The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Legionnaires

Then a cry of alarm from behind their position pulled Lash's attention around. Just in time to see one of the legionnaires drop to a knee, her arm visibly dissolved.

"Légionnaires!" Lash snarled as he fired where he knew the Hand agent still lurked and was rewarded with the stealthed vampire abruptly appearing as he fell back, his daycloak flung off his dropping body.

"Your rear is under attack by stealthed Hand agents!"

Catching sight of the subtle shifts in the air that marked the presence of more stealthed Hand agents, he emptied the rest of his magazine at them, dropping another eight as he charged towards the downed Silver Legion m'tada trooper. He skidded to a halt beside her and dropped to a knee.

As he did, he spotted the moly knife on her waist. Another bleeding edge piece of military tech that was known to the Qos Viran, a moly knife used a high vibration of thousands of cycles per second to turn the knife's edge to a line that could cut between molecules. It could also sever limbs almost instantly.

Jerking the knife free, he flicked the activation stud with his thumb. Then he was grabbing the twitching trooper by the shoulder.

"Hopefully this doesn't hurt very much," he said.

"Do it," she spat back, bracing herself. Nodding, Lash swung the humming blade through her arm just below the shoulder. Just in time to watch it fall to ash.

A look at the clean slice through her tissues and not seeing the glowing spider web of a compromised nervous system, he nodded in grim satisfaction.

"Purged," he tautly reported even as several more legionnaires cried out as they were stabbed by hidden car'dieth blades. "You need to put pressure on that, trooper." He then held up the moly knife. "Gonna need this for a couple minutes."

"Take it," the Silver Legion m'tada replied through grit teeth as she fished out a field bandage and slapped it against her new stump. "And my sidearm. You'll need it."

"Copy," Lash said, reaching out to tug her sidearm out of its holster. Then he was up and firing at the other shiftings in space he could see.

As was their habit, the Hand weren't striking at the body, the legionnaires' armor enough to deflect anything less than a hard stab. Instead, they were going for the quick scoring, a gash, slice, or prick against a more vulnerable spot like the forearm or leg.

So, for a long few minutes, Lash was busy absorbing the shots the White Flames were sending in his direction in an attempt to slow him down, gunning down the Hand agents he could identify. And removing any limbs that had begun an ash-out cascade in response to a slice from a car'dieth.

Rising from taking a groaning legionnaire's leg off at just above the knee, it was reflex that snapped Lash's arm to the side to block a car'dieth strike coming out of his right blind spot. At the same time, he felt a presence coming in from the left, not yet able to strike, but pulling back in preparation to do so.

Using the block's motion as momentum, he twisted the moly knife in a tight semi-circle at waist height. And, while it didn't give him any feedback in the form of resistance, his timing was such that he watched a Hand agent abruptly appear to collapse, the blade having cut him across the chest, basically slicing his heart in two.

Still twisting, he blocked a second car'dieth stabbing down from a third agent before putting two rounds where his face should be. Then he was using every bit of his native vampire speed and strength to stop his momentum and twist the other way to catch the first agent leaning in, planting the moly into the side of his head right up to the grip.