With my presence, the battle did not sway much, that was not the purpose, we still retreated, but that being said a lot of Drakoshi were dying.

The Gauss weapons were no joke though. One shot, one kill for the most part. On par with the Deimos rifles. However unlike Deimos with their singular beam, the gauss fires a shorter beam of blue energy.

Still, a pistol would have been better for me than a rifle as my balance was a bit off while using Zircon in my right hand and the gun in my left with the minigun on my left shoulder.

Still, we were behind enemy lines, the longer we fought, the worse it was going to get so as I gutted a Drakoshi and shot its head as it keeled over I started conveying orders. " One by one, begin to break off and hide. Once the fighting clears. Make your way back to base. Rhea, you first!"

I could afford to shout that as one, Drakoshi speaks a different language and two, any that had picked up Spartari would be killed in a few moments anyway. As soon as I said that, I watched out of my peripherals as Rhea dashed behind a tree.

I put it out of my mind again as the battle resumed. We were fortunate that the majority of what we were facing were armoured Drakoshi. Quick easy kills for enhanced individuals such as ourselves, but complacency wouldn’t be my ending, so I fought each opponent with my entire attention. Not looking down on a single one.

AS I fell back, I realised with a glance, I had passed the tree Rhea had dipped behind. She wasn’t there. ’Good.’ I thought to myself for a moment before resuming the battle. Sithrik went next, though she didn’t really hide, she just began slithering away, which was surprisingly effective considering she has the power to make herself invisible.

After about ten minutes, no one else was budging, so I spoke out to the woman to my left. "Gabrielle. You are up."

I saw her hesitate for a moment after hooking her swords around the back of a Drakoshi’s neck and kicking so hard it decapitated the brute. She looked like she didn’t want to leave me, the notion made me smile, but she eventually got a grip of herself and began to run away.

A few more minutes after that, I declared to Rhapso it was her turn. "She then proceeded to create a wall of spikes before us and the Drakoshi that would keep them at bay for a moment. "Ok! See you back at base." She said, waving before she did the opposite of what I expected and literally melded into the ground, disappearing completely.

I was slightly stunned for a moment, but quickly got over it as Drakoshi had made their way around the walls and began firing and charging once more.

At this point I commanded Onyx and Sapphire to return to my Mindspace and I began running away.

I was faster than the Drakoshi so I continued to run and gun for a good while, making sure my allies had time to get back safely. After an hour, my armour was starting to take more damage than I expected. The enemy had begun to fire at me with larger calibre weapons in irritation and more and more reinforcements began to arrive, cutting off my escape routes.

Eventually the inevitable happened. I was surrounded on all sides.

Drakoshi to the right of me, Drakoshi to the left of me. Drakoshi in front of me. Volleys thundered at me as I was stormed and shot with bullets from all sides, all the while they charged. I kept my shield stored in my armour, protecting my vitals while I absorbed the shots.

My armour began to chip away bit by bit, little by little as they swarmed in on me. I could here them in their language. Boasting, taunting. Yelling. They were going to kill me, they were going to butcher me. Eviscerate me. Bring me a world of pain I never thought possible.

...

That’s what they thought anyway. Once they were mere meters away from me, some even beginning to bring down their weapons as they charged, I simply made gravity my bitch and began to levitate upwards.

"Later haters." I said with a casual salute as they began firing at me and began to fly east as fast as I could.

After twenty minutes, I gulped slightly. We really poked the hornets’ nest. I could still see thousands of Drakoshi mustering overt towards my last known location. None bothered looking up to spot me. I was too high for them to see without actively looking for me and too low for their anti air emplacements to lock onto me, if they could? I wasn’t entirely sure about that, but didn’t feel like checking.

I resumed my flight for another forty minutes before touching down once more. I am sure whatever tech they use for scouting must have spotted me at some point flying east. Hopefully that confuses them enough to expend some resources into investigating ’their’ territory.

Removing my armour, I let out a breath of relief as my sweat finally had a chance to escape. Flying with the armour on was tougher than with just it being in my arm, it was exhausting and I was now running on fumes.

There was a nice flat rock nearby that looked particularly enticing at this moment. Putting down my gun and allowing Zircon to float about, I began taking off my shirt, I then walked over to it and removed my Thermokinesis, allowing it to suck up all my heat.

"Oh yeah, that’s the stuff."

I just lay there for a few moments, allowing my mind and body to rest as I evaluated the battle that just took place.

The lower end of the Drakoshi, for me, were easy pickings. I know that now. I could hold off a tide of armoured Drakoshi all day long if I needed to. The newly unarmoured were similar, though in great numbers, some survived long enough after taking damage that the possibility for them to do a death attack was possible. And it happened a few times.

The bigger Drakoshi like the silver pauldrons were complex. I could fight against them, and If I got the surprise on them, I could take them out instantly, but their speed and power matched my own. But Psionics and my arsenal meant I could kill them, just taking on multiple at once allowed for opportunities for damage to occur faster, so I had to be careful.

I had yet to personally fight a leader, such as the one Phoebe killed with her beam, nor have I met a Warlord outside of Grimshank. That worried me. I needed battle data. I had been told that Grimshank was emaciated as well, meaning that the powerful figure in that cell was not even close to the strength of an actual battlefield warlord.

That troubled me.

Deciding not to spiral, I requested council. "Onyx, what do you think?"

Onyx immediately materialised, sitting on my stomach as her hands began to explore my chest muscles like it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

She took a moment to enjoy herself before speaking earnestly. "Can you beat me in a fight Apollo? Remember I am five meters tall in my stalker body, that is slightly bigger than those warlords. I am fast, agile and extremely powerful. So can you beat me?"

I answered honestly and without embarrassment. "No, if you were my enemy, I would be Onyx chow."

She then leant down and brushed her nose against mine. "Thats right. *Mwah!* Height and muscle give me a significant advantage over you. Until you know all the data available. Assume that these warlords can beat you in single combat and plan for the possibilities accordingly. She then positioned herself, so her beautiful emerald eyes were staring directly into my eyes.

"But you already know this, my universe, so why are you asking me?"

Placing my hands on her waist, I smiled up at her. "Who knows? Maybe I just wanted a second opinion? To make sure my thoughts actually made sense. Or perhaps I just wanted my cute darling to make my own thoughts come out of her mouth so I can believe them better. Everything sounds better coming from the most sexy hivemind in the universe."

As I said that, Zircon suddenly began to vibrate right next to me, her blade singing in protest.

I turned to my sword and chuckled. "Sorry, but right now. You are one individual, not a hive. When you get a nice body and I can live my dream of having two hives as my harem, that we will open that debate, but as things stand now, you are my darling sword. Ok?

Zircon stopped vibrating, seemingly satisfied with that and embedded herself in the rock next to my head. I didn’t get to look at Zircon for long as Onyx suddenly grabbed my head and forced me to stare at her, her eyes widened and began to glow Psionic green as they also began building up possessiveness that was encompassing her emotions entirely.

"W-What was that Apollo? About you saying you might find another hive more sexier than us? You know I cannot allow that to happen. We are your mate. Understood? Apollo-love? Do you understand? Apollo-love? It is crucial you say so now, Apollo-love. Before I do something drastic in order to keep your love just for us, for all time, forever. Apollo-love."

I couldn’t move an inch, Onyx had trapped me underneath her, using her full weight and intense emotions to trap me. I couldn’t think and could only utter exactly what was on my mind, nothing more.

"I’m scareoused."