FINALLY! Well folks, I stopped sucking and finally wrote the last part to this darn thing and boy is it longer than I had intended. I thought about breaking this into a fourth and fifth part, but there was no good stopping point that wouldn't kill the mood. Part One: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/120935319/0/0 Part Two: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/122124663/0/0 Part Three: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/128179004/0/0 As always, thank you all for the support and I hope to hear your comments/critiques. Just to warn you, this part had to be put into this post and multiple comments below Cayde-5 lowered his rifle, trying to gaze out onto the battlefield and verify what he was seeing was true. He could see Vell’s form slowly moving down the hill into the fray. He could see the muzzle flash of two machine guns along with the occasional tracer round. Arc energy surged towards the solitary figure, but was exploding on impact with the tide of bullets coming from the guns. He saw a Dreg manage to get into striking range only to have the barrel of Vell’s gun smashed across its temple. The Hunter readied his rifle again, getting a closer look at the carnage, and said, “Saint, commander sir, you know, I’m not trying to question your authority or whatever. You Chain Titans do your thing, but Vell is going to die at that rate.” Both Saint-14 and Revenant turned towards the wayward Titan as Cayde’s voice filled the comms. The Warlock was able to react first though as he reloaded both of his hand guns. He yelled out over the chaos, “That’s it, Vell! Be the Messenger unto them! Don’t bring news of death to our own, deliver it to the Darkness!” With that, he threw a grenade into an encroaching crowd and laughed just as loud. “Revenant! Off the comms; fall back and check on Yvette!” The commander’s orders were cut off as a shock blade pierced into his shoulder. Sparks flew as he grunted, losing function of three of his left fingers and partial arm mobility. The aggressing Vandal snarled into Saint’s face only to be rewarded with a crushing blow to the head. The Titan held the Fallen’s sword hand to the sword, keeping the sword and the alien from moving as he pummeled its face. Once the creature went limp, he let it and the sword drop. “Cayde-5, cover him as best as you can. Vell…. Vell!” The drab-clad Titan couldn’t be shaken by the spell over him. Cayde was too young reborn to see many die; Yvette was just being trusted with field work considering her past at the Reef; Revenant seemed to enjoy any form of death; and Saint-14 had only ordered people to their deaths. How often was he there to see it directly? It couldn’t have been half as many as the supposedly cursed Messenger. He could still see their blood or artificial substitute staining his armor. Each time he swore he could feel its warmth through the layers of metal. It was different in the Cosmodrome that day though. Blood had been replaced with ether, spraying white all across the field and him. He walked through the mist of another species’ mortality with the faintest notion of clear thought flitting through the otherwise sensory overload of his mind. He remembered ancient humans sprinkling water over their heads in search of redemption, a cleansing if he recalled correctly. The white liquid on his dark armor harkened back to another ancient practice that Cryptarchs sometimes anecdotally amused themselves with, a Rorschach test. His mutterings continued, foreign to even himself, through it all as he unloaded every bit of ammo he could. Reloading became an afterthought; Vell couldn't even figure how his hands were moving fast enough to reload two belt-fed machine guns without slowing down, but such frontal lobe thoughts were separate from him. There were enemies and there were bullets to kill enemies with. As the Titan was lost in his rage, Saint-14 disengaged from the Fallen in front of him and began sprinting towards the rogue fighter. “Vell, stand down and fall back! You're going to-” A shot echoed through the clearing as Cayde killed a Captain encroaching too close to Vell. “Stand down!” Saint managed to clear the distance between the two and grabbed the man's shoulder. “I get it; Krace was a good man; that is not a reason to get yourself killed.” Vell didn't respond. He shrugged the hand away as a secondary thought, still blasting into the enemy. “Fall back, we need to find Trykais.” “Ah, speaking of, Saint... There's um. I think I see him.” Cayde's scope had drifted over to the Ketch, hoping for a sight of the Kell. He managed to be the