Grixis looked down to his right at where the voice had originated. Down below was a female Knight in red colored Swordbearer armor. Her outburst had drawn the attention of most of the Hive around them. And they had their weapons drawn in an instant, even Molkir had her claws curled up into fists. She knew it, he knew it, and he could make a pretty good guess that this Knight knew it. She wasn't suppose to be here. The Hive that were focused on the Knight were slowly closing ground on her. They all had their weapons aimed on her, the Wizards were drawing upon their spells, and Molkir was now collecting Arc energy in her claws. "Stop," he commanded to the oncoming Hive. And just like that, they halted in their tracks, but none of them lowered their weapons. Good. "Speak your name and business here Knight and speak quickly, for my patience has already run short." They all waited for the Knight's response.

"Xerox, I came here to get a sample of the skeleton, I would demand that you let me have a piece but I'm in no position to talk."

"No, you are not." His grip tightened around the hilt of his cleaver. Words couldn't describe how much he wanted this Knight dead, the same could be said with every single Wizards that was listening after what she had asked for. But their task was getting the skeleton back to Jupiter as soon as possible, he wasn't about to have the entire site involved in this intrusion, even though he could end this in seconds by uttering a word, but again, he'd rather not. So what to do with this one. An idea came to him. Yes, that would work excellently. "Molkir," he said to the Exalted Wizard, "summon a pair of my Blades, let them deal with this." Molkir turned to face him. "[i]My liege, you can end this here and now! Just give the order and-"[/i] "[i]Summon. The. Blades,"[/i] he told her in a low voice that sounded almost like a growl. There was a moment of silence before Molkir put a claw on her chest and did a small bow. [i]"Apologize, my liege."[/i] A ball of green energy appeared in her claw. She wrapped her fingers around it, building up it's power, and then released it, causing a small flash. The shrieking sound of space being torn filled the air as two portals appeared, slowly growing in size. Just like the spell, the portals caused a momentary flash, leaving in their place two Knights wearing gray colored Swordbearer armor. They both came from behind him and took positions on either side of Grixis, looking down at Xerox. The one to his left went by the name of Men'kaar. Before Grixis brought him into the Blades, he had killed nine Knights in open combat. The blade of his sword was Arc energy given solid form. The other Blade was Calvik. He was slightly bigger than the average Knight. He was definitely stronger and more resilient because of it. Before becoming a Blade, he had slain an Ogre fresh out of the Summoning Pits. Stabbed it in the center of it's bulbous head. And that was after breaking free of it's death grip; his blade was made of Void energy. "If you want a fragment, then you will have to earn it. Defeat my Blades. Should you win, deliver their essence to me. But, should you lose... I will let your Worm decide your fate." He raised his sword and pointed it at Xerox. And with that, the two Blades charged. That was when an Acolyte approached him. It bowed before him. "[i]My liege, the last of the bones are being delivered to the Cruiser."[/i] "Good," he said with satisfaction in his voice, "Sarkon will be pleased." He took one last look at the dance of death below him, before retrieving a small crystal from a pouch on his waist. The crystal glowed a bright green at his touch. He brought it to where his mouth was, then spoke. "Come to Jupiter, there you will be rewarded what you have sought." When he finished, he released the crystal, letting it fall to his feet. A Tomb ship tore through space and stopped above them. The last thing he saw was Tomb ships appearing all around him, picking up the Hive at the site. He, Molkir, and the Acolyte were broken down into ash and transported into the ship. It tore through space once more, delivering them to the Cruiser above.

[b]xerox's blade pulses with solar energy, ready to fight[/b] "Do you know what I was called before I turned my back on oryx? The bane of the cabal." [b]xerox attacks the one with the arc sword, aiming at his knee[/b]

Men'kaar parries the oncoming strike before jumping back, allowing Calvik to advance. Calvik slashed horizontally at Xerox's torso with enough force behind it to gash the armor on a Fallen Walker, but she evaded the attack. Men'kaar circled around to Xerox's left. Arc energy beginning to build up along his sword. He chuckled. "[i]You will find that we are more of a challenge than the Cabal!"[/i] Men'kaar stroke the ground in front of him, discharging his sword and sending a shockwave of Arc energy toward his target.

[b]xerox blocks the shockwave, her sword put up a shield of solar energy to help her deflect it[/b] "And I have a few pointers from friends, the guardians of the last city."

That was when Calvik decided to join in. "[i]Do you take us for fools? Your Worm would consume you just for trying."[/i] His sword hummed with energy. He slashed at the air horizontally, sending a long streak of pure Void energy in her direction. At the same time, Men'kaar charged almost at speeds of a Thrall from the other side, going in to strike and dodge the Void streak should Xerox evade the attack.

