"I have spent enough time tearing your kind apart limb from limb," said the Collector. "Your species has proven to be a formidable force to harness, and if securing this 'Alpha' specimen's death is what you so desire, then I first require additional information."
The Collector floated above the pit of solid darkness, attempting to pierce through it with its senses. The pit was almost impenetrable to a nearly unnatural degree, not visible through sight, emitting no auditory signals, nor being perceptible to tactile sense.
Magical sense, too, yielded little to no true benefit.
"You have stated that you have entered this area before. Is it within your memory to recall the exact physical dimensions of this space?" asked the Collector to the maned Amorak.
"I remember a little. It was not deep. A large drop of several seconds, then a great expanse of darkness. That is all I recall, for the darkness makes my memories hazy," said the Amorak.
The Collector clicked its mandibles before it bared its stomach maw towards the pit. It then ejected forth a burst of its pyrocatalytic gland flames, shooting forth a swelling torrent of blue-white flame that funneled into the pit of darkness.
Simultaneously, the Collector clenched one of its fists, enveloping the flames in purple Sapian aura.
The flames passed through the darkness but did not affect it any. The intense light did not drive away any of the shadows, simply phasing through the dark as if it was a fixture in space.
Yet, unmistakably, the flames had passed through.
The Collector utilized the Sapia-wreathed flames like a scout, moving them around to figure out the dimensions below, and determined that the Sapia fell down exactly a dozen meters and could fan out in circular pattern before hitting walls.
From the rate of travel of the flames and the time it took to crash against the walls, the Collector calculated the distance of the area beneath the fall to be roughly circular and twenty meters in diameter with a low ceiling of five meters.
In essence, the pit was structured like a funnel, the initial drop leading into a wider and self-contained base.
Within this area, the Collector's flames also found a singular target, and this, the Collector hypothesized to be the Alpha. However, the Collector's Sapia over the flames deteriorated rapidly within the pit, the magical connections and flow severing and breaking apart.
It was not like Grain that simply insulated and prevented the expression of magical energy outwards from those with too little primal energy. In the case of Grain, beings could still use their internal mana to reinforce their body, for there was no stopping them from flowing mana within themselves.
Thus, a tinkerer that relied on reinforcing their body could survive in areas of heavy Grainfall.
This, however, was a complete nullification of any and all magical energy flow. Spirit roots and cores would not be damaged, but they would be forced dormant, unable to channel any amount of magical energy.
No tinkerer could ever survive here, reduced to their basic, physically feeble states as they would be.
But the Collector was simply built different.
"I will proceed," said the Collector. It analyzed the environment it would enter, planned a course of action, and determined its success rate to near 99% provided the Alpha specimen was approximately as strong as the maned Amorak considering the Alpha would not be able to use mana to strengthen itself at all.
"Sovnar! This…this pit reeks of undeath," said Goromir. "Are you certain?"
"Weren't you the one who said to believe in the Sovnar?" Thokk spoke up. "Believe."
"Yes. Yes, you are right," said Goromir as he nodded to Thokk.
"There are no objections, then," said the Collector as it hovered over the void of darkness.
"If you bring the Alpha back, end his life, we will serve you with our lives, our blood, and more." The maned Amorak bared its claws and dug them into its forearm, splitting an artery and drawing out a stream of blood.
The Amorak spattered the blood on the ground. "By my blood, I swear it, and a blood oath is sacred to us."
"By my blood, I swear," came a collection of chants from the remaining twenty-nine Amorak as they clawed their forearms and spilled their blood in a ritualistic gesture.
Then, the Amorak closed their fists and flexed their arms, forcing the muscles to squeeze the cuts tight. They also possessed a natural healing factor that repaired their severed veins in quick order. A cost-efficient, constant healing factor that did not require any magical energy, but in return, was slower and less explosive than the draconid's regeneration.
"I see that these symbolistic gestures affirm your loyalty. Agreeable. I will note them for further interaction with your kind." The Collector then dove into the darkness like a red bullet, disappearing in an instant of surging aura and squalls of wind.
Passing the barrier of darkness caused the Collector to initially enter what it thought was a biome of water. There was darkness everywhere, similar to the darkness caused by an absence of light in abyssal zones of vast aquatic habitats, and there was a certain liquid heaviness and resistance everywhere reminiscent of water pressure.
However, the Collector found no difficulty with oxygen respiration, though it did not need it to function. In a tenth of a second, the Collector landed on the base of the pit, its feet sinking into solid, firm ground reminiscent of stone.
When the Collector landed, its magic completely disappeared.
It had no more access to its multiple mana affinities and the vast variety of powers and physical enhancements they granted. All of its magical weapons systems were completely disabled, completely neutralizing a host of powers that would have comprised a sizable list.
Truly, the Collector noted with clicked mandibles, this area would be completely inhospitable to the vast majority of any creature upon this planet.
No mana. No magic. No power.
But to the Collector?
This was simply functioning as normal. As it had functioned prior to entering this world and taking magic for its own.
This marked the difference between the Collector and much of the life on this world.
Even without magic, the cold fact did not change that the Collector was an apex predator bred with the deadliest adaptations known throughout its galaxy.
Mana or no mana, the Collector was still a killer.
A deadly killer.
The Collector's visual systems were utterly useless here as a pure absence of light meant no wavelengths with which to perceive, but its sensitive hairs accurately mapped out its immediate surroundings, and it perceived a large form barreling towards it.
Auditory signals were distorted in this area, and the Alpha's paws as it tracked across the firm ground loosed out crackling buzzes instead of a typical click of weight and claws upon stone.
The Alpha was still on fire from the Collector's pyrocatalytic glands, and the heat it emanated allowed the Collector to further map its movements with precision, utilizing its thermal sensitive capabilities and hairs.
The Collector unsheathed its monomolecular blades fully for its purifying light blades lost their light and efficacy here. The Alpha leaped upon the Collector, its form sizable at four meters in length, but its strength was severely stunted by a lack of mana.
The Collector utilized its three pliomatter tendrils to slam them from above in the Alpha's head, disorienting it and crashing it into the ground. The Alpha's large body skidded several meters past the Collector, and the Collector reacted quickly.
It used its muscular coilboosters to dash a short distance in a near instant, ending up in front of the downed Alpha before it could defend itself or even stand. The Alpha's head severed off of its body, cut clean by the monomolecular blades.
However, if it was affected by pathogen known as Undeath, then it was likely that the specimen would not perish from that wound alone.
The Collector grabbed the Alpha's headless body and turned it over with ease, its immense muscular strength toppling the one and a half ton body like a sheet of paper.
With surgical precision, the Collector used its monomolecular blade to carve into the Alpha's chest, and then tore out its heart. All regeneration caused by this Undead pathogen seemed to center around the core, so taking it would disable the specimen for the immediate moment.
Before the Alpha specimen could fully begin to regenerate around the core, the Collector leaped into the air, boosting its jump with coilboosters, and scaled the dozen meters to the top with ease.
The Collector passed through the veil of darkness and into the snowy, frigid, and open air of Fjall, and here, its magic returned with a vengeance, huge swirls of red magical energy crackling around it as it hovered again in the air, this time with the Alpha's blackened, beating heart in one of its hands.
"Here is your Alpha specimen," stated the Collector as it tossed the large, pumping heart onto the snow before, the Amoraks.
Comments