first Human, Awoken, or Exo to lay eyes on the Devil's leader. The Fallen no longer looked like a Vandal, a Captain, or anything of his lineage. He was so tall that he had to stoop out of the rear of the Ketch, stepping back down to solid ground. His four arms were massive, nearly as thick as a man on their own, but they also had black relic iron chains wrapped around them. The creature's hair was woven into the same type of chains, creating the appearance of metallic dreadlocks that clanked about his body with each step. The majority of his face was covered by a mask that fed ether into his system directly, like many of his subordinates and all Kell's; however, the glowing tubing did not lead into tanks of ether. Instead, Trykais held on to two Servitor's with his lower arms, getting a constant stream of ether straight from the source. “Then take the shot! Take him down now!” Saint holstered his weapons and grabbed Vell from behind, finally lifting him off the ground to pull him back to safety. Undeterred, Vell continued shooting into the hordes of Fallen even as he was carried backwards. Cayde-5 pulled his rifle into his shoulder slightly tighter as he stared down towards the target. He could see tattered strips of cloth, supposedly stained red in human blood, hanging off of the Kell's body. He carefully lined up the shot, aiming for the center of the monster's skull, and pulled the trigger. A crack filled the air as the bullet raced over the chaos to find its home. With only millimeters to go, the round flattened and bounced off a shield. Cayde looked on in horror as a faint purple glow enveloped the Kell, the same glow of Servitors, but the Hunter tried anyway. He fired his entire magazine only to watch each round deflect harmlessly away. “Gorram it; sir, he's shielded. I can't get a shot.” Saint-14 turned, facing his comrade away from the action and caught a glimpse of the Kell for himself. Somehow, it seemed pleased with itself, casually petting one of the Servitors that it kept close. He was about to give new orders when Revenant's voice came on the comms. “The path is sealed up here; Yvette blew it away, but she's pinned under rubble. She'll live though.” More arc energy crackled through the air around the pair of exposed Titans as Saint tried to get a handle on the situation. “Ghost, translate my next statements and broadcast as loud as possible.” He then grunted as he threw Vell to the ground, knocking the machine guns from his hands. “Trykais, Kell of Devil's, I call you out in the old ways. I Saint-14 of the Chain challenge you.” His Ghost belted out a long litany of snarls, grunts, and screeches, loud enough to fill the clearing. Every Fallen heard the declaration and every one of them fell silent before turning to watch their leader. Trykais didn't show any expression, didn't move in any way that could be considered a response, but he did teleport along with his Servitors. The trio reappeared in the center of clearing and the Kell had pulled a massive scorch cannon from his back. He snarled and grunted in a voice that rumbled in the ground and the Ghost translated, “Little two arm, challenge Kell? Little two arm knows nothing of old ways, speaks through shard of Light, bleeds out. What little two arm think it knows?” Saint-14 walked calmly towards the massive Fallen as he said quietly into the comms, “No one take a shot; stay clear. Get Yvette out and prepare to evac immediately.” He then spoke up and his Ghost translated again, “This two arm is called Saint-14 of the Chain. I know the Chain broke the Devils today. I know that the old ways demand combat between two. I know that I will break Trykais like the Chain has broken Devils.” The surrounding army let out what might have been the aliens' version of laughter or revulsion; Saint couldn't tell. Trykais responded in kind though through the Titan's interpreter, “Devils not broken. City stands, yes, but City tested as well. Devils know and take knowledge into inventory. Number of Devils diminish, but inventory larger.” “Very well then, but the old ways still require combat, unless you are forfeiting.” Saint-14 continued his slow trudge towards the Fallen. The creature screamed in what could be laughter native to its species. It then changed the tone to a laughter more human, trying to convey how ridiculous the little man was. Trykais slung the cannon over his shoulder and the Ghost translated, “You speak grand four-armed ways for such a small thing. I accept, two-armed Saint; choose the weapon.” Cayde's voice filled the comms, “Saint, you can't do this; that freak is three times your size-”