Rebirth (Saber)

[Mani4c]

Shepard was silent for a moment, before reluctantly agreeing. "Alright, but when the time comes, I get to be the one who puts a bullet in Abraxas' head." Mani4c scoffed and headed into the VTOL. "Get in line boss!" Justicar, Noxus, and the Wave 2 cyberblades entered the VTOL, with Onimaru, War and Totenkopf boarding the one next to it. "Baretta, got a seat open for ya!" Said seat was near the front...right next to where Mani4c was sitting.

Viral's response was curt and to the point, <I copy, now I need to be sneaky here to get the drop on him, so stay off my channel.> Before Saber could respond, two whirling blades of crimson light whipped scythed through the air right at Saber's neck, coming from the front of the Warehouse.

Meanwhile, Viral had drawn his knives, looking for Massacre. He had climbed on top of the Warehouse's rafters, hoping to get the drop on the deranged virus from above. Viral scanned the area, keeping his eyes and ears open for any sign of Massacre, but...there was none. The virus was seemingly absent, causing Viral to become even more on edge. 'Where IS this prick?' Suddenly, there was a small creak coming from directly above Viral, the NPD avatar looked up just in time to see Massacre leaping at him from above, hands transformed into huge bladed talons. "SURPRISE! GYAHAHAHA!!!" Massacre had created a large web of tendrils made from his own body, and had even altered his coloration to mask his presence. Viral had walked right into a trap!

[Saber]

Baretta sighed and shook her head when Shepard started calling dibs on Abraxas' head, she wasn't the only one who wanted a crack at the virus army's leader. She would be content with simply knocking down his forces, and reducing his threat level. When Mani4c called her over to sit with him, she stood there, hesitant, someone needed to be in the durendal to command the ship crew "Go ahead captain, I can run things while you go have your fun." Baretta smiled and mouthed a thank you to Rotor, who had willingly taken control of the helm, before leaping into the seat beside Mani4c and activating her armor "Punch it!"

Saber noticed the blades flying through the air at his neck and immediately dove downward, curling his wings in to speed his momentum before spreading them wide and slowing his descent to safe levels. Once he landed, he had his rifle lance and his short sword at the ready, scanning the area that the blades had come from for his would-be assailant *Should have seen this coming, they're keeping me separate from Viral so Massacre can fight him one on one...I have to finish this one quick so I can back him up.*

[Mani4c]

The Pilot of the VTOL nodded, "You got it Ma'am." The Pilot then spoke into the radio, communicating with the Durendal's flight control officer. <This is NPD Air Defense unit 897 Delta, beginning insertion into Red-Light, confirm.> The flight control officer checked the readings before nodding. <Looks good 897 Delta, your squadron is prepped for takeoff, good hunting.> <Copy flight control, when I get back, beer's are on me and the boys.> The squadron of VTOL's 30 in all, sealed their rear hatched and began to lift off almost in unison, before angling their thrusters and shooting out of the Durendal's hanger. <This is 897, , all wings report in.>

As the VTOL pilots began to list off their call-signs, Mani4c raised his right arm, calling up a remote connection terminal that was standard with most Net-Ops officers, what wasn't standard about it was that he was using it to hack the audio channels on speakers of every VTOL in the squadron. Mani4c waited for all of the VTOL's to sound off, <Alright boys and girls, Red Squadron will be handling the insertion of the Evac squads. Blue Squadron will be inserting our forces to help take out the target and provide fire support. I'm leading Blue squadron, 404, you're in charge of Red Squadron.> 

Mani4c smirked and pulled up a music file, patching it into the speakers. "And cue the music" ((Warrior-Disturbed)) <What the fuck!? Who's messing with the speakers!?> Mani4c let out a gleeful cackle, smirking behind his helmet. "Hey, it's a...Morale Booster." <God damn it Mani4c! At least ask first before you screw with our equipment!> Before 897 could go lose his temper any further, 404 cut in. <Ah let 'im play some tunes boss, gotta admit, makes ya feel badass.> 897 let out a sigh, but ultimately let it go. Besides, the music wasn't half-bad.

The owner of the swords recalled his blades, stepping out from the warehouse's doorway and slamming it shut with a wave of his hand. "Net Ops operative Saber...lower that camouflage, I want to see the true face of the man I am cutting down." The man was clad in black armored robes, wielding two beam sabers similar to Kaizer, but the man's cold demeanor and somewhat fair sense of play made it clear that this was a new man entirely.

Viral and Massacre tumbled onto the catwalks below, the two stabbing and slashing at each other as they fell, Massacre landed on top of Viral and prepared to cut off the viral avatar's head, but Viral knocked the lunatic away with a powerful kick to Massacre's chest. "Ooof!" Viral staggered to his feet, the cuts that Massacre had inflicted refusing to heal. Massacre on the other hand, had no such handicap, the deep stab wounds and ragged cuts that marred his body sealing shut in seconds. "You were a real dipshit to come here with one foot in the grave Viral!"

