"Thank you for rescuing us from the fray, Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl said, placing one of his paws on my shoulder in a sign of what I could only assume was respect. "My suit would not have lasted long against that beast, I am not certain how you managed to combat it for so long in the Pren base alone." 

I drew my sword from its holster. 

"This is made from one of their claws, lets me fight on an equal pegging to a degree," I said. "Fal, you alright?" 

"I'll live," she replied. "But I never want to get that close to one of those things ever again."

That I could understand, but unfortunately I didn't have a choice in the matter. There were probably a handful of people in this room who would be able to handle themselves against the invader hybrid for any amount of time, but none of them would be able to deal with it unless they could put out as much manna as Lara had, and even that had only been an attack that could stun the creature long enough for her to toss it off over the edge of a bridge. 

If anyone was going to take this creature down, it would have to be me. I was resolute in that fact. 

I turned on my propulsion once again and wove through the carnage, once more making my way to the man who had kickstarted this whole process by refusing to get his Guard members out of danger, Squadron Leader Belana. 

"The blood of those people is on your hands, Belana," I said, pointing my blade at the carnage that was still unfolding. "You should have gotten them out of here when you still had the chance." 

"You dare raise your voice to me like that, child,?" Belana sneered back at me. "If these soldiers were not fit to take on the enemy, then they were only fit to die." 

I shook my head, disgusted at the man in front of me. I hadn't liked him at first because of how he was treating me, now I didn't like him because of how he was treating everyone else under his command. I was quickly beginning to wonder whether the Guard was even an operation that I wanted to be a part of anymore. 

"You're disgusting," I said, "Those are people dying out there. People with mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. And you just served them up like an appetizer at a restaurant." 

He took a glance over my shoulder at the death and destruction the hybrid was still causing. 

"Well then, I guess you can be the main course." 

With a snap of his fingers, another set of blinding runes appeared this time only underneath the Squadron Leader. He was gone, just like that. He had abandoned his men at the bottom of the ocean so that he could run away as fast as he could, leaving them as snacks for the creature below. 

It really was just up to me. 

I turned on my heel and propelled myself through the carnage once more. 

By this point, the hybrid had dispatched with over half of the guard members that were fighting against it, while the others were doing their best just to stay alive. Unbelievably, the suit of spectral armour was still in the fight, deflecting the occasional blow away from other members of the guard as the hybrid pushed its way forward. 

I ducked in under the suit's sword and swooped in through the right, bringing my sword up hard to meet the hybrid's spiked tail in a clang of sparks. I hit like a torpedo and pushed the creature back across the room so hard that it went flying into the far wall of the cargo bay, leaving a slight dent in the manna-absorbing material. 

The eyes of the creature widened in recognition and a chittering laughter seeped out of its toothy mouth. 

"Hello preeeeeeeey," it warbled. This was clearly the same hybrid as before, the same hybrid that had killed Rin in the Pren base. That just made me want to kill it even more. 

I built up a heavy charge of manna and forced it into three separate energy balls that hung ominously over my head. 

"You're not going to prey on anyone ever again," I seethed. 

I let my energy beams go off in unison, they were really nothing more than a distraction so I could use my propulsion to put some distance between myself and the alien creature. The beams didn't do any damage to the creature, but they were clearly a little more than the hybrid was used to dealing with, and they did manage to keep it held down for a few moments. 

When the beams had dissipated the beast immediately went on the attack. It skittered forward on its scythe-like legs and lashed out at me with speed. But the creature was working from incomplete knowledge on my fighting style. Knowledge that had only been gained from a tiny room where I was fighting while protecting someone who was stood directly behind me. 

This time I used my propulsion and anti-gravity fields to dash backwards out of the creature's reach, before springing up into the air. I let another blast of energy crash down on the being from above, but that was yet another distraction. I brought my sword down and speared myself through the beam of energy itself, my blade cutting through my own power like butter. 

I sliced through the creature as if it weren't even there, bisecting it straight down the middle so hard that my sword stuck itself into the ground. 

[ Null Space Hybrid Defeated! ]

[ XP Gained - 2,000 ]

[ Level Up! ] 

[ Level Up! ]

[ Jacob Lyre Stats Sheet:

Level: 14

HP: 1300

Manna Reserve: 5250

Strength: 600

Active Ability Points: 18

Passive ability Points: 8 ]

It was over. 

The creature that had killed Rin was dead. 

At the end of the day, while it had been incredibly powerful in close quarters combat, in a situation where I couldn't do anything to get space and use my sword to its full effects, the spider hybrid had been impossible for me to deal with. Out in an open space with plenty of room to maneuver? Unlike a true Null Space Invader, it was outclassed and outgunned. 

I pulled my sword from the ground with a grunt and slotted it back into the sheath on my back. I turned and once again had to hold in my revulsion. It was easy to block it out of my mind in the heat of battle, but now that the battle was over all I could see was the viscera covering the ground. 

I activated my anti-gravity fields yet again and propelled myself upward into the air, before pushing myself forwards and back over to Yr'Arl and Fal. 

"I couldn't save them all," I said as I touched back down next to them. 

"You did more than enough, Jacob. You killed a Null Space Invader one on one, not many can say they've done that," Fal tried to comfort me with a hand on my shoulder.

The red in her eyes betrayed her anger. I'd be angry too if my Squadron Leader had abandoned me at the bottom of the ocean against one of the most dangerous creatures in the universe. Oh wait, they had and I was. 

"That wasn't a Null Space Invader, not a proper one. The Hybrids are faster and they have their web attacks, but other than that they're a lot weaker than the usual fare," I said. 

"Your self-pity will not bring them back, Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl cut in. "You have managed to save almost half of those that were abandoned here by their Squadron Leader. That man shall have much to answer to when we return." 

Those were as close to angry words as I'd ever heard Yr'Arl say, and they were true, every last one of them. When we did manage to get back up to the surface, back up to Prespian City, I was going to make sure that there would be hell to pay… and then… then I was going to leave the Guard altogether. 

"So… what do we do now?" I asked the two aliens, my friends, before me. 

"You have not led us wrong so far, Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl said, "Whatever you wish to do, I shall happily follow." 

"I'm with Yr'Arl Jacob, whatever your choose to do next I'm on your side. Belana left us all down here as food for that thing, I'm not recognising him as my Squadron Leader anymore," Fal agreed. 

I didn't know how I had become the leader of our small group, especially considering I was by far the least experienced out of the three of us. But, if they were looking to me for leadership, then I was more than willing to oblige them. 

We still had a mission down here, and while there were a limited number of us left we were going to do our best to complete it.