by Alex Knight
Lightspeed made Moran near impossible to hit as long as he kept moving, but Zelda was so close it was almost impossible for the shotgun blast of her Improved Scatter Shot to miss. She blasted Moran with the attack from mere steps away. The laser exploded against him, biting away at his health and dropping it to seventy-five percent.
Ability: Lock On
You direct charge into your hammer-gun. For 5 seconds, as long as the last target you damaged is within your line of sight, your attacks will not miss. You cannot attack any other target. If you take damage this effect deactivates.
“Your speed won’t help you now,” Zelda said, then fired an Improved Kinetic Grenade. With Lightspeed and Berserker active Moran was looking at some serious penalties for getting hit, as became painfully evident when Zelda’s grenade went off at his feet with a resounding boom.
His health flashed down to sixty-four percent, and as it did, something strange happened. He doubled over, growling and cursing. His armor began to glow and vibrate. Whatever was happening spread to his hammer, and as it did, the hammer changed. It’d been the size of Thorne’s, clearly a power warden’s weapon. Now, however, it was shaking and moving as if it were liquid. As Kaiden stared, Moran’s hammer shrunk in size until it was back to that of an enhanced or shield warden.
Power warden abilities removed.
Berserker, Improved Instigate Fury, and associated effects ended.
The system message flashed in Kaiden’s vision, but he didn’t understand it.
What does that mean?
“He’s lost the ability to use power warden attacks?” Kaiden asked aloud.
“How did that happen?” Titus asked, stepping in front of Zelda with his shield up.
“He lost more than twenty-five percent of his health!” Zelda exclaimed all at once.
“And…?” Titus asked.
“Oh my god. You’re right!” Thorne said, and Kaiden knew it as well. Suddenly it all made sense.
“The Warden Hierarch is a special class, right?” Zelda said, staring at him with a new appreciation. “Almost like he’s part player, part boss. So, what if his class works like a boss? What if he has stages? Every twenty-five percent health he loses, he loses the abilities of one of the four classes he’s made from?”
It all made perfect sense. And for the first time in the fight, Kaiden started to piece together a path to victory.
“Guys!” Kaiden shouted. “I know how we win this. We need—”
Moran wheeled on him and began swinging, cutting him off mid-sentence. The attack came blindingly fast and Kaiden didn’t have time to dodge. The blow came down as a critical strike and his health dropped to eighteen percent.
He backpedaled, shield up to protect himself.
Moran charged an Improved Kinetic Grenade then slammed it into the ground at Kaiden’s feet. It detonated with an eardrum-rupturing bang in the confines of the chamber. Even with his shield blocking most of the damage, burning bits of ground and razor-sharp fragments of tiles blasted past Kaiden as the fire overtook him and a massive chunk of his health evaporated once again.
Thirteen percent health now.
Kaiden grunted as he regained his balance, blinking through the stinging in his eyes from the blinding attack. He drew his vision back into focus in time to see a hammer swinging into his face.
He ducked under it and slipped past Moran, scoring a critical hammer strike on his knee as he passed. Lightspeed had expired now and the speed debuff from the Chrono Sledge kept Moran away for a moment. Kaiden had just enough time to catch his breath.
“Every time we strip one of his abilities, he gets weaker,” he said. “If we can take them away, we can beat him. Right now he can counter our attacks with whatever warden ability is best for it. If we take that away, he’ll be more predictable and we’ll know what to expect.” Kaiden used his last stimpack. His health swelled to thirty-eight percent.
“Pop stims,” Kaiden reminded everyone, staring down Moran. “There’s a lot of fight left in him.”
Moran must have seen it coming because he chose just then to unleash a volley of attacks. A Paralyzing Shot that slowed Thorne. A Hammer Toss that sent Zelda dodging to one side. And then an Energy Grip toward Kaiden.