The Viral avatar spit out a wad of blood, twirling his knives and getting into a defensive stance. "I'm not planning on walking away from this you fucking moron, but I'm takin' you with me!" Massacre leaped at Viral, slashing at him with his talons, Viral rolled to the side and slashed Massacre's eye with one knife, while slitting the virus' throat with the other. "OW! You prick!" Viral smirked and ran forward, kicking Massacre to knock him off balance before delivering a flurry of stabs with his knives. 'Just need to daze him for a few seconds, then I can drain the fucker.' Unfortunately, Massacre was not so easy to stun, grabbing Viral's wrists and yanking the avatar forward to deliver a vicious series of headbutts before judo throwing him onto an adjacent set of catwalks.

The strikes brought stars to Viral's eyes and caused a trickle of blood to leak down his face. He shook he head in an attempt to recover faster, watching through the haze as Massacre extended his arms and slingshotted himself onto the catwalk. "Not so tough without your party tricks are ya!?" Massacre cackled and shifted his taloned hands into a pair of cleavers before rushing at the stunned avatar.

[Saber]

Baretta sat impatiently as she waited for their squad to arrive on the battlefield, her leg bouncing up and down rapidly as her anxiety grew. Somehow, she just knew something was going to happen, but she couldn't put her finger on what.

Saber narrowed his eyes when the stranger called him out on his disguise, understanding now exactly why they raided the server in the beginning. Since this man was so intent on playing fair, Saber figured it was only fair that he oblige his self-proclaimed executioner. Lifting both the camo and CAS program, Saber stared this new figure from a distance, his new sword in hand with the edge of his blade glowing dimly "You're not like Abraxas' other generals...Who are you?"

[Mani4c]

The cloaked figure chuckled. "I...am Schatten, wielder of powers that can scorch the flesh from the bones of my foes..." Schatten deactivated one of his blades and clipped it to his belt, he then lifted his hand and shot a bolt of lightning from his fingers, the arc shot past Saber and struck a parked speeder, causing it to explode. "I can render my foes helpless..." Schatten turned his hand so it was palm side up, and then began to slowly raise his arm, the wrecked speeder, now a burning hulk, rose into the air, spinning around at Schatten's whim. "And then...I crush them." The robed man slowly made a fist, crushing the speeder with his mind before letting it hit the ground with a cacophonous crash.

"But most importantly...I am the leader of Lady Lilith's new forces, the Amazons...a force over 50,000 members strong!" Schatten drew his other blade, reigniting it. "Now Saber, NPD swordsman...show me your power, prove to me that you're more than rumor and exaggeration!" Schatten got into a defensive stance, his voice filled with glee at the prospect of a worthy opponent. This was what he was made for.

Viral brought up his knives in an attempt to deflect the cleavers, but Massacre brought them down with enough force to snap the blades, driving the blades into Viral's shoulders and creating a spray of blood. "Ugh!" "You're PATHETIC!" Massacre transformed his kneecap into a long, sharp blade and drove it into Viral's chest. "Gah!" Massacre withdrew his blades and brought them up once more, driving them down into Viral's chest over and over, each strike echoing through the room with a wet snapping sound as Viral's chest cavity was repeatedly cut, smashed, and broken. "GYAAAAAH!"

Mani4c noticed Baretta's anxiety and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it'll be alright." There was a pounding sound as 897 got her passenger's attention. "60 SECONDS TO TARGET AREA! WE'RE DROPPING YOU IN AND TAKING RIGHT BACK OFF!"

[Saber]

Saber studied Schatten's abilities carefully, noting the lightning and the ability to move and crush objects from a distance. He instantly knew, that a ranged fight, and maybe even a close combat fight, would be risky *...He knows me from classified files, which means he was informed of my pre-upgraded stats...This might give me the edge, but I have to be careful with my actions from this point forward...Or I'll be the crushed speeder."

Saber brought forth his pistol, aiming it at Schatten and switching to full auto, firing a volley of at least 20 blasts at the general, to test the waters.

Baretta bit her finger when Mani4c placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to remain calm, but clearly failing to "When has anything been alright with our group?"

[Mani4c]

Mani4c sighed, "Well, yeah, things do get pretty crazy, but we've always made it through in the past. Just, have faith alright?" Mani4c pulled Baretta into a short kiss and pulled away, a playful smirk on his face. "Now cheer up, this is where things get fun." 
 
