusement in a human.
"Additionally, Raditus mysteriously stated there are several extra gifts included in the convoy. It expressed hope that you would enjoy using them, though it declined to specify their nature."
"Hehe, Raditus and his surprises. What did he..." Nolan began speaking through his helmet, preparing to inquire further about these mysterious gifts.
However, his enhanced senses suddenly triggered warning signals. Combat instincts honed through countless simulations recognized threat before conscious thought processed the danger.
He turned quickly, rotating his entire armored form with explosive speed.
Simultaneously, accompanied by sounds of rapid footsteps from above a nearby building's roof, movement registered in his peripheral awareness.
A dark figure wearing a black leather duster coat emerged from cover. The stranger fell heavily from the rooftop with agile movements that suggested enhanced physical capabilities, jumping directly into the battlefield's bloody lake without hesitation.
The figure landed with a splash, boots striking blood-soaked ground.
Nolan's response was instantaneous and violent.
He gripped the Warscythe tightly in both palms and launched a swift charge in the intruder's direction, closing distance before the stranger could fully recover balance.
The massive scythe with its buzzing scream cut through the air, brilliant green light trailing from the blade's edge.
Nolan swung the weapon heavily at the stranger's body, which hadn't yet straightened from the landing crouch. The Warscythe descended in a killing arc, unstoppable momentum behind the strike.
The next second, a deep voice suddenly sounded from the threatened figure, words emerging with desperate urgency.
The statement completely saved the stranger's fragile life, stopping the descending blade mere fractions from contact.
"Jessica asked me to come!"
The stranger's words had barely finished forming when the Warscythe's razor-sharp blade, flashing with brilliant green light that illuminated both in eerie radiance, stopped abruptly.
The weapon's edge halted positioned directly against a dark-skinned face, close enough that the stranger could feel heat radiating from it.
Only a fraction of a second separated the blade from completely slicing through the man's sunglasses and embedding itself deep into flesh and bone beneath. Death had approached that close before being arrested.
The blue power armor, which had landed with heavy footsteps that sent blood splashing in every direction, quickly adjusted its stance. Servos whined as weight redistributed, bringing the armored form to controlled stillness.
Nolan studied the intruder through his helmet's eyepiece, enhanced vision systems providing perfect clarity despite darkness and the bloody environment.
He stared at the middle-aged Black man standing before him, a figure who almost blended into the surrounding night. Only the reflective surfaces of sunglasses and leather coat caught ambient light, making him visible.
A deep voice slowly emerged from within the metal helmet, the words echoing across the killing field with mechanical resonance.
"Blade? The vampire hunter?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writing takes time, coffee, and a lot of love.If you'd like to support my work, join me at [email protected]/GoldenGaruda
You'll get early access to over 50 chapters, selection on new series, and the satisfaction of knowing your support directly fuels more stories.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~