The hivemind is conquering for me?

Elaine entered her vehicle with two Praetorians as her guard. She was on her way to a charity event to donate for war orphans, a sadly common sight in Spartari. Two guards were more than sufficient for such an occasion for Archon Phillip will have more than enough security there.

As the ship took off, Arges was looking around with worry, his purpose was telling him something was off, but his punishment for his justified attack on that noble was a vow of silence.

Still, his ally noticed this and spoke in a hushed tone. "At ease Arges, It is just a charity event. Our queen will be fine." Arges looked at his ally before becoming alert again as he stared out of the window, looking for potential threats.

A few miles away from the palace now, Elaine was going through some notes for what she had to do at the event. Without looking up, she said. "I need the two of you to keep some distance between us at the party, I need the guests to feel comfortable approaching me, agreed?"

"Of course your grace, We-" The two Praetorians sprang into action, They heard the high calibre rounds fire before they hit their target, the personal vehicle. Three direct hits, one affecting the gravity stabiliser.

Arges' ally had covered the queen and he was preparing to jump out of the vehicle to pursue the attacker, for he had triangulated the position of the shot, however, The vehicle's exterior was suddenly rent through by a large sword and diving to protect the queen from a further assault, Arges deflected a blow and was pulled out of the vehicle.

Arges was not yet sure what his assailant was, it was too close as the two of them began fighting each other in free fall. Close to the ground, the creature kicked Arges powerfully, using him as a springboard to land safely. Arges quickly recovered however and landed on one knee, quickly recovering into a combat stance.

Arges was shocked at what he was looking up at. The being in front of him was a five meters tall creature. It has two digitigrade legs and clawed feet. Its torso was thick and its tan chitinous plates gleamed brightly in the light. It had four arms. Two were shaped like swords and the other two, were three fingered clawed hands. It had a long pointed tail which looked dangerous. Its head looked slightly humanoid with a wide pentagonal crowning atop its head. It has pitch black eyes and a flat mouth which opened up from the cracks on its face into mandibles with sharp white teeth. It also has a decent amount of small tentacles coming out of the top of its head like hair.

Arges had a guess as to what species this creature originated from and moved to grab the baton on his hip, for it was their greatest weakness from the reports. Upon clambering for a moment, he looked down and realised it was no longer there.

Turning his attention towards the creature, It held out the baton in front of itself with its clawed hand and began laughing low and gutturally, taunting him. There was no time for boastful back and forth, if the creature was even capable.

Arges made as much distance as he possibly could in a moment, trying to get room to fire his Deimos rifle, but the creature was fast and was upon him in a moment. Arges raised his vambrace to block the incoming strike from the large sword and let out an audible grunt and a gasp of shock as his armour screeched in agony at the blades contact.

Arges tried to kick the creature to create distance, but the creature seemed smart, it dodged and went for another attack. Dodging and weaving, dodging and weaving. Arges was having a hard time keeping up with the creatures movements, something that big moving that fast was shocking to him.

Eventually, Arges managed to get a hold of the creatures rhythm, with no small expense to his armour's well being. Reaching behind his back at the next dodge, Arges pulled out two large daggers and began to the attack himself.

The creature seemed to find a small amount of joy in his attack as it began laughing. That laugh halted however, once his battle rhythm came to him and he began landing hits upon the creature's large frame.

Onyx was having fun, her opponent was actually a decent combatant, but she could not stay long because she knew aid was coming for the praetorian. As a result, she stopped holding back the arsenal she had available to her and launched a sneak attack with her tail.

Arges suddenly felt an overwhelming sickness. Looking to his shoulder which had been destroyed to the point his green skin was on display, he saw a large spike now covered in his golden blood.

'Poison?' Like that will stop me.' He scoffed internally before he was brought to a sudden collapse. His entire body seemingly shutting down as his senses became overwhelmed. Just managing to look up, Arges saw the creature pointing his baton towards him, the anti Psionic beam affecting his entire existence.