Schatten twirled his blades, creating intricate arcs of crimson light as he swatted every single blast that Saber sent at him aside. "Testing me are you? That's smart, you never go up against an opponent without-" Before Schatten could finish his sentence, the NPD VTOLS shot overhead, they circled the area before landing and releasing their cargo. Mani4c led the charge out of his VTOL, and the other released the horsemen, Onimaru, and a total of 20 NPD commandos. "Who the hell is that? Is that Kaizer?" Justicar shook his head. "No, Kaizer didn't know how to dual wield blades."

Schatten let out a disgusted huff. "I'm going to assume you didn't sic these worms on me. If you're looking for Massacre, he's currently attempting to mutilate your other friend..." Schatten lifted his right hand and sharply moved it to the left. The doors to the Warehouse flew open with a screech of rusted metal. "Go in and kill him if you wish, but if any of you interfere with my bout with Saber..." Schatten moved his right hand again, this time forcing a VTOL up into the air. "I'll obliterate your comrades with only a thought." Schatten released the VTOL, which nearly crashed into a building before regaining control.

[Saber]

Saber glared at Schatten and recalled his pistol, keeping his eyes on the enemy while the others converged on him "...Viral is inside and on his own...Go, I'll handle this, he wants me anyway." Baretta looked at Saber in disbelief "Against someone who can remotely manipulate objects? No way! We're staying here!" Saber clenched his hand around the sword in his right hand, fed up with Baretta's persistence "Viral is going against a monster and I cannot back him up! I will be fine, now get out of here!"

Saber activated his dual blade mod, projecting a second sword in his other hand, waiting for the others to clear the area "Before I fight you...Why me? Why focus all of your attention on one person?"

Baretta cursed and sprinted into the warehouse, scanning the entire area with her flashlight attachment and laser sight to spot any threats "I want regular status reports. no one goes anywhere alone and we survey the warehouse in its entirety. Mani4c, you're with me, we're going to track down Viral. Everyone else, scout for signs of the evolve virus, now move out!"

[Mani4c]

The NPD officers sprinted into the building, With The Commandos splitting off into a separate unit. <I copy Ma'am, we'll leave Viral and Massacre to you.> Onimaru ran up next to Baretta, sword at the ready. "What do you think would happen if someone like Mani4c used that evolve stuff?" War, who was bringing up the rear with Totenkopf and the Wave 2 Cyberblades, gave her opinion on the question. "He might be able to control it, we've seen how resilient he is."

Schatten began walking towards Saber, blades at his sides. "Why? It's simple honestly, Lady Lilith told me so much about you all. Your devotion to one another above all else, your resolve to see a battle through, your power." Schatten stopped advancing, only 15 feet from Saber. "I plan on testing all of you but you were the first to cross my path."

Massacre tore his blades from Viral's savaged chest, grabbing the viral avatar and throwing him across the room. Viral slammed onto the catwalk with a cacophonous crash, alerting several of the commandos. <Ma'am! we think we'v located Viral and Massacre! Check the center storage area of the warehouse!>

Viral struggled to his feet, his damaged code finally catching up to him. His vision was blurry, and he could barely stand. Worst of all, he couldn't heal, in fact, his wounds were opening even further. "Damn it..." Viral dropped to one knee, looking over his shoulder. There it was, Evolve, the orb had gotten even larger, now reaching thirty feet wide and 20 feet high, the main tendrils were easily as thick as a tree trunk, with the smaller tendrils still being as thick around as a man's bicep. 

Massacre leaped in front of Viral, a sadistic grin on his face. "We've been feeding drones to this thing for over a month..." The deranged general lunged forward and wrapped his fingers around Viral's throat, lifting the injured avatar by the neck. "I wonder how it'd like a hybrid?"

Massacre was about to throw Viral in, when he heard the NPD officers storming around nearby. "Hehehe...actually." Massacre's free hand turned into a sharpened spear. "Let's give your friends a show."

[Saber]

Saber tightened his grip on his swords as Schatten advanced on him, explaining why he was so fixated on him. Apparently, this avatar chose to test each of them, one by one, to see how they all stacked up. Taking a step back to take a defensive pose, he met Schatten's gaze "You want to test me? Fine, come at me! I'll end this madness here and now"

"Copy that! Converging on that location now. Let's go Mani4c!" Both guns in hand, she started sprinting towards the central storage sector. She shot the locks of the doors and bashed them open with Mani4c's help, standing stock still in shock as she saw Viral being held up by some strange virus "...Oh god no..."

[Mani4c]

Schatten dashed forward, twin blades crossed in front of him, right before the was in range to strike, he whipped his right blade at Saber's leg. The beam saber whirled through the air with a menacing hum, as Schatten swung at Saber with an upwardly diagonal slash aimed at the Net Ops officer's ribs.