[b]xerox sees that there is no way out and blocks the void sword and takes the other, her sword skidding away from her[/b]

Xerox had blocked the oncoming Void attack, the blade-like energy dying away against the roaring flames. But much to Men'kaar's satisfaction, he had closed the gap in seconds. Xerox would be unable to counter him in time. As she turned to face him, he brought his left arm back towards his chest and sent it back around, managing to knock the sword out of her hands. He let his body follow with his arm's momentum. When he was below her, he brought his sword arm around the front of his body, and shot his himself up, letting his sword come up at an upward angle. The sword connected with enough force to lift Xerox off her feet and send her soaring through the air, and land a few feet from them. He looked at her fallen frame and saw that he managed to leave a gash all the way from the right of her hip, to the top of her left shoulder. Calvik walked up next to Men'kaar. "[i]Bane of the Cabal? She isn't even capable of killing two Knights, let alone legions of those hulking parasites.[/i]" Men'kaar said with a slight chuckle in between sentences. Calvik picked up Xerox's sword- And howled in pain as the sword burnt him with the only source that could actually cause Hive pain. He threw the sword towards the fallen Knight, imbedding the blade into the ground only inches away from her head. "[i]Light?![/i]" "[i]What? How is that possible? Her Worm should have consumed her! Why hasn't it?![/i]" Men'kaar couldn't believe it. She- it didn't have the right to be called a Hive. But instead of questioning the event, Calvik marched over to the body of Xerox. He towered over her. He brought his sword up, readying to drive the blade into the Knight. "[i]Die now, abomination."[/i]

"How about I...." [b]xerox quickly presses a button and a beeping noise is heard[/b] "Alert the whole city to your operation, I wasn't after the bone, I was getting Intel." [b]xerox kicks him away and grabs her sword, she then gets up and breaks into a full Sprint out of the place[/b]

Calvik staggered back from the sudden attack. It took him no time at all to recover from the shock. He focused on where the abomination layed, only to see it running away. Calvik let out an enraged roar and ran after the fleeing abomination, Men'kaar following close behind. He would kill this disease himself. He could already hear the screams. That pushed him further and- They stopped in their tracks as the air in front of them began to shimmer and gather shadows, until it began to take shape. Into the Hand of Sarkon. [i]"Leave her, she cannot stop the coming darkness. We have what we came for. Return to me,"[/i] he commanded to them both. Why? It was still here, he could still kill it! "[i]But, my liege-"[/i] [i][b]"NOW,"[/b][/i] he bellowed, causing the earth to shake under his anger. Defeated, he bowed. The dark illusion of the Hand of Sarkon disappeared, leaving him and Men'kaar in an empty field. The loud shriek of a Tomb ship filled the air. It stopped a distance from them. He looked back in the direction of where the abomination had fled. He could still see it off in the distance. He turned around and walked toward where the Tomb ship hovered in wait, Men'kaar standing underneath it waiting for him. When he joined his fellow Blade, their bodies turned to ash and was absorbed into the ship. It tore another portal in the air and passed through to the Cruiser above. ------------------------------------------- Grixis stormed through the dark halls of the Cruiser. His anger had reached a point where it would have made Phogoth's rage seem like a child's temper tantrum. He had seen everything through the eyes of his Blades. He thought Xerox insane when she said that she had help from the Guardians of the Last City. But when Calvik picked up her sword, he felt the familiar surge of power. He had returned to his own consciousness at that point. He had been standing in the lower section of the ship on a long walkway, the hull below him was open so he could see the world below him. He glanced down at the open expanse with burning hate before storming out of the room. The hull began to close as he left. He had told Molkir to prepare the Wizards that piloted the ship. She thought they were finally leaving the system. Oh ho, he wasn't done yet. He had made it to the bridge shortly after. Molkir floated by the open door. She noticed him coming and gave a small bow. "[i]My liege, we are ready to leave-"[/i] "Not yet," he told her as he stormed past her and into the bridge. The room was at least forty yards in length and ten yards in width. He couldn't tell how long the room was in height as it looked like it went on forever. Said eternal ceiling practically lit up the entire room with a gloomy yellowish-white light. Floating on its side, above the center of the room was a long, green crystal. There were ten Wizards on both sides of the room. As a group, they could connect their minds to the crystal above them to temporarily make a collective conscious to control the ship. Molkir followed behind him. "[i]What do you plan to do,"[/i] she asked him. He ignored her and instead focused on the collection of Wizards. "Prime the weapon systems, burn the earth below," he commanded to the Wizards. He continued walking at a quick pace to the other end of the room as the crystal above him glowed with activity. He approached the open space at the front of the ship, opening himself to the outside . There was no breeze, as the shields had been raised. The crevices along the Cruiser had begun to glow yellow, showing that it would soon be ready to fire down below. He looked down at the earth. Soon, everything below him would burn. That Knight could run all she wanted to, she would not be escaping the coming death from above.