H̷̨̡͈̩͎̭͙̰̰̣̣͍͙͚̄̚ọ̸̘̰̱͕̟̠͓͍́͊̔̔̏͐̔̐́͠w̴̨͖͙͖̲͚̪͚̗̞̗̗̯̆͐ ̴̞̮̟̌̈́͆̊͘d̵̢̳̤̲̲̞̟͇̂̍̿̈͌͑̇̑̀̔̑͗̽͜͝o̴͔̙̮̰̲̾͒͗͜e̸͔̝͕̲͖͖͙̹̻̊̑͊̿̃͂̇̕ş̶̨̣̻̪̥̪̤̥͔͉̖̱̫͉̈́̀̔̃́͋͂̈́͛̌͆̅̆̚̚ ̴̡̡̦̫̺͍̎̃̓̍̀̈́͠i̶̡̼͚̳̗̣̜̻̳͔̻̳̰͒̍̀̎t̶̡̗̫̟̭̱̙̹̓́̿ͅ ̶̫͑̉̄̋̓̃̀̔̍̽̕̚͝f̸̨̢̣̬͇̮̥̹̰͑̋͝ͅe̴̡̹̙̞̗̬̳̠͎͂̌̐̔͋͐͆̈͊͋̕͝ę̷̡̢͎̠̠̤̩̳̘̣̟͓̟̌̈̓̄̾͋̋͆̓̋̽̾́͘͝ͅl̷̢͔̗̥̗̘̻̙̙̤͊̄̊͊̽̐̿?̷̡̈́̿͗͆̐̓͋͗̏́͆̆͊ ̴͉͎̝̈́͊̈́̈́̄̎̀͛͂ͅT̶̨͍̙̘͓͉̺̦͆͐̅͑͒̏̀̑̔͐́̃͊a̷̫̠̩̖͙̯͚͑̈́̋̄̐̂̃̈́͊ş̷̩͔̯̲͓̗̬͕̰͗͜t̶̗̖̪̻̘̥̫̲̗͂̏̋͂́̇̃ǐ̵̢̪̪̤̖̞̩̳̝̈́͛͋̉̂̍͌̎̋͘n̶̨̩̖̫̜͉̒̽̾̀̑̽̈́̌̉̍̾́̅̊̚ḡ̶̲̺̝̳̠͙̟̣͉́̈́̈́̍̉̈̔̀̋ ̴̣̀͌̈́̄͆̍̋̐̔͋͑̒͝͝ỹ̵̬͎͍̫͜ô̵̧̙͙̺͙̞̤̬̍͊ͅư̶̙̤͙͉͙̈́̉͗͊̆̃̍͆̕ŗ̶̹͖͖͇̽̈́͆͐̄̂͊ ̷̗̖͈̠̬̤͌͋͂̓͂͒ȍ̸̡̱͙̤̳̘̐͐̀̉̍̔͋̊͐̕w̷̛̟͉̔̊̈́̆͌̔͊̐̇̃̈́̂̓n̴̨̦̰͈͇̻̬̺̻͆͑͐ ̵̧͇͇̞̝̱̪̯͈͇̜̗̹̂̕͜m̷̧̡̡̩̱̣̠̣̙̳̖̣̬̭̝̄̈͒͛ę̸̼̙͔̮̞͓̩͇̭̏́́̂̀̏̃̔̏̇̂̕̚͝ͅd̵̥͓̝̯͖͓̮̹̥̝̫̤̙̈́̈́͐̂͐̉̐̀͂̏̂̍́i̷̫͔̝̲̱͖͚͇̺̯̫̭̎̀͋̈́̀̀͗̂̈́͘͘͝c̷͉̝͕̤̞̲̠͙̥̤̼̒̄̐́̉̎̽̽̄͘͘͝ͅi̴̛̫̝̼̰͑̈́̈́̈́̂̆̈͐̚͠n̷̡̻̰̪͇͚͙̗̱̥̞͉̭͛́͋̽͂́̏̓̐́͑̃͛͘e̴̪̰̜̞̺̖̻͙͚͕̝̥̞̥̳̋.̷̛̗̺̬̯̯̬̫̫̪͎̄̓̿̿̒͐̓͐͘̚͜͝͠͠

Shock was felt throughout Arges' body, alongside the excruciating pain. "It, speaks?" He muttered before collapsing unconscious.

