The Turian race was a highly militarized species. From birth, they studied the discipline called warfare, and both combat and war had been woven into the blood of every Turian. Without exaggeration, a random civilian pulled off the street could serve as the equivalent of a special forces captain for most other races.
And yet even so, they were powerless in the face of this disaster.
"Bang bang bang bang bang bang!!!"
Amid relentless gunfire, wave after wave of Husks fell. A Turian soldier swiftly swapped out a magazine and readied himself for the next round.
"Damn it, what is happening? What are those monsters attacking us?"
As he said this, the Turian soldier gritted his teeth and looked up at the enormous metal squid-like structures towering into the sky not far away. This was the Turian homeworld — and yet these strange entities had broken through their air defense network with almost no warning, and what followed was nothing but a one-sided slaughter.
"Damn it, what is the fleet even doing?"
"I heard they're called Reapers."
"Reapers? That's just a rumor, isn't it?"
"Still think it's a rumor? I don't believe the geth could produce something like this."
His companion kept watch on their surroundings while speaking in a low voice, his eyes drifting to the Husk bodies sprawled ahead.
"So what the humans said about the Reapers returning — that was true?"
"Looks like it, yes. Though it doesn't matter much now. What we can do is find cover, contact the command authority, and then see what—"
"ROAAARRR———————!!!"
But his companion's words were cut short as strange, piercing cries suddenly erupted from all around. The Turians immediately raised their weapons and swept their eyes across the surroundings.
"What is that?"
"Unknown — stay sharp!"
"———————!!"
Then several dark shapes suddenly leaped down from the walls nearby and landed heavily on the ground.
"What — what are those things?"
Even the battle-hardened Turians were rendered speechless at the sight before them.
What stood before them were Turians — or rather, something that had once been Turian. These creatures lacked lower jaws entirely. Their arms were spread wide, long bone spikes curved like blades extending from their palms. These mutated Turians stared at their former kin with eyes glowing red, radiating nothing but savage malice.
"Wh-what are they? More Husks?"
"Don't know — attack, attack!!"
The Turians were shaken for a moment by these horrifying creatures, but they recovered quickly, raised their weapons, took aim, and pulled the triggers.
"Bang bang bang!!"
Gunfire rang out, bullets tearing through the air and striking the creatures' bodies — and yet...…
"Why isn't it working?"
One of the snipers stared in horror with wide eyes. He had clearly put a headshot into one of the creatures — but the thing that had just lost its head was still advancing toward them.
And it wasn't just him. The attacks of every other Turian soldier were equally ineffective against these things.
"What on earth are these monsters?"
"Why won't they die?!"
"Keep firing! Don't stop!!"
With shouts of fury, the Turians steadied themselves and continued taking aim, continuing to pull their triggers. Their bullets did land, but they produced absolutely no sign of killing these creatures. Even ordinary Husks could be killed — but these things, whether hit in the head or through the heart, showed no reaction whatsoever.
"Damn it, I'm out!"
After their frantic barrage, one Turian's weapon clicked dry. It frantically reached for a new magazine — but at that moment, one of the creatures had already closed the distance. Before the Turian could react, the long blade-like bone spikes on the creature's arms drove straight through its body.
"AGHHHHHH!!!"
In the grip of agonizing pain, the unfortunate Turian let out a scream. But it wasn't over. The creature that had just impaled it opened its mouth and directed it at the screaming Turian — and in the next instant, something like vomited matter erupted from within, pouring directly into the Turian's gaping mouth.
"Ugh...…urgh...…!!!"
After swallowing what the creature had expelled, the Turian immediately let out a hideous, distorted cry. In the next instant, its skin cracked open across its entire body and twisted into a mass of warped flesh. The blade-like bone spikes bored out from its palms, and the Turian's lower jaw split apart in pieces as its eyes turned a vivid, uniform red. It turned to face its former comrades, its gaze carrying not the slightest trace of recognition.
"Wait — wait, don't come any closer — DON'T COME NEAR ME!!!"
Accompanied by a few more gunshots, that small military checkpoint fell completely silent.
The [Abomination] attacks were not isolated to this location. The Turian military command center had also received reports.
"What on earth is happening...…"
General Moran stared at the screen before him, his expression grim. Just moments ago, reports had come in from multiple sub-commands describing unidentified mutated creatures appearing on the battlefield — something that appeared to have originated from Turian bodies. At first General Moran had assumed they were Husks, but it quickly became clear that what was being reported was entirely different.
According to the soldiers' accounts, these creatures were completely immune to bullets. Whether the head or the heart was targeted, nothing stopped their advance. Beyond that, any Turian killed by them would undergo mutation within just a few seconds and become one of the creatures themselves.
Unless they were blown apart by heavy weapons, there was no way to halt these creatures' advance.
And on top of that, reports indicated that several million Turians had already been converted into these terrifying creatures.
"Damn it...…"
General Moran slammed his fist down on the table in fury.
Where had these creatures come from? Were they another Reaper weapon? But soldiers were reporting that they even attacked Husks...…did that mean these creatures had no sense of allegiance whatsoever?
Either way, continuing to fight under these conditions offered no prospect of victory. Turian warships couldn't match the Reaper warships. Ground combat was being suppressed by these unkillable creatures — and it wasn't as though they could bring out artillery to swat flies.
What were they supposed to do?
While General Moran held his head in anguished thought, a sudden burst of violent gunfire erupted not far away. Then a soldier came rushing in, gasping for breath.