Massacre looked at the officers when they burst into the room, "Right on time! I wouldn't want you to miss THIS!" Massacre drove the spear clean through Viral's chest before quickly pulling it free and tossing the viral hybrid over the railing. "VIRAL!!!" Mani4c charged forward, opening up with his rifle and striking Massacre with a hail of bullets. Massacre simply laughed and changed his arm into a heavy club, waiting for Mani4c to get within arms reach before viciously smashing him across the face, knocking him off his feet. "Dumbshit." Massacre stomped on Mani4c's chest and raised his spear arm, ready to delete Mani4c in one swift strike.

"OH NO YOU DON'T YAROU!"((Japanese for: Bastard)) Onimaru pulled out his liner pass and quickly changed the card, this one a solid white card with the Kanji for "Swan". Onimaru swiped the card, not pressing a button like the others, but the scanner still read it. <WING FORM> Onimaru's armor exploded into fragments, the pieces flying into the air before reforming into his Wing Form armor and allowing Sieg to take control. There was a burst of white light and feathers, as Sieg reformed Onimaru's sword into a small bladed boomerang and hatchet.

Sieg walked past Baretta, brushing her behind him "Move aside Hime-sama! I shall handle this." Sieg drew his arms back and whipped the boomerang and hatchet at Massacre just as he brought the spear down, the hatchet cleaved through Massacre's right eye, causing him to rear back in pain. As he did, the boomerang sliced cleanly through his spear arm at the elbow, sending the severed limb sailing through the air. "GRAAAH!" Mani4c used the opening and activated his arm blade, slicing off Massacre's legs and crawling out from under the mutilated virus. Mani4c grabbed his rifle and retreated to a safe distance and nodded at Sieg, the princely avatar elegantly catching his weapons in mid flight as they returned to them. "Thanks man." "Do not mention it..."

Viral could hear the sounds of the melee above him as he fell, his vision filled with blocky distortions and static. 'So this is what death feels like...I always imagined that I'd feel...cold.' Viral felt himself strike the Evolve sphere, and half expected to bounce off, but instead, he felt a moment's resistance against his back before being enveloped from the armpits down in thick, viscous sludge. Then, before he could react, the sludge dragged him under, the innards of the sphere pulling on his legs and waist to suck him in. Viral didn't even have time to gasp in surprise before he was consumed by darkness.

[Saber]

Saber leapt up at the sight of the saber being flung at him. And the moment he saw Schatten's attack, he aimed his blade at the avatar and a semi-transparent bubble formed around Schatten, forcing his blade to strike against the surface and give Saber time to land and regroup. Saber stood there, waiting for the barrier to drop before rushing in and making a two-pronged strike at Shatten, the first strike aiming to pierce his midsection, while the next swinging his free blade at the enemy's neck as he withdrew his first blade for defensive parrys.

Baretta rushed to the railing as Sieg and Mani4c were busy fighting Massacre, watching as Viral fell into the evolve virus. She watched in horror as the anomaly swallowed him whole, and she couldn't see him anymore "...Viral...No..." Her eyes welled with tears as she finally watched what she believed was the inevitable came to pass, Viral had been deleted before her very eyes. "VIRAAAAAAAL!!!!!"

[Mani4c]

Schatten retrieved his blade using his telekinesis, catching it and and batting aside Saber's blade in one motion. He then brought up his second blade to block the slash aimed at his neck. "Impressive, and you have new equipment as well, how unexpected." Schatten tossed one of his blades in the air and let loose a blast of Lighting from his fingertips. "Let us see you block arcing bolts of electricity Saber." Schatten sheathed his second blade and raised his free hand and pointed his index and middle fingers at Saber's head, using his telekinesis to "grab" his airborne sword and send it flying at Saber like a harpoon.

Massacre cackled maniacally. "That's what he get's for getting in my way!" Claymore stormed to the front of the group, his hands glowing a dark purple color. "I have had enough of this scum!" Claymore held his hands out in front of him, fingers splayed out and palms facing each other, the purple energy then began to flow in nebulous strands towards the gap between his hands. creating a large, pitch black orb. "Regenerate from this!" Claymore slammed the balls of his hands together and shoved them forward, firing a large blast of unstable code that produced arcs of purple energy as it flew.

Massacre attempted to leap out of the way, only to get shot out of the air by Mani4c. "You ain't dodging this prick!" Massacre tumbled through the air, right into the path of Claymore's blast. The ball of energy stuck Massacre, actually carrying him through the air with it until it struck the far wall of the room, creating a massive explosion the created a gaping hole in the wall. "That...was for Viral."