Moran lashed out and the lasso caught Kaiden around the leg, then ripped him to the ground and dragged him forward. Zelda fired an Improved Burst Arrow but Moran ducked it, then leveled his hammer at Kaiden and unleashed an Improved Scatter Shot. Kaiden’s armor cracked and a few pieces were blown away as the attack hit him square in the chest.
His health dropped to twenty-four percent. Moran above him, raising his hammer, was the last thing Kaiden saw as the Improved Scatter Shot’s blind effect kicked in.
Ability: Matter Shift
He activated it on instinct, unable to aim it, but teleporting anywhere was better than staying beneath Moran’s oncoming attack.
Even through the blind effect, lights flashed in Kaiden’s vision and he felt the ground disappear from beneath him. It reformed a moment later in time for him to hear what must’ve been Moran’s hammer slam into the spot he’d just occupied.
The blind wore off and Kaiden saw Moran turning toward him. Zelda hit him in the back with an Improved Warden’s Bolt that dropped his health to sixty percent but Moran was fixated. Bent on killing Kaiden.
“What is this little group of yours without their leader?” Moran roared as he used Kickback to launch through the air and land above Kaiden, then raise his hammer.
Screw this, Kaiden thought and grabbed an item from his inventory. The Matter Insubstantiator. He activated it with a click, and all at once, he was insubstantial. Moran’s attack passed right through him. Kaiden looked down through his own transparent chest to watch as the hammer thunked into the floor.
Moran cursed as Kaiden rolled to his feet, then stepped forward and directly through him. The hierarch spun and raised his hammer, but he seemed unsure what to do. Hard to hit a target that has no mass.
But the ability wouldn’t last long. Kaiden turned to run, to regroup with the others.
Ability: Improved Shield Charge
Moran’s shield hit him with the force of a meteor just as the Insubstantiator wore off and then Kaiden was flying backwards, driven across the room.
His health flashed down to six percent from the initial impact. And then the walls of the chamber shuddered with an echoing boom as he was driven into them. Moran’s shield crushed him, drove him a foot deep into the wall as stone was pulverized to dust around him. Kaiden’s health was likewise pulverized and the last thing he saw was his health drop to zero before it all went black.
Chapter Sixty-Five
You have been defeated
Respawn available in: 6 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes.
Kaiden stared at the text. It was the only thing he could see, and even still, he couldn’t believe it.
You have been defeated.
Respawn available in: 6 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes.
I had a plan. A way to beat him. It was all there; we just had to execute it. I just... just had to live long enough to pull it off. But I didn’t. I failed.
Could the others do it without him? They had to now. The three of them had to be enough or else that was it; they lost. Killswitch would take Nova offline and then... then what? Before he could come up with an answer, a light flashed in his vision.
Huh?
It was distant, but growing larger. As it did, he could see what was inside it. Zelda. Thorne. Titus. Moran and the chamber, the broadcast control console. The light was an image of them all and it was resolving itself by the moment.
And then text flashed in his vision.
Ability: Saving Grace
You have been revived! Welcome back.
Kaiden stared at the text blankly. Uncomprehending. And then he was back in the chamber. Back in his body. He looked down to find one hand clutching his hammer and his shield glowing in the other.
He blinked dumbly as his
brain caught up to what had happened. He was alive and he had ten charge. But why?
Titus, he realized. Titus had revived him!
Pebbles clattered off his shoulders and dust rained down around him as Kaiden pulled himself up from the pile of rubble Moran had left him in and took in his surroundings.
The warden hierarch was attacking Thorne. Her health was down to seven percent, but as Kaiden watched, she used her last stimpack and rose to thirty-two percent.
Zelda was focused in, unloading a barrage of attacks into Moran’s back. Plenty of them must have already connected as his health was down to fifty-five percent.
And then there was Titus, off to one side. He was slumped over, like Saving Grace had taken an incredible amount of physical exertion. And as Kaiden looked closer, he realized the big man’s health was down to thirty-three percent.