[b]xerox ran through the woods, she was heading to her jumpship so she could get to the tower to warn them about what she saw, she reaches it and gets in, she puts in the codes and her ship heads to the last city, she looks at her sword with confusion[/b] "No..... I still feel like a creature of darkness..... But why did my sword burn him?....."

A small storm had begun to accumulate in the sky around them as the ship charged it's weapons. A signal that sounded like a bellow of a deep horn went through the bridge, indicating that the ship was at full power. And Grixis didn't waste a second. "Fire!" At his command, the Cruiser rained fire from the eye of the storm. Yellow streaks of pure energy arched downward as they were fired off. Every single beam would split off into several other deadly streaks halfway down before impacting the surface of the planet. The earth burned and the rock cracked apart under the hail of destruction. The barrage continued over the course of an hour, the ship's attacks now spreading out over more of the land than just the area below them. Grixis gave the order to cease the bombardment. He continued to look down at the surface, waiting to see the destruction when the dust settled. When it did, he concluded that the area would be unexplorable. Over a ten mile circumference from the center, the earth was as black as night, magma erupted out of crevices from the rock, and a section of the surface actually jutted out from the ground, making a smaller version of the rock formation on the outskirts of the Ocean of Storms on the Moon. Satisfied that nothing could have survived, he turned to the interior of the ship and walked back inside. "Plot a course to Jupiter," he told to the collection of Wizards. The ship lurched and rose into the atmosphere when he exited the bridge. On the way to the chamber where the Ahamkara skeleton was held, he spotted his Blades: Men'kaar and Calvik approach him. Grixis stopped walking. Both Blades stopped in front of him, then they kneeled before him. "[i]My liege,"[/i] Calvik spoke, "[i]We have returned to you-"[/i] In one motion, Grixis brandished his cleaver and held it against Calvik's neck, the cleaver's edges glowing with the dim light as always. "If you [i]ever[/i], question my orders again, you will serve the same sentence as Alak-Hul did! Do I make myself clear," Grixis spoke, his voice seething with rage. [i]"Yes, my liege."[/i] He stayed there for a few seconds, then returned his sword to his back. The Blades rose from there spots, both parting away as Grixis walked past them. They both followed behind him. After thirty minutes of walking down Hadium encrusted corridors, they reached the chamber where the skeleton was held. He stopped at the edge of the balcony overlooking the massive chamber; Molkir was with him on the balcony also. Grixis, Molkir, Calvik, and Men'kaar looked out at the titanic skeleton. It laid perfectly splayed out on the floor. Here laid the ultimate weapon of their conquest. Everything was going as planned.

[b]xerox barely gets out of the attack range, her ship is still working but she is breathing heavily, darkness streaked with white leaks from her arm[/b] "What is that?"

A young Warlock was reading a book quietly in his ship somewhere over the European dead zone. A sudden beeping on a monitor tore his eyes from his book. He tapped a few buttons and it showed Hive energy readings coming from about twenty miles away. He plotted a course and flew towards it. It would take only a minute to get there as he put on his various armor and weapons.

[b]xerox detects the other ship, she cursed as it was a guardian signature[/b] "Damn it, just what I needed!" [spoiler]her ship is the bane of dark gods[/spoiler]

[spoiler]ok[/spoiler] He found a Tomb ship just as it was leaving through a rip in dimensions and it was carrying something immensely powerful. But another ship was also found. It was parked on the ground in the forest or what's left of the forest. He piloted his ship about half a mile away and hiked towards it. He had his trusty hand cannon on his thigh and Bolt-Caster on his back.

[b]xerox gets ready for a fight, her wound was still bleeding, she ignores at and leaves her ship and waits outside it[/b] "If this is how I die, I'm taking my killer with me.."

Just then he trips over a bush and falls in the clearing where the ship should be. He jumps up and pats himself down and hasn't noticed the Knight. He smooths some wrinkles out of his tunic and then looked up and made eye contact with the Knight.

"If you're here to kill me, get it over with." [b]he sees that her black blood is streaked with white, marking her as light touched[/b]

"You're a Hive yet why do you bled light?" He walked to her and paid no attention to her readying her sword. He got right in front of her and still showed no intention of attacking.

"I guess I've been among you beings of light too long."

"Oh really? Who may I ask were you around?" He began to circle her and write in a journal that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Let's see.... A fallen guardian..... A cabal guardian...... My clients....... My lover...... Sometimes the vanguard...... That's all I can remember right now."

He finally stopped walking around her and started sketching her. "Interesting. And why are you here. Is it to stop that tomb ship that just left?"