What the others didn't know was that Viral wasn't dead, instead he floated in ether, hovering between life and death. Then, the orb that had devoured him began to quake, to pulsate. It had been trying to eat him alive for the last 5 or so minutes, but now...<I'm...merging with it. No, this feeling, this isn't symbiosis.> The code began to writhe, trying to pull away from Viral to no avail. The code continuted to flow towards him, like the gas of a star being stripped away by a black hole. <I'm...dominating it...making it my own.>

Viral could feel the pain in his body fading. The code was now being sucked into his body through the wounds in his torso, eating away at the damaged, temporary framework that the Manifest Engine had been providing him for months. Now, he could feel a new framework forming, it felt...loose, flexible like a liquid, but infinitely more stable. <This is...AMAZING.> Soon his cosmetic data was stripped away, hidden within the Petabytes of code he was rapidly merging with. Viral smirked and lost consciousness, when he awoke, he would be free.

Mani4c walked over to Baretta and put a hand on his shoulder, meaning to comfort her, when suddenly the entire building began to shake violently. "What the fuck!?" Mani4c looked down and saw the cause, The evolve virus was going crazy, bright green lines appearing and disappearing along it's surface. Before Mani4c could utter a response, at least 100 drones burst into the room, breaching through the ceiling, walls, and through other doorways, Abraxas had arrived.

Outside of the building, as Saber and Schatten dueled, a huge portal opened up, All of the generals, Save Blight and Genome, who had been left back at the base to defend it in the unlikely event of an attack, stepped through, and the last one to step onto the damp streets of the Red-Light, was non other than Abraxas himself.

[Saber]

Saber lunged one of his blades at Schatten, javelin style, when he saw the beam saber tossed into the air, already predicting what was going to happen next. When the bolts came within Saber's proximity, there was a blinding flash of sparks and light, smoke filling the air as the electricity continued to strike at him. When the electricity finally ceased, there was a brief moment of silence, as if Schatten had overpowered Saber.

Then, two volley ball sized clusters of condensed data flew at Schatten, set to explode with a timer, rather than impact. So even if it was stopped in midair, the timer was set to exactly the moment Schatten was within the blast radius. "Equipment isn't the only thing I've acquired, Schatten. Do you really think that data has been updated to my current status?

When the smoke settled, Saber, who was practically defenseless before, was now covered head to toe in his white and red armor, and wielding a very bulky shield with his sword in the other hand. She shield's side plates opened up, revealing a glowing X-shaped pattern. Saber brandished his sword, staring at Schatten with a fire in his eyes that seldom showed itself as he positioned the shield between himself and the viral avatar "Had I been testing you, you would have failed with such a cheap tactic. Now come at me!"

Thorn stood close to Abraxas, arms hugging her waist idly as she studied the strange new avatar that was fighting Schatten "Who is the new brat? I've never seen him before, this avatar wasn't in any of the data I've analyzed." Ripper grinned and gripped his sword eagerly as he let out a gleeful cackle "Well, he looks fun if you ask me. When Lilith's lackey finally bites it, I call dibs!"

Saber cursed as the portal opened, realizing that things had just got a lot more difficult. All he could do now was hold out for reinforcements, because these viruses weren't likely to play as fair as Schatten was.

Baretta was snapped out of her shock when the drones began pouring into the room, her attention immediately drawn to the invasion that had begun "Dammit! We're too late! Kathryn, I need to be able to cycle through my programs at a moment's notice, be ready." <Understood, pulling up the programs list now. Just say the word.> She began firing at the drones normally, trying to lead them as they flew through the air "Claymore! Cover our perimeter! All units, prepare for battle, Abraxas' forces are here!"

[Mani4c]

Mani4c raised his rifle and opened fire on the drones, hitting them with short controlled bursts. <FALL BACK! ALL UNITS FALL BACK TO THE ENTRANCE OF THE BUILDING!> Claymore nodded and summoned his Glaive, using it's length to knock drones away, not having enough time to land a killing blow due to the onslaught of viruses that were attacking the group. "I agree with Mani4c! They're focused in this room, War, Mani4c, with me, we'll keep them at bay, everyone else stay behind us!"

Schatten grabbed the bombs using his telekinesis, and whipped the orbs back at Saber. "Throwing solid objects at me isn't a good idea Saber." When Saber said that he would have failed Schatten for his tactics, he simply laughed at Saber's insult. "I am not so foolish as to think that the NPD wouldn't have upgraded you...but still, the depth of your alterations is quite shocking." Schatten deactivated his blades and lifted his hands, ripping away large chunks of the road and various buildings. "But...let us see how well you can block this." Schatten clenched both of his hands into fists, cracking the rock and creating a maelstrom of debris, with rocks as large as softballs swirling around him at high speed.