He pulled up the text of the ability and realized why.
Ability: Saving Grace
You expend a massive amount of charge to save yourself or an ally from death. If a target within 100 feet has been reduced to 0% health in the last 5 seconds, they return to 50% health instead.
Cost: All of your charge and 50% of max health if targeting an ally. If targeting yourself, all of your charge but no health and you resurrect with only 5% health and 5% charge.
Cooldown: 6 hours
All of your charge and fifty percent of your max health, Kaiden realized. Titus had nearly killed himself to pull the rez off.
“Titus!” Kaiden said through comms. “You’re almost dead!”
“Well, you were fully dead,” he said with a shrug. “Had to do it.”
“Use a stimpack!”
He shook his head.
“Used my second one a bit back, then my last one just now to survive Saving Grace.”
“I need you alive to win this.”
Thirty-three percent health was far less than ideal, but Kaiden was only at fifty percent himself. But at the moment, it was a far sight better than the zero percent he’d been moments before.
“All right,” Kaiden said through comms so he would get everyone but Moran’s attention. “Let’s finish this punk.” He was painfully aware of the timer at the edge of his vision, still ticking down as ever. Fourteen minutes left. If they were going to do this, they needed to do it now. He did a quick mental rundown of everyone’s abilities, then compared that against his knowledge of what Moran was capable of.
How do you beat someone who can use nearly every warden ability? He can counter nearly all of our attacks. But he’s outnumbered. He can’t counter all of our attacks at the same time. And he doesn’t know I’m here.
“Combo time,” Kaiden said to the rest of the group. “We’re gonna blow this asshole away. Titus,” he said, pointing to the big man. “Shield Link with me, then block any attacks you can – but stay alive!”
“Will do my best,” he said, then charged into the melee, joining Thorne and Moran where they were exchanging blows. He slipped in next to Thorne and together they fought as one, Titus blocking and Thorne attacking. It wasn’t long before charge was flooding into Kaiden from the attacks hitting Titus’ shield.
“Zelda,” Kaiden said next. “Hit Moran with a Paralyzing Shot when you see me going in.”
She nodded.
“After you hit him with that, get into Sniper Mode and start charging the biggest attack you’ve got.”
“I’d love to,” she grunted, still firing at Moran.
“Thorne,” Kaiden said last, turning his attention to the beleaguered power warden. She’d been doing the bulk of the fighting against Moran and it didn’t look like she had much more to give.
“Stay alive,” Kaiden said simply. “We’re going to need your DPS to pull this off. Just… stay alive.”
She nodded by way of response and eased off her attack, pivoting to lash out only when Moran took swings at Titus.
Having been caught in the middle of the assault for so long up until now, the warden hierarch was bleeding damage left and right. Fifty-four percent health left. But Thorne and Titus had been taking a beating as well. Thorne was in the red again at twelve percent health, Titus holding for the moment at thirty percent. Even Zelda seemed to have weathered an assault, down to fifty-five percent from the rather high total she’d been at earlier. Not much health left across the team, but Kaiden had been given fifty percent when he’d been resurrected.
And his charge bar was brimming thanks to Titus.
Ability: Lightspeed
Ability: Dual Wielding
“Thorne, get his attention!”
She roared and made a show of winding up for a Gravity Sledge. Moran raised his shield.
“Zelda, hit him!”
Ability: Improved Paralyzing Shot
Fires an electric blast that confuses the electrical impulses in the target’s muscles, deals 110% base damage and slows target’s movement by 60% for 10 seconds.
It caught Moran in the side while he was busy with Thorne. And then Kaiden darted forward. Lightspeed carried him with unnatural swiftness and he was on the slowed warden hierarch in the blink of an eye. Lightspeed against a slowed target wasn’t quite fair, and the disparity was made all the greater as Kaiden landed a critical hit and his Chrono Sledge further debuffed Moran’s speed.