"General, sir — there's been a betrayal!"
"What did you say? A betrayal?"
General Moran was completely stunned. Were they serious? The Turian race was on the verge of extinction and now there was infighting? What was going through these people's heads?
"Yes, they — ah...…!!!"
But the messenger's words were cut off as a gunshot rang out and took his head clean off. Then General Moran watched as his adjutant Laurens came striding in — armor soaked in blood from head to toe, expression twisted and savage, glaring at his superior officer with pure, vicious hatred.
"What is the meaning of this?"
General Moran looked at his adjutant with cold eyes.
"You should know that the Turian race is on the brink of extinction right now."
"I know that perfectly well. That's exactly why I'm here, General."
As he spoke, the adjutant raised his weapon and took aim at General Moran. His eyes were vacant, but burning with fanaticism.
"I have heard it. Heard the voice of the God of Destruction. We are destined to be destroyed — only complete death can bring destruction and salvation. If we are to truly eliminate the invaders, we must offer up our lives. Sacrifice everything for the God of Destruction. Only then will we find release!"
"Just — what are you talking about?"
General Moran's brow furrowed deeper.
"God of Destruction? What is that? What are you saying?"
"You don't understand — you haven't seen it, you haven't heard it! They are already here! The hymn of the God of Destruction has already begun, and its servants have come to this world, to bring death equally to us all!"
The adjutant clutched the wall with one hand while frantically clawing at his own face with the other — even tearing it open. Seeing this deranged display, General Moran felt a chill run through his entire body.
"Calm yourself. Do you know what you're saying? You...…"
"Of course I know! We have no choice left! Die, General! The Turians are about to be destroyed — this is the fate decreed by the great God of Destruction!"
"Bang bang bang bang!!"
The gunfire erupted again. Before General Moran could return fire, he was shot down by the adjutant's weapon. The adjutant stood there with weapon in hand, looking at the general's body on the ground, a deranged smile spreading across its face. Then it raised the rifle and pressed the barrel against its own chin.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!! For the God of Destruction!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
"BANG!!!"
In the next instant, the laughter stopped abruptly. A headless body swayed from side to side, then collapsed to the ground in silence.
Meanwhile, Duanmu Huai stood amid the ruins, looking at the ground not far away.
"Tch tch tch. I expected this, but...…even so, this is really something."
Duanmu Huai of course knew that once the [Abominations] had converted in sufficient numbers, they would congregate around the monolith and coalesce into a new [Blood Moon] aggregate. The greater the number, the more powerful the aggregate — and strictly speaking, the interstellar age offered the most ideal test subjects imaginable.
The reason was simple: a single city in the interstellar age held tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of inhabitants. If all of them were converted into Abominations and merged together, the result would be an entity of almost unimaginable scale.
By contrast, if you dropped the monolith somewhere as backward as Skyrim where a single city held only a few hundred or a few thousand people, the monolith would just sit there drawing circles in the dust.
It was about time.
The Abominations now gathered around the monolith numbered in the millions. Which meant there was only one thing left to do.
"Coalesce."
"BOOM———————!!!!"
At Duanmu Huai's command, in the next instant the monolith erupted with a tremendous surge of power. The ground cracked apart, the surrounding structures exploded outward — and then countless Abominations and fragments of debris were launched together into the sky along with the monolith itself. Under the influence of an invisible force, the Abominations began to fuse with one another, while the debris raining through the sky layered itself over the merging aggregate.
The Reapers had clearly noticed this strange development. The Reaper warships that had been descending toward the surface halted and turned to face the sky not far away — and there, under their gaze, a vast and terrible presence materialized.
Half of it resembled a planetoid, while the other half was formed from countless masses of flesh woven, merged, and condensed into enormous tentacles — it looked like a colossal jellyfish, drifting slowly through orbital space.
Where the city it had come from once stood was now a single enormous crater.
It was said that the moon had once been formed from debris ejected from the Earth in a collision — and what floated in space now was not far off from that scale.
The Reapers didn't know what this was. But as Reapers, their mission was singular.
And so before long, several Reaper warships changed course and moved toward the moon-sized "jellyfish."
The Blood Moon, faced with Reaper warships bearing down on it, had no intention of simply taking the assault. It swung its enormous, thick tentacles and launched itself at the targets before it — because for the Blood Moon, the Reapers before it were simply another form of prey to be consumed.
"Good."
Duanmu Huai, now back on the warship's bridge, watched this unfold and gave a satisfied nod. From what he could see, the Blood Moon and the Abominations did indeed have the combat capacity to take on the Tyranid Swarm. Once he encountered the Tyranids, he could use the same approach — convert Tyranid bodies into Abominations, then coalesce them into a Blood Moon and pit it against the Tyranid fleet directly.
Mm...…now, he would get to see exactly what the Blood Moon's combat capability truly was.
Though speaking of that...…
Duanmu Huai looked at his system notification feed with a puzzled expression.
A long string of messages he had never seen before was scrolling rapidly across it.
[Laurens has sensed your will]
[Laurens fails Sanity check!]
[Laurens takes 15 Sanity damage]
[Laurens enters Permanent Madness state]
[Laurens gains status: Hysterical]
[Brace has sensed your will]
[Brace fails Sanity check!]
[Brace takes...…]
A long string of names he had never heard rapidly flooded the screen. Who had he encountered? He hadn't met anyone — so why were all these system notifications appearing?
Duanmu Huai was genuinely baffled.
(End of Chapter)