“Muster?” Zadira’s voice was a low growl, the word tasting like rust on her tongue. The glowing vial pulsed in the centaur-horror's clawed hand, casting a silver sheen on the chitinous plates covering half his face. “You abandoned your squad, Commander. Left them to be consumed. You don’t get to call for muster.” “Abandoned?” The commander's single milky eye narrowed, the other half of his face a calcified mask. A wet, tearing sound echoed as his monstrous lower body shifted, ripping a larger chunk of the structural iron beam. “I adapted, Kosh. I evolved. Survival, at any cost. A concept your rigid Marduk code could never comprehend. While your squad became fertilizer for the new garden, I embraced my… ascension.” He gestured with the vial, its light dancing on the jagged edges of his transformed body. “This, Enforcer, is the reward for foresight. A cure. A new beginning.” Kassur felt Nia stir beside him, a faint whimper escaping her lips. He glanced down, her hand twitching, the faint green lines of infection glowing under her skin, tracing a path up her arm. The commander's words, the casual dismissal of death, sparked a knot in Kassur’s gut. He opened his mouth, a caustic joke forming, but Zadira was faster. Her sniper rifle, ‘Judgment,’ snapped up, bypassing the usual measured breathing, the careful zeroing. This was raw, unthinking fury. The barrel barked, a sharp crack that momentarily cut through the thrumming mist. The bullet, designed to pierce armored hulls, screamed across the distance. It didn’t hit his milky eye, nor the exposed throat. Instead, it struck the calcified shell of his shoulder with a wet *thunk*, sending a spray of purple ichor and shards of chitin across the damp floor. “Foolish girl,” the creature rumbled, a sound that shook the dust from the ceiling. He barely flinched. The wound, though grotesque, was shallow, already beginning to seal with a sickly, shimmering membrane. “Emotion is a weakness. Now, suffer for it.” The centaur-horror lunged. His four segmented legs coiled, then exploded forward, covering the distance in an impossible, ground-shaking bound. The air around him shimmered with residual Xar-Kutu energy. Kassur shoved Nia violently behind a fallen cargo container, drawing his twin pistols, but it was useless. The beast was too fast. The massive, chitinous foreleg, ending in a razor-sharp claw, slammed down where Kassur had stood moments before. The concrete deck spiderwebbed, then buckled inward with a groan, spraying him with dust and pulverized rebar. He scrambled back, barely avoiding a second, crushing blow that carved a trench in the floor. Zadira was already firing again, targeting the softer joints of the creature's lower body, but the bio-horror absorbed them, chitinous plates deflecting the impact. The heavy-gun thrall, its headless torso swiveling, unleashed a torrent of armor-piercing slugs, tearing into the beast's flank. He roared, a sound like grinding tectonic plates, finally showing a flicker of irritation, but he remained upright. Kassur was cornered, adrenaline burning through his veins. He couldn’t outrun this thing. Not with Nia barely conscious. He glanced at the headless thrall, its twin barrels still spitting lead, then at the glowing green lines on Nia’s arm. Bile rose in his throat, threatening his grinning mask. [Ereshkigal-Echo: New Directive Unlocked. Necro-Detonation: Proximity Overload. Explode a loyal minion for area-of-effect damage. Cost: 50 Essence per minion. Warning: Irreversible.] “Irreversible?” Kassur muttered, a frantic laugh bubbling up. “Yeah, so is getting stomped into paste, Echo.” He locked onto the auto-cannon zombie, his mind racing. It was his strongest minion, packed with high-caliber propellant. If the commander was going to shrug off bullets, maybe a full-body blast would peel that smug grin off his half-mutated snout. “Hey, Commander!” Kassur yelled, his voice cracking slightly. “You ever notice how some enforcers just *pop* when they’re under pressure? Like, literally?” The monster paused, his milky eye fixing on Kassur, a low rumble grinding in his chest. “Are you mocking me, scavenger? Your pet is merely an irritant.” “Oh, he’s more than an irritant, pal,” Kassur grinned, cold sweat soaking his collar. “He’s a *grand finale*!” He rammed his mental command through the interface. Emerald energy surged around the gun thrall. The headless corpse, still firing, glowed from within, its bio-mechanical parts whining under structural overload. The commander, sensing the shift, roared and started to pivot, but it was too late. [Ereshkigal-Echo: Necro-Detonation initiated. Auto-Cannon Zombie: Overload Imminent.] The summon detonated. Not with a clean concussive crack, but a violent eruption of shrapnel, molten steel, and green bio-ether. The shockwave ripped through the bay, flinging chunks of iron like artillery shot. The centaur-commander, caught in the epicenter, screamed. The sound wasn’t human. It was a dying leviathan’s bellow. The blast tore into his side, shredding armor, melting chitin, and sending his colossal frame stumbling back, slamming into a rusted support column that groaned and bent like a twig. His monstrous lower body twitched, several segmented legs hanging limp. The human torso, gored and bleeding purple sap, struggled to reorient itself. The calcified half of his face was cracked, a network of hairline fractures spreading like ice. Rage burned behind his singular cloudy iris. He stared at Kassur, then at Zadira, then at the smoking crater where the gunner had stood. “You… *scavenger*!” he hissed, his voice weak but laced with venom. “You destroy… my property!” He staggered back, retreating towards a gaping hole in the armory floor where the concrete had given way to a swirling, green-tinged torrent of water. The sounds of dripping, the distant echo of a monstrous roar, emanated from the darkness below. “This is merely a setback!” he shrieked, clutching the silver vial tighter. “The Xar-Kutu will cleanse this blight! You think this… this *serum* is your salvation?” He laughed, a wet, guttural sound, as he stumbled backwards into the abyss. “It’s not a cure, Zinn! It’s an accelerant! A gift from the Xar-Kutu, to speed up their glorious transformation!” His laughter bounced up from the flooded depths, hollow and wet. He turned to Nia, who had slumped against the cargo container. Her breath was shallow, ragged. He knelt, his hands shaking as he gently pulled back her sleeve. The green lines of infection had spread further, twisting up her forearm, pulsating with an angry, crystalizing light. As he watched, a faint shard of green crystal visibly erupted from the skin near her elbow, glinting in the gloom. Her eyes fluttered, then rolled back. [Ereshkigal-Echo: Infection at 40 percent. Estimated time to terminal mutation: 48 hours.]

Collateral Damage