The oil field was a storm of fire and lead. The Eradicator Mark 2 fired relentlessly, the barrels of its quad-machine guns glowing white-hot. John moved like a blur, Victoria clung to his back, her hands tight around her hammer as she twirled it with mechanical precision, deflecting a hail of bullets that sparked against the heavy steel.
John's eyes squinted through the dust. He slid across the oil-slicked dirt, reaching out to snag his Energy Axe.
"You fuckers can't be serious!" the Eradicator shrieked. She pivoted, her mechanical jaws unhinging to reveal an embedded flamethrower. A torrent of liquid fire erupted.
John threw himself forward, bracing his Energy Axe to split the flames. The heat was skin-searing. Gritting his teeth, he waited for the gap, then leaped through the inferno. He slammed the axe deep into the Eradicator's faceplate. The machine let out a gargantuan roar, thrashing its head wildly until both John and Victoria were hurled through the air.
"I'M DONE!" the Eradicator bellowed. A low-frequency hum vibrated through the ground, and suddenly, the massive machine flickered and vanished.
John landed in a crouch, his head snapping left and right. A haunting, distorted laugh echoed from the empty air. He tracked a faint shimmer in the dust and hurled his Energy Axe into the void.
"Is that the best you've got, little hero?" the Eradicator's voice drifted from behind them, circling like a shark in dark water.
Suddenly, a massive weight slammed down from above. The invisible Eradicator tried to crush them underfoot, but the impact stopped dead. John was on one knee, his face contorted in a mask of pure rage as he held the massive mechanical foot up with his bare hands.
"Wait—what the fuck?!" the Eradicator's cloaking flickered as she frowned in shock.
Victoria didn't miss the opening. She twisted her body, putting every ounce of her strength and the force of her hammer's thrusters into a massive upward swing. The blow connected with a bone-shaking crack, flinging the multi-ton Eradicator away like a ragdoll.
The machine shrieked in confusion. John and Victoria shared a single, sharp nod—the silent language of veterans. They moved in perfect sync. Victoria dashed forward, her hammer shattering the protective plate over the Eradicator's core.
"Oh, you fucking—!" The Eradicator grabbed Victoria, throwing her across the field, but John was already there. He retrieved his axe in mid-air, swinging it to slice through the machine's jaw plate.
The Eradicator let out a roar so powerful the shockwave blew the surrounding sand and debris away, sending John skidding back. "Commander... you piss me off more than that girl. She was naive... but you? You die by my hand!"
As she leveled her quad-machine guns to finish him, a black hole tore open the air between them. Tenebris Marcam stepped out of the void.
"I know she's naive," Tenebris whispered, his voice like grinding stones. "But you are far more foolish than her."
With a flick of his shadowy fingers, black tendrils erupted from the earth, wrapping around the Eradicator's limbs like constricting pythons. He squeezed, the sound of shrieking metal filling the air.
A distorted feminine voice boomed from the machine's speakers: "You think you can just destroy my parts? You should have targeted the overheating core!"
Tenebris Marcam's eyes widened. He sensed the critical buildup of energy. "Move!" He spread his arms, and a black puddle swallowed John and Victoria just as the world turned white.
BOOM.
The explosion leveled the remains of the oil rig. The camera slowly panned across a new location—a quiet, grassy clearing miles away. Victoria gasped for air, waking up with a start. She looked to her side. John was lying there, unconscious and battered. Slowly, she reached out and placed a trembling hand against his cheek, her eyes filled with a mixture of relief and sorrow.
"To be continued"
Credit Scene
The camera pans back to the blackened, smoldering remains of the oil field. Tenebris Marcam stands amidst the debris. He is unscratched, but his left eye has turned a violent, weeping red where a shard of Calamity-infused metal struck him.
"Damn girl... she actually managed to wound me," he hissed, touching the injury. "Does she know? Relics are vulnerable to Calamity essence..."