The hivemind is conquering for me?

”Do you want me to put you in the ground you ignorant hussy? Because if you don’t shut your trap I will fucking massacre you!”

”Oh fucking try, you ratty bitch! It’s about time You brought your pussy ass down here I’ve been waiting to ram my spears hilt up your twat for months, so bring it!

”Thats it! Square up! I’m putting you in the dirt!”

As I entered the tent, I bore witness to the sight of two individuals getting ready to kill one another.

*Ahem* I cleared my throat to announce myself.

The duo took a moment to glance at me before turning back to their squabble. Only for a few seconds to pass as realisation dawned on the both of them.

”Apollo!” Skaja proclaimed and ran up to me, giving me a friendly hug. ”I am so happy to see you are well. As time kept on passing without a word, we began to get more and more concerned. But with the Drakoshi not making another assault, we just knew-”

”-There he is! My little war hero! I am so excited to meet you in the flesh finally. Come give your aunty a hug!” The other woman present proclaimed, pushing Skaja away before she proceeded to physically lift me up with triviality.

”Serena. It’s good to meet you as well.” I said honestly as I took in my auntie.

Standing at 6ft9, just a bit shy of Valerica. Serena looked just as young as Valerica even though she was older, the Hyllus technique with its flaws, did also come with obvious benefits.

True to the Hyllus name, Serena had long flowing fiery red hair, though perhaps a few shades lighter than her sister. Her eyes were a yellowish colour, signs that she had more Psionic potential than other Hyllus’.

Judging from the way she was lifting me like I weighed nothing, alongside her strong jawline and noticeable biceps, Serena was also incredibly strong and in shape. She gave off a feeling of a veteran warrior, something which her armour helped emphasise.

She wore a custom set of armour that looked a lot more like conventional armour compared to others that I have seen. While it was still custom made for her body, the armour looked more archaic with its black metal and gold embroidery. The armour looked light for its sturdiness and had gaps in the joints for greater mobility, which made sense as Hyllus women were, for the most part, up close fighters. The red cape flowing behind her gave her added gravitas that made her look the part as a leader of Spartari forces even more.

Still even without her appearance, her manhandling way of showing affection screamed Hyllus more than anything. ’It must run in the family.’

Serena then thankfully put me down, but maintained contact with my arms as she looked up at me with a smile on her face.

”Apollo. I owe you an official face to face apology for my initial impression of you. You have shown me that you are more than that and I, like my sister, truly consider you family now.”

It warmed my heart hearing that and it was my turn to pick up Serena into a hug. ”Thank you Serena. I promised Kathrine I will always look out for my family and keep them safe. So if you ever need anything from me. You need only ask. Now... Was I interrupting something when I walked in?” I asked as I put her back down.

Skaja and Serena looked between one another before both turning back to me.

”Nope.”

”Nothing of consequence.”

The duo gave each other a look out of the corner of their eyes, but said nothing else, so I continued,

”Alright then. Serena. What are you doing on the planet? It was my understanding you would be in command above for the duration of the campaign?”

Serena turned around and walked towards a table as she spoke, ”Your actions in the region and the full withdrawal of clan Oizik has caused a chain reaction that has sped up the war by months.

With constant reinforcements coming from the empire, we have been able to launch countless offensives across the front and thanks to that, the Drakoshi are losing footholds faster than ever.

We estimate in two weeks, we will reach the orbital emplacements that have prevented us from fully launching an assault on the world and taking it back. Once those emplacements are ours again, the planet will be ours and the Drakoshi will be eliminated a week later.

As the de facto leader of the current war, it is my job to participate in the last conflict of this war.”

”Yeah, come in once all the hard work has been done... Not surprised.” Skaja muttered from the side, receiving an openly hostile glance from Serena in the process, but no verbal retaliation.

She then smiled at me and asked very nicely. ”Apollo, for the duration of our assaults, I am requesting that you and your combat force act as shock troops where I order you to go. You clearly have a knack for combat tactics and field strategy, but I have the next few weeks meticulously planned out and you just killing where I tell you to point will save countless. Will you do that for me? Please. I am not asking as a leader, I am asking personally as your aunt. And if not for me, do it as a favour to Valerica. The sooner we win, the sooner you can see her and Kathrine again.”

”Oh brother, that’s done it...” Skaja muttered again, knowing Apollo’s core weakness.

”You know, I don’t usually pick up on things, but even I could tell that was seriously trying to manipulate me, Serena... But you are lucky I have a soft spot and I did just say I will help my family, so you got it. When does the next round of assaults start?” I asked.

Serena smirked. ”Two days. I need time for logistics to happen. For areas to be resupplied etcetera. If I was cruel, I’d ship you all off to a fight occurring up north against the Dinnac again, but after what you have been through, I think you and your allies could do with a day’s rest amongst your allies. Speaking of, they were reported arriving fifteen minutes before you did. I have them off by the south side of the camp alongside the rest of the Psionic assets that did not join you. So go, have a catch up and allow me to do what I do best... Oh and take this imbecile with you, she has done nothing but slow me down ever since I got here.”

Skaja looked ready for a fight, for real this time at the slight towards her, but as she was about to say something to Serena, who had already turned her back on us, I noticed how for a fraction of a second, her eyes turned green, looked at me, then turned back to their original blue.

”Come on Apollo, she is right. The others will be excited to see you. I am sure you have plenty of battles to tell us about and I am excited to hear about them.” Skaja said as she dragged me out of the tent.

...

Despite what I originally thought, Skaja did not lead me south to our allies, but to a private tent at which point she lost herself as Artemis quite took over.

”You live.” She said calmly.

”I do.” I replied, confused as to where this was going.

”Then why do you reek of death?” She asked.

”Because I killed a lot of Drakoshi?” I replied, confused. ”Though I shouldn’t smell. My Thermokinesis burns away any impurities on my body.”

Artemis shook her head. ”No you- Nnngh. Apollo your soul. I can’t see fully because of your Mindspace barrier, but it fucking reeks of death. It’s unmistakable, you have been touched or have interacted with powerful death energy.”

It then dawned on me what she meant. Thanatos. ’She must be able to smell his domain?’ I supposed it made sense? Somehow? She was a hunter god. Tracking and detecting scents was something. But I didn’t know she could smell souls?

Deciding until I spoke with Rhapso about this, I feigned ignorance.

”Is that bad? Am I ok?”

”Hold still.” She commanded and walked up to me and began to poke and prod me and even sniffed me.

It felt weird being sniffed for non-sexual reasons, which in itself was really weird.

Fortunately it only lasted a few moments before she pulled back and frowned.

”You haven’t been marked or targeted by anything malicious, but the energy around you is weird. It’s not even clinging to you. It’s more like something just got snagged by your soul by accident? Bizarre” She paused for a minute, just observing me before shaking her head.

”You are fine. It honestly might just be a Psionic phenomenon. You are quite a unique individual already, Apollo. Your killing might just have caused this effect. If you are not feeling sapped, drained or suicidally depressed, I will say you are fine, but keep an eye out for any strange phenomenon alright? Honestly, whatever happened was weeks ago, I can only just make the scent to be honest. Another day or two and it would have been gone.”

Forcing down the urge to ask questions about what I just heard. A piece of Thanatos’ Domain got snagged by my soul? Like what? Instead I just smiled and patted Artemis on the shoulder and smiled at her.

”Thanks for looking out, Artemis. You are a good friend. Just let me know with those god eyes of yours if things change? Alright? Now let’s go and see the others!”