Onyx moved towards the Praetorian's body and with her full force, decapitated the head of the being. This fight was not about her enjoying the hunt, as much as she was having fun, this was about revenge.

Onyx kept the helmet helmet of the deceased Praetorian as she ran away to go pick up Samantha. Apollo could use this incredibly resilient material, that she would not have been able to go through without having consumed the fake prime to improve her form, and use it to improve his power armour. As for the rest of the head? She would very much enjoy eating the brain of a Psionically created being.

A minute after Onyx used her invisibility and grabbed Samantha to lie low, a literal army descended where she had just been fighting. Another large contingent had gone to where The queen and her escort had jumped out of the crashing vehicle.

Four Praetorians had arrived at the scene, warning anyone who gets close to the dead body would cease existing. Upon arriving at the body, they flipped over the headless corpse and sighed with lament

"One brother fewer." A female spoke

"One more loss." A male followed

"We honour his Origin." A second male spoke.

"We help him to cross." And a final male followed.

The four Praetorians then all knelt down. Once by his neck, two on either side of his arms and the final by his feet. All of a sudden, across the mountain scape they were currently on, The wind died down and what replaced it was a beautiful humming melody heard by all, causing an overwhelming sense of grief to wash over everyone.

The Praetorians, no, the Nymphs were attuning with the surrounding nature with their humming. They were expressing their desire to make this place Arges' resting place.

As their melody continued, Arges' body began to dissipate from his armour. A beautiful earthy green Psionic cloud of energy expelling from where it had been and began taking place over the nymphs.

The Nymphs increased the tone of their hum, their eyes closed as Arges' last trace of consciousness decided what its resting place should look like. Arges was born inside a mossy grove, he always said his final rest would take on that tranquil scene when he crossed into his final stage of life.

With his purpose fulfilled, the Green cloud dispersed into the surroundings and in a moment, all across the rocky terrain. Trees, dirt, moss, flowers and even a small spring surrounded the four praetorians in a 100m wide area.

Feeling the nature bloom to life around them, they opened their eyes and looked around lovingly. It was then the Female Praetorian spoke once more. "For such a headstrong Nymph, I have to admit, his final rest is beautiful."

The others nodded their heads in agreement, this truly would be a beautiful piece of nature that thanks to being Psionically gifted life, would thrive in this terrain that was evidently outside of its standard ecosystem.

After the ritual, The Praetorians ignored the nearby Phalanx who were struggling to keep back tears from the overwhelming emotions they had been feeling in the air and inspected the armour of their fallen kin.

"Who in Persephone's name was Arges fighting? Look at the state of his armour." His armour was dented and cut deeply in a large number of locations. The battle was mere minutes long. To take so much damage in such a short amount of time...

"And look at this! His energy pack was still full, meaning he used none of his Psionic energy. Why would he not use it?" The Female Praetorian asked.

"Brothers, sister. I have accessed overhead satellites, let us witness our brother's killers together, so we may track them down and deliver swift retribution." The Praetorian then clicked two buttons on his chest and began broadcasting an overhead feed of Queen Elaine's vehicle.

As they watched the bullets hit the vehicle, they were not surprised, they had already gotten word of that, but what they saw next. One of the Praetorians hacked into the military systems of the planet and initiated an executive order.

"Close all space ports , no ships in or out! Planet is going into lockdown. We have an unidentified, intelligent alien with an Anti Psionic weapon in its possession. We cannot allow it to leave the planet! It must be killed!"