The viral commander drew his blades, dropping into a guard stance. "Now...take this!" with a wave of telekinetic force, the stones began to fly at Saber at high speed, groups of them flying forward at once like buckshot from a shotgun, only the time between groups was incredibly short, only a fifth of a second, essentially equating to machine gun fire from 10 guns at once.

As the drones began to advance, the tendrils coming from the Evolve orb began to writhe, the green lines of energy racing up them and forming complex geometric designs along their surface. The light contined up the tendrils until it finally pooled near the ends.

Then, without warning, the tendrils ripped free from the wall, splitting in two horizontally near the end and revealing the same green glow as the lines within them. The ragged edges of the tendrils began to become smoother, changing into a maw filled with razor sharp teeth. The tendrils began to smooth out, the smaller tendrils snapping and filling the air with gunshot like cracks before being absorbed into the larger ones. The green spots on the tendrils rounded out, becoming almond shaped eyes the size of hubcaps. The tendrils then retracted towards the orb, arranging themselves behind it. The tendrils had transformed into Eight gargantuan snakes made of pure black code.

The drones turned and stared at the massive serpents, unsure of what to do. The serpents simply gazed at the smaller viruses for a solid minute. Massacre, who had been blown to pieces by the blast, but thankfully for him not deleted, crawled through the hole in the wall, only to come across the surreal scene. "What the hell?" 

The largest of the serpents, which was easily composed of three main trunks and was positioned in the center of the group, rose upwards, eyes locked on the drones. Then, there was sudden movement from the front of the sphere, the walls beginning to pulsate and leak a thick black ooze. Suddenly, a hand burst from the wall, releasing a torrent of the sludge, a figure, emaciated and skeletal in appearance, tumbled to the floor face first. The ooze than began to flow towards the figure, transforming him from a skeletal being to a thin silhouette.

The being slowly, drew it hands back, placing it's palms on the floor and pushing himself up into a kneeling position, it's head flopping back and making it stare at the ceiling. A drone slowly began to walk towards the being, unsure if it was a friend or a foe, the virus crept up to the kneeling man until it was within arms reach of it, and slowly reached out to touch it.

The figure, somehow sensing the drone's approach despite lacking eyes, ears or a nose snapped it's head forward and stared at the drone. Then, it began to stand up, slowly, almost lazily. When the figure was on it's feet, it raised it's arms to the sides in an almost ghostly manner, it's movements slow and unsteady, as if it was moving them through water. Before the drone could react, the lead serpent's neck suddenly flared outwards into a wide hood, like that of a cobra's, and lunged downward, snapping the drone up with a sickening *CRUNCH* and throwing the now screaming virus into the air before catching it within it's maw and swallowing it whole. The drones all turned and began to fire as the other serpents lunged forward, necks extending and maws wide, ready to devour anything in their path.

Mani4c took one look at the spectacle, and over the comms gave one command. <GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, NOW!!!>

[Saber]

Saber leapt back to avoid the bombs explosive damage, seeing the wall of stones flying around Schatten and realizing what was coming next. He put his shield in front of him and braced for impact, the barrage of stones hitting his shield with impressive force, enough so that it began to force him to slide backwards. Still, he wasn't down and out yet.

"This...Is...NOTHING!"

With one final gambit, Saber started to step forward, fighting the force of the stones crashing into his shield and pushing towards his enemy. The more he fought the brighter the X on his shield began to glow, but this was simply the tip of the iceberg. As Saber continued to push against the stones, he began to gain momentum, and wisps of energy began to from in front of the shield, originating from the glowing X. Eventually, the shield projected a large X arching around a ring wider than the shield itself, and Saber was moving at a moderate speed, despite having to deflect so many rocks.

"If you think you're gonna win, you've got another thing coming! You hear me?!" Starting to run now, he was rapidly closing the gap between himself and Schatten, letting out an endless battle roar as he pushed forward, and aiming to crash directly into the storm, and into Schatten himself.

Baretta couldn't even believe what she was seeing, did the evolve virus use Viral as some form of catalyst for sentiency, or did Viral overpower the virus and consume it into himself. Either way, this was going to escalate quickly, and they had to get out of the area, before whatever had been produced was able to cut loose. She followed Mani4c and the others out of the room, trying to escape before the carnage could begin.

[Mani4c]

Schatten's eyes widened under his helmet, Saber was actually walking through the storm of stone! "Damn it, time to double down..." Schatten clenched his hand into a fist, causing the remaining rock to slam together and fuse into a solid wall of stone a foot thick. Schatten then thrust his hand forward, causing the wall to fly at Saber, striking his shield with the speed of a cyber speeder. Schatten then put some distance between him and Saber, placing both his hands close together and channeling all of the lightning he could produce into a single orb. 'It's simplicity itself, Saber smashes through the rock, and I blast him with 10 million volts of electricity, he staggers, and then I plunge my blade through his skull.'


