I recommend listening to "lose control" for this episode.
(Viewpoint: Roum)
The wave roared.
With this pressure.
A vibration that penetrates armor, flesh, and bone.
I am on my knees in the black dust, my right arm hangs at a strange angle, a sharp pain radiates to my shoulder.
[DAMAGED ARMOR: 88%]
[RIGHT ARM: LIMITED FUNCTION]
[STABILIZATION IN PROGRESS]
[UNABLE TO START REGENERATION]
"Shut up…," I sigh.
I straighten up despite everything.
Around me, the battlefield is organized chaos.
The assistant agents form a broken line, their white pulses striking in rhythm.
The two giants still pierce the mass without regard for us who assist them, titanic silhouettes swallowed and then spat out by the moving shadow.
The ground trembles with each impact.
And the parasitic bodies rise again each time
Shit
I grip my weapon with my left hand.
Show.
Tire.
A white flash pierced the air thick with black particles, tearing the corpse in two, split like a tree after a lightning strike.
The form collapses without a blemish,
but it began to pass itself off, stick together again and get back up.
It doesn't work.
I hastily back away
BAM !
A mass suddenly appeared on my right.
I get hit head-on
rolling through the dark mud.
I feel something passing through me.
Not on my armor.
Within me.
Did I fracture myself again?
I couldn't get off the ground anymore
A shiver.
A black heat rising up my spine.
I felt heavy
I pull my body along the ground
This feeling of déjà vu wouldn't leave me.
I moved forward using only the strength of my arm.
Touch
A cold sensation under my fingers
A creature rose above me. A blurry, almost human silhouette, stretched out like a shadow torn from its owner.
I withdraw my hand
Raise my weapon.
Silence
Around
Everything was on fire
She didn't move.
His "face" leaned towards me.
I… I… I've got it pointed, but I can't pull.
The black sky pulses above us.
Something wrong.
–....
[ENERGY BOOST, REGENERATION 70%]
- What ?
I get up abruptly.
My arm no longer hurts, but that's not all.
The shadows are changing.
They don't rush at me anymore
They hesitate, circling around me.
As if they could sense me.
As if…
Not now.
I'm taking advantage of this peace to join the line…
there weren't any left
The last agent I saw was grabbed by three black silhouettes, swallowed before I could even reach him.
I turn around and walk away immediately
There's nothing more to do here
"Stay in formation!" shouts a voice in the common channel.
I recognize her
Chetan.
Her voice is sharp.
Authoritarian.
I was the only one still absent from the team
"What is your position?" I asked.
Shouting into my microphone
– ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?
FICHHHHHH!
The radio crackles
And the sentences that finally reached me seemed cut off.
– "It'll be fine."
– "doesn't come"
- ".. Useless.. "
– "no need"
As a new wave of shadows detaches itself from the main wall.
They're crazy
My right arm is almost unusable. I immobilize it against my torso, using my left arm to stabilize the weapon.
I can feel the black heat rising again.
One heartbeat.
Then another one.
My sensors are going haywire.
[UNKNOWN INTERNAL ACTIVITY]
[DANGER NEAR, DANGER PRESENT]
"He's messing up now…," I murmur to myself.
Attack
A shadow leaped.
tire.
Nothing comes out.
[TEMPORARY SURCHARGE]
Shit, shit, shit.
– haha aaïe ~
I collapse to the ground, the shadow above me.
I raise my right arm reflexively.
Ready to amortize it
But the impact doesn't materialize.
The shadow froze.
Just a few centimeters from me.
She's trembling.
Move back slightly.
I stare at her.
– wait!
The shadow turns away and flees at full speed
– NO !
I lunge forward despite the pain, slamming the shadow to the ground. My left hand closes around it.
I can feel its texture… Its threads clung to my strange, viscous uniform.
Not solid.
Not liquid.
Something in between.
– hum….
contact…
A shock.
Images.
Fragments.
A collapsed sky.
Absorbed human silhouettes.
A distant voice.
I let go abruptly.
The shadow explodes under a shot from my right.
Chetan.
He's looking at me.
For a long time.
– always on my way
I was lost in my own head
The wave keeps reforming.
Inexhaustible.
The front line is retreating.
And the TRACK giants have lost ground.
Losing One of Our Advantages
One of them ended up dismembered, an arm torn off, bluish sparks leaping from his mutilated shoulder.
This battle is… already lost
[UNSTABLE VITAL SIGNS]
- I'm tired .
I feel my fingers clench.
My thermal sensors are turning slightly dark red.
The world seems clearer.
Slower.
I see the traces of shadows before they move.
I see the flaws within their mass.
I see… my teammates as fragile, luminous silhouettes moving in the dark.
A thought arises.
– they are all going to die
I take a step back.
Horrified.
It wasn't me.
It wasn't me.
The pain brings me back a little bit of consciousness.
Je m'en sers.
I bang my shoulder against my weapon, dislodging it myself.
The pain explodes in my skull.
"Stay... conscious..." I groan.
A shadow appeared behind me.
I instinctively turned around and grabbed her by the throat.
Ela.
Without thinking, I let her go.
And jumped into his arms.
Ela looks at me, frightened, rubbing her neck
– Your eyes…
- What ?
touching my face
Ela hesitates.
- Nothing .
Then he turns his head away.