Interstellar Age

The carnage was shocking even to a devouring swarm like the Naraku. All around the members of their have had been torn apart by the Orcs and their superpowered forms, enhanced no doubt by the MK III Advanced Power Armor that they wore.

Some were burned to ash, others were blown apart by the likes of automatic grenade launchers and handheld auto cannons. Some were quite literally just ripped to shreds by the Orc’s bare hands. And don’t get me wrong, the Orcs got as well as they gave when it came to the carnage.

But this was what they lived for. All across the Hive Fleet that had been chasing Kali since their initial battle the sight was the same. Blood, guts, and gore spread all across the Naraku vessels. It was a sight that was not suited to the faint of heart.

And on the Queenship, Mala stood in all her glory, wielding a power hammer as she charged straight at the Naraku Queen. Despite the Queen’s being much smaller than their children best suited to battle. They were by no means weaker, even if they had an anthropomorphic form.

In fact it was quite the contrary, a Naraku Hive Queen was significantly stronger than her brood. And yet Mala stared fearlessly at her opponent. Not that her eyes could be seen behind the visor that depicted an almost cartoonish rendition of an Orcish Skull.

Yet the Hive Queen did not need to see the look on Mala’s face to understand the bloodlust that had overwhelmed her. The terrifying shout did that for her. Mala roared like a beast gone mad, as she charged at the Hive Queen with her power hammer.

Perhaps unaware of just how much force was exerted when this weapon collided with an enemy, the Hive Queen raised a single finger, as if this weapon were somehow primitive and incapable. She was about to say something snarky in the Elvish tongue when her expression suddenly twisted to a hideous scowl.

“You really think this little toy will- Argghh!”

The blood-curdling screams as the Hive Queen fell back in astonishment and horror at her hand, which was now mangled beyond belief, was truly a sight to behold. Unfortunately, only Mala had seen it as she instantly closed the distance between her and her prey, panting heavily, not because of physical exertion, but because of overwhelming excitement as she tried to squash the mighty bug with her hammer.

“Die! Die! Die!”

The Orcish tongue was extremely barbaric and guttural. Even the simple word that could be translated to death was terrifying for the uninitiated to hear, especially when it came in the form of such a ferocious chant.

The Hive Queen barely managed to flee from a lethal blow. Not by her own volition, but because she moved just enough for the hammer to collide a distance that one could hardly say was safe. At the very least, it wasn’t life threatening, even if the shockwave of the impact sent its victim hurling an easy thirty meters across the hive ship’s deck.

And every time this happened the Hive Queen suffered internal injuries, her thick and glistening carapace cracking with each blow. While her internal organs themselves suffered significant damage. A lesser creature would have been mincemeat by now.

But not a Hive Queen. It was truly a testament to the Naraku’s endurance that this Hive Queen had survived fifty of such blows. Yet there was not much else she could do as her insides were ripped apart by the repeated shockwaves. The impact of the hammer on the deck by her side was too fierce.

Every time she was thrown, she was staggered, just long enough to shift to a safe position, but not long enough to get to her feet or retaliate. But would Mala grow tired of such a wonderful game of Wack a mole?

Absolutely not. She was both as fierce and swift as a raging storm. Leaping exactly to where her opponent was thrown in a single action, and landing with the impact of her power hammer.

The raging echo of the strike, along with her bestial howl were a thing of terrifying proportions. This continued to go on, and on and on, until finally the Hive Queen’s carapace cracked completely, revealing her internal organs that had been turned to mush.

The lifelessness of her eyes, and her tongue which rolled from her mouth were an excitable sight to the brutish warrior who tossed her hammer aside in a fit of frenzy, and pulled out her knife. Where she severed the Hive Queen’s head from its corpse and raised it into the air as a proclamation of victory to her people!

“Blood and honor!”

The orc warriors pounded their chests as they heard their warchief’s shout, and responded to her with the precise words she had said, only in the opposite direction.

“honor and blood!”

Normally, a Naraku Hive would enter a state of mindless frenzy after losing their queen, attacking each other, and anything else unfortunate enough to be in their vicinity. It was a major weakness of the Naraku species, but was an equal detriment to those who would kill a queen.

There was just one problem: every single insectoid among this Hive Fleet was thoroughly stomped by the Orcish Warriors who remained alive after the gruesome affair. They went ahead and collected trophies from their kills.

Normally the skull of an enemy slain in battle was the prized possession of an Orc, but since the Naraku were insectoids with exoskeletons, the Orcs began severing fangs, and claws, and other body party that would not decay with time.

Pocketing them to add to their collections. All the while, Kali waited for a message from Mala to tell her if it was safe for her to contact her people for an emergency repair. Of course, Mala had lost herself in the looting, and would not immediately respond to the goddess of the Asuran Cabal.

Rather, she would continue to celebrate with her clansmen for the magnificent victory they had gained. Word would soon spread to Erich of Mala, saving Kali, of which he would have mixed feelings.

After all, he held a grudge against the woman from an act of betrayal in a previous life. Yet this was a new timeline where she had not wronged him, and thus logically he should still not be salty towards her.