Lilith watched the battle between her commander and Saber with a worried expression. "Is something wrong Lilith?" Lilith looked at Caesar, "Schatten isn't made for close range melee like this, he's not perfected yet. Right now it's like a mage going up against a black knight with more gadgets than batman." Caesar nodded, "I can ask Genome to alter his code so he's a mix of my Centurions and his "Force" powers, my forces are geared to this kind of fight."

The Serpents let out a sharp roar, rattling the warehouse as they continued to obliterate Abraxas' forces. In the span of 2 minutes, the great snakes had devoured 70 of Abraxas' drone force. Snapping up great bunches of the viruses and downing them like candy.

Massacre had gotten to his feet and turned to run, when one of the serpents noticed him. The gigantic snake lashed out and snapped it's jaws, grabbing Massacre and leaving his upper torso dangling out of it's maw. The snake then proceeded to maul the Virus, whipping it's head around before finally heaving him at one of the Warehouses walls. The virus smashed through the steel and concrete wall, bounced off of a brick wall belonging to the building adjacent to the warehouse, and finally skidded across the pavement like a stone over water, stopping right in front of the generals and his "Father".

The serpents had finally finished their work, spatters of blood and lumps of pulped flesh streaked the walls and floor of the main room. With a final, keening roar, the snakes retracted into the orb, which then began to be pulled into the silhouette's body. In moment's the orb was gone, and the thin figure began to change once more, a green aura began to settle around him like a pall of smoke, and bright green patterns began to form on the figure's body, coming together in a large green "scar" on the creature's chest. A single green eye winked into existence, and a wide, red smile, like that on a child's stick figure drawing, spread across it's face.

The figure looked around the room, and then at it's hands, thin, spidery digits sprouting from spindly arms. The figure looked at the hole it's familiars had made and slowly rose from the ground flying through the hole and landing outside. It's head turned to look at Massacre, who was bleeding and battered. An almost ghostly chuckle came from the creature's lips, and it began to float towards Massacre, a sudden noise grabbed it's attention, stopping it in it's tracks. The Net ops Commandos, as well as Baretta and Mani4c's team, had blown a hole in the front door of the building and were running out, right in the middle of the battle between Schatten and Saber.

Massacre looked at the thin figure, fear etched across his face. "T-that's it! the thing that sicced those fucking snakes on the drones, those things ate 100 drones in under five minutes!" The figure looked back at Massacre and began floating towards him again, stopping about 5 feet from the terrified virus before landing on the ground and looking at Abraxas and his group, focusing in particular on Lilith, Zeus, and Abraxas.

[Saber]

The rock wall stopped in mid push, as if Saber had been stopped. But then the stone began to crack, then splinter. Finally, the stone wall split in two, and Saber was charging forward again, his sword crackling with power behind him as His shield had become a crossbow. But rather than aim the attack at Schatten, the attack was aimed directly behind Saber "You're not getting away!"

He fired directly at the ground behind him, and the explosive shockwave propelled him forward, faster than ever. Now, his shield shifted to have dual blades at the end, And Saber was pulling out all the stops to close the gap. The fire in his eyes was clear as day, he was going for the kill.

Thorn stared in disgust of the thing that had approached them, taking a step back as she didn't know what this thing was capable of. Ripper, eager, yet nervous as he was, gripped his sword firmly, bracing for battle. Zeus merely stared in intrigue, smirking as a red aura flared outward while his arms were folded behind him "...Well...This is certainly a new turn of events. I must say, this is very interesting."

[Mani4c]

Schatten Leaped out of the way, firing a blast of lightning from his hands as he did, but was still clipped in the shoulder by Saber's attack. To the robed warrior's credit, he barely even released a hiss of pain from the hit, instead getting to his feet and drawing his blades as if the wound was nothing to him. "Most impressive, the brutality, your disregard for your own life...truly, you are as dangerous as the reports say, even when they're out of date."

The figure looked at the generals for a solid minute, not moving, not even blinking. He simply stared, until finally, Massacre made a move to attack the figure. The being's arm was a black and green blur lashing out and smashing Massacre across the skull, scooping out a portion of the virus' eye before grabbing him by the neck and whipping him at the feet of his fellow generals.

The portion of Massacre's code that clung to the figure's hand slowly began to sink into his ebony flesh, until nothing was left. The figure raised it's arms, and suddenly a swarm of familiar chains shot from his body and tore into Massacre's flesh, several of them bursting through the other side of Massacre's body and winding around his limbs, the chains were each capped by an ebony serpent head, which bit down on Massacre's body to keep them from slipping off.