Critical hit!
+25% damage (Kneecapped)
+5% damage (Chrono Sledge ability, extra damage on crits)
Moran is slowed by 30% for 2 seconds
Critical hit!
+25% damage (Kneecapped)
+5% damage (Chrono Sledge ability, extra damage on crits)
Moran is slowed by 30% for 2 seconds
The text flashed twice, once for each hammer, and Kaiden’s charge bar jumped by twenty. Moran grunted as his health dropped from the attack, but Kaiden was far from done. Next, he brought both hammers around in wide, arcing swings, then smashed them together on either side of Moran’s head.
Critical hit!
+50% damage (Headshot)
+5% damage (Chrono Sledge ability, extra damage on crits)
Moran is slowed by 30% for 2 seconds
Critical hit!
+50% damage (Headshot)
+5% damage (Chrono Sledge ability, extra damage on crits)
Moran is slowed by 30% for 2 seconds
That got his attention. Moran’s health lost another chunk and his eyes went wide as he spun to find Kaiden alive and already attacking again. Two more critical hits and then Kaiden couldn’t help but smile as Onslaught activated.
Ability: Onslaught
Following 6 consecutive critical strikes, you may enter onslaught mode for 5 seconds. While in Onslaught mode you deal double base damage and have double current movement speed. Onslaught may be triggered twice before cooldown.
With Onslaught active and plenty of charge in the tank, Kaiden had some options open to him. He wanted to dump fifteen charge into a Shield Bash, but his shield was currently a hammer – another downside to Dual Wielding. No matter, though.
Ability: Hamstring
Charge is redirected into your hammer. On your next successful critical attack this charge cripples your opponent. Their movement speed is reduced by 50% for 10 seconds.
Kaiden was moving far too fast for Moran to keep up with now. It was like fighting an opponent who was half asleep.
That’s the window we need, Kaiden thought as he ducked under an attack from Moran and landed a critical hit on the back of the man’s knee, triggering the crippling effect of Hamstring. Moran’s health fell to fifty percent and a lash of damage slapped Kaiden back for five percent.
Seeming desperate, Moran cursed and swung in with an attack but his slowed movement speed meant Kaiden easily avoided it and stacked a Riposte. He responded with a hammer strike to the man’s head and the commander’s health dropped to forty-six percent just as Onslaught wore off.
“Damn you,” Moran growled as he bent double, energy glowing inside him once again. It flowed out over hi
s arm and then his shield shrunk in size from that of a shielder’s to that of a regular warden.
Shield warden abilities removed.
“Just blast warden and enhanced warden left,” Kaiden said through comms. “He’s getting weaker.”
It’s time, Kaiden thought. He would have liked to get Moran lower, but the timer was still counting down and Thorne wasn’t going to hold out against much more damage. None of them were, for that matter. No, it was time to end this fight.
“You know, Moran,” Kaiden said, ducking under another of his attacks. “You’re strong, I’ll give you that. And you’re smart, too. But your past has ruined you.”
Another attack, another dodge.
“You can’t accept that your worldview might not be the right one.”
“Oh?” Moran scowled at that. “Do go on,” he said, then lunged forward and landed a hammer strike on Kaiden’s shoulder. Kaiden let the force of the blow carry him to the side, then came around with a return hammer strike that buried the Chrono Sledge into Moran’s side.
Forty-three percent health left on him.
“You think others are just puppets to be played. Strings to be pulled.”
“They are,” Moran growled.
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Kaiden said, then snapped his eyes over to Thorne. “Improved Grip Like Iron!” he shouted and she sprung into motion. Moran tried to turn to meet her, but she got there first and activated the ability.
Ability: Improved Grip Like Iron
You channel charge into your shield hand. The next opponent you grapple will be held in place for 5 seconds plus X seconds, where X is 3% of your total strength stat. A grappled opponent can be attacked and deals 20% less damage when attacking.
