1190 1190 Betrayed
The Greater Energy Being which was leading the Cathedral Ships was horrified at the development. Its ally had just allowed the humans drones to destroy one of its ships for entertainment, and now it was thoroughly ignoring all requests for assistance as the fleet was eliminated.
It only cared about the entertainment provided by the new creatures it had found, some sort of space crab, and it had turned against their agreement without thought the moment that it no longer proved entertaining.
Worse, it wasn't allowing the closure of the portal. This was not the plan. They were supposed to finish the fight quickly or retreat if there was no real fight to be found. Instead, the Myceloids who were supposed to be supporting them were ignoring the larger battle in favour of a series of duels in their mobile fortress, and the fleet was being crushed without the chance to retreat.
Then it realized that was only the smallest part of its problems. There was some sort of Mecha coming its way, glowing with the power of an Energy Being, and charging its weapons.
Max had given the creature long enough to come out and fight, and he had engaged his thrusters to take the fight to the enemy instead.
It would make great footage from the ship's feed, and there wasn't much of a chance that he would lose the fight. Even before he had focused on combat, he had felt much more attuned to the Mecha than ever before. But now, it was beginning to feel like an extension of himself.
Every sensor input was slowly becoming part of his own consciousness, and Max recognized that it was the same way that the Androids merged with the new Mecha's systems to treat it as their own body while in combat.
Without the need to interpret sensor data separately, Max's targeting accuracy was becoming a nightmare for the enemy. Every unit in the human fleet shared his targeting data, and they hadn't missed a shot in over a minute, despite the fleet's best attempts to evade.
The insane Mecha was coming for it, the Greater Energy Being realized when Max bypassed the last of the Destroyers on the other side of the portal. It couldn't allow that to continue, it had to close the portal somehow.
Then the first volley of warp capable Mass Driver rounds detonated around it with fusion explosions, destabilizing its body and sending a stream of energy flowing toward the attacker.
An Energy Vampire? Such a thing shouldn't exist.
[Stop that thing, it will kill us all.] The Greater Energy Being pleaded for assistance from its ally.
{NO, it will kill you. It gave me gifts.} The Myceloid God decided, unconcerned.
If it wanted to treat the crab drones as a form of bribe, Max was willing to let them go without an argument. They had already almost torn apart the Destroyer with minimal casualties, and the Myceloid God was wondering if they could be trained to become stronger, or if he should try to merge them with his own people to make skittering extra-Stabby cyborgs.
The Greater Energy Being roared in rage and solidified its body to fight the Mecha and prevent further losses as the evil thing tried to steal its very essence.
Max chuckled to himself. They might not be so angry if they didn't keep losing and having to rely on someone else to back them up in a proper fight. For all their power, the Greater Energy Beings were actually terrible cowards when it came to an even fight. The Myceloids were much more fun. If they were better at space combat, they would be excellent allies.
10:55
Now that it was corporeal, the Mass Drivers were doing even more damage, but nothing that a being of its power couldn't deal with. Max smiled at the mental roar it unleashed as it charged forward, turning its hands into ten metre long claws.
He retreated with his blade spinning an intricate dance to hold off all the incoming blades, Then the being went incorporeal again as the Disintegrator hit it at point-blank range.
More energy entered Max's body, and the feeling that the Mecha was nothing more than a limb under his control intensified.
Every action was exactly as he intended, and the mechanical limits of the Mecha no longer seemed to mean anything to him, it would behave exactly as he told it to. The sense of power was overwhelming as his blade sliced down through the creature, preventing it from reforming while the Disintegrator was recharging.
Panic began to settle in as the Greater Energy Being realized that it was fighting something unknown for the first time in its existence, and it prepared to flee.
[There is nowhere to go. I came here for your power, and I will have it] Max focused on broadcasting to it.
[No, I cannot lose. I will destroy you.] It replied, deciding that this must be some sort of mortal loving creature that came from the same lineage that it did. Nothing else that it had encountered had powerful thoughts like that, and even the God of the Myceloids had heard the Mecha. This was a nightmare come to life. The being was alone and betrayed by its allies, with its fleet and subordinates gone.
There was nothing left to lose but its life, so it fled, shifting into the boundary between layers as Max fired another Disintegrator blast and nearly tore it apart into Lesser Demons. Only pure willpower held the being together as it fled, but Max didn't pursue.
That drew the attention of the Myceloid God.
[Why did you let it flee? You know it intends to kill your species.] It asked.
[There is no joy in beating up cowards. But if it survives, it will come back with more and more powerful friends to win back its dignity, won't it?] Max replied.
[Hmm, yes. You have a point. I think that I will keep track of you, there should be good fights wherever you go. Don't lose, there hasn't been a proper challenge to the angry ones in far too long.]
Max chuckled to himself. They might not be so angry if they didn't keep losing and having to rely on someone else to back them up in a proper fight. For all their power, the Greater Energy Beings were actually terrible cowards when it came to an even fight. The Myceloids were much more fun. If they were better at space combat, they would be excellent allies.
The Myceloid God laughed. [There is no need for space combat when I can make worlds to fight on with a thought.]
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