"GYAAAAAH! GET THEM OFF ME!" Massacre thrashed against the chains as they slowly began to retract into the figures body, dragging the screaming virus towards his doom. "FATHER! PLEASE! DON'T LET ME DIE LIKE THIS!" The figure looked down at Massacre, the unblinking eye and wide grin on it's face not changing one bit. As Massacre was dragged closer, the figure's torso began to swell, before finally bursting open into a writhing mass of barbed tendrils that seemed to sprout from and infinite abyss of darkness, the gaping hole in the figure's chest seemingly going on forever.

The assembled NPD avatars looked on at the scene with horror on their faces, several of the commandos looked ready to throw up at the sight of Massacre being dragged, kicking and screaming, to a painful death.

When Massacre finally got within 10 feet of the figure, the tendrils in it's chest shot forward, stabbing deep into Massacre's flesh and fusing with it, gradually turning the virus' crimson skin the same hue as his killer, complete with the green geometric patterns across his flesh. "NOOOO! PLEASE, LET ME GO!" The figure didn't respond, simply continuing to drag Massacre towards him until the virus, who was now in tears was at his feet.

Suddenly, the chains and tendrils lifted massacre and shoved him feet first into the figure's chest, The second Massacre's feet entered the void in the figure's chest, he began to scream in agony, being forcibly assimilated by his tormentor. "GYAAAAGH! NO! NOT LIKE THIS! NOT LIKE THIS!" Massacre's body was almost completely the same color as the figures, save his head, and the figure soon fixed that. When the screaming virus was consumed up to his waist, the figure finally moved it's arms again, sinking it's fingers into Massacre's head and changing it so it matched the rest of his body, the process caused the doomed virus even more pain, as he began thrashing and sobbing, begging for the figure to stop.

Suddenly, the figure's chest snapped closed like a trap seemingly swallowing Massacre whole, there was silence for a moment, before Massacre's head suddenly erupted from the center of the figure's chest, trendrils buried in his skull and half of his face eaten away. "KILL ME!!! PLEASE!!!" The figure reached up and forced Massacre's head back into his torso, being tortuously slow about it, until finally, Massacre was no more.

One of the NPD commandos yanked off his helmet and retched all over the pavement, and Mani4c couldn't blame him, this creature was sociopathy incarnate, showing not even JOY at killing his prey.

suddenly, a bright green glow began to shroud the figure, as thick black mist poured from it's body, the mist wrapped itself around the figure, filling out it's shape and making it recognizable. There was an explosion of viral energy, arcs of acid green light shot from the figure that stood before the Generals. The man looked at his hands and flexed them, and then felt the contours of his face. A wicked, deranged smirk split his face, and he finally spoke. "This body...the power, the adaptability...it's...perfect."


The man lowered his hands and chuckled, a sound that caused a shiver to run up Mani4c's spine. "Perfect...that reminds me of a song I heard once...I think it went like this." The figure placed a hand to his chest, and began to sing, the soothing tone in his voice only amping up the fear he exuded. "P" is for Priceless, the look upon your faces..."E" is for Extinction, of all the viral races..."R" is for revolution, which will be televised..."F" is for how fucked you are, now allow me to reprise..." The figure inhaled through his nose before continuing. "E" is for Eccentric, just listen to this song! "C" is for the cure which I've hunted for so long! "T" if for the Terror, which upon you I'll bestow..."

His green hair stood on end, standing out shockingly against his pale skin and black suit. His eyes were gold, his gaze brimming with madness and cruel delight. His body crackled with raw viral power, as ghostly serpents floated around him. And then there was his voice, laced with false friendliness and carried a terrifyingly mad tone to it. "Hehehe...My name is Viral Mani4c...and I'd like to say...Hello."

[Saber]

Saber skidded and spun around, but not quick enough to stop the bolt of lightning from striking his chest. Thankfully, the armor cushioned the blow, but it left a scorch mark where the lightning hit. As Schatten commented on his brutality and disregard for his own safety, his eyes landed on Schatten, pupils dilated as his focus on the battle became more enhanced, blocking out all other distractions but Schatten and his attacks "...I'm just getting started..." Saber discarded his shiels as his body began to shine, growing in size until he was a good foot taller. When the light dimmed, he was void of any armor, and wielding a large, double bladed sword in his right hand. With the focus of a predator, he charged forward, sword dragging behind him as he closed the gap quickly. With a running swing, he sent a horizontal wave of data crashing forward at Schatten, as he was within close enough proximity to catch the avatar off guard.

Baretta watched in horror as the monstrosity devoured Massacre, then transformed into Viral of all people. She was at a loss for words. The person whom she thought was terminal, throwing his life away to stop the virus army's plan, was now standing there, as menacing as the first day she saw him. She didn't know whether she should talk or run, her body frozen in fear.