------

  “That still gives me the creeps Sephy.” Yoruichi protested as Seraphiel slashed her arm and allowed her blood to flow around the pre-prepared magical circle on the ground.

  “Then don’t take part silly goose.” Seraphiel shot back as the circle was completed and started glowing with eerie crimson power.

  Her usual team was placed at specific points inside the circle. They’d lend their powers for her to use in the ritual. Not because she needed the additional power, but because that way they got to share in the EXP. She couldn’t gather any after her rejection of the System, but that didn’t mean all that EXP had to go to waste.

  “Everyone, make sure you’re fully inside your designated circle. When I start pulling the power from you, you’re going to instinctively try to resist the pull. Don’t. The more you resist, the harder it is for me. I won’t overdraw on your powers. You will be spent, but you’re not going to burn out or anything. On my signal, allow a drop of your blood to fall onto the formation. Ashredar, once we enter the system, take us to the largest concentration of enemy forces you can manage, and let me know when we’re in position.” She laid out her instructions.

  “Entering system…now! Scanning for where the enemy forces are the thickest…target spotted, estimated time of arrival 30 seconds.” Ashredar made an excellent report. Just the important details, yet everything necessary.

  “Add your blood now. A drop will suffice.” She ordered, and everyone used either a blade or a nail to make a small cut before their blood mixed with hers.

  She allowed her senses to extend outwards to spot the perfect target. This time she had a lot more power at her disposal, and her own control was much more precise, so she was more confident in the effect, and in keeping those on the ship but not inside the circle safe. Just like last time, the spell she was casting was very simple. It extracted the vitae of everyone caught in the effect of the spell. Vitae meant both blood and lifeforce, as many organisms in the Tyranid fleet didn’t have blood. This vitae then fueled the spell further, allowing the area of effect to extend further away and to catch more of the Tyranids, in theory causing a chain reaction until all of them were dead. Every creature that dies just fueled the spell further, forcing even the more powerful creatures that might otherwise be able to resist to succumb to the spell.

  “That’s new.” She muttered as the Tyranid fleet reacted to the spell. It was like an invisible line was suddenly drawn. Everyone inside the line started flying closer to the effect of the spell, while those outside started flying away from it. “I used the spell only once before, against a splinter from a different hive fleet, and they’ve already figured out a way to counter the spell. A very crude counter, but rather effective. Or at least it would’ve been if I was the same as the last time I cast the spell. A counter that only a hive mind could implement, throwing away a chunk of the fleet to save the rest.”

  Just as all the Tyranids caught in the spell were devoured, she made a sharp swiping gesture with her hand, and the spell jumped. It crossed the gap that had appeared in the Tyranid fleet, now afflicting a portion of the fleet that had been safe just moments before. “You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?” She mumbled with a wicked grin.

  As the spell began its work anew, she suddenly felt as if every creature in the fleet with psionic power suddenly cried out and gave their life as the power was violently pulled out from them and used to suppress the effect of her blood magic. Using psionic power like that was horrifically ineffective, as it was clearly used in a way that it was not meant to be used, but sometimes you could replace precision with sheer power. It was as if a god like Nurgle had just reached out to snuff out the blood magic. All that power was spent to do something that anyone familiar with her spell could’ve achieved with just a tiny fraction of the effort, but it was effective. At the cost of the lives of every psionic Tyranid in the hive fleet. Left them nicely vulnerable in other ways the Jedi and their fleet could exploit.

  "Ashredar, take us out of here, and give me an estimate on the damage we caused.” She decided. They’d accomplished what they had set out to do, at least to an extent. And the others were quite exhausted already since she'd been mostly drawing on their strength instead of using her own.

  “Making a run for it. Tyranid forces in pursuit, though not very enthusiastically. I estimate we wiped out about 37% of the Tyranid bioforms. Hard to give an exact estimate without knowing how much of their forces are still on Coruscant.” Ashredar reported.

  As she released all the power she’d been holding from the others in the circle, it seemed that functioned as a trigger for the System.

  "By the Light, that's a lot of levels," Yrel muttered.

  “I mean, we did just participate in the massacre of trillions of beings, no matter how weak most of them were.” Shepard scratched her head a bit unsure about how to feel about what she’d just said herself. She’d always known genocide was a rather effective way to level.

  “Still, that’s a lot more levels than I expected.” Edirah joined in on the sentiment. “At my level, even singular level-ups are hard to come by.”

  "I have news." Ashredar suddenly interjected. "We're about to leave the system, but the Tyranid hive fleet is showing signs of splintering."

  "They don't want to be caught like this again," Naidam commented right away. "They think they have a better chance by splitting up in case we strike again at a later time.”

  “That’s not great for the rest of this galaxy.” Kaede pointed out the obvious. “Well, it’ll allow the locals to defeat the enemy in detail, but it also means a lot more worlds will come under attack.”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “It's tactically good, but in the sense of minimizing suffering, it's bad. Are they scattered enough that another use of the ritual would not catch too many of them?” Shepard asked.

  "There's no large enough gathering that would work as the ideal starting point, and every second that passes, the more scattered they become," Ashredar reported. "It's going to take them a while to exit the system, but…"

  “Well, start shooting and kill everything you can hit. Tell the comms to send a message to the unified fleet to jump in and start shooting as well. Anyone here who feels like they’re capable of seriously contributing to mass destruction and mayhem stick around. Others try to get some rest. We might need you later.” Seraphiel ordered.

  "Incidentally, they've abandoned all those Tyranid bioforms, which are still planetside," Ashredar reported. That was likely to be a significant number of ground forces as they were still in the process of assimilating the planet’s biomass.

  For them, it was like shooting fish in a barrel, as most of the ‘Nids weren’t even fighting back, just trying to leave. The combined fleet arrived an hour later and started to wipe out as much as they could, however, the Tyranid bioforms started reaching far enough from any gravity well to start making jumps out of the system, using whatever method they were employing. It wasn’t quite Warp-travel. It was something new the hive mind had developed. By the time the space was empty of Tyranids, and the fleet started wiping out the Tyranids on the planet, Ashredar estimated that about 58% of the hive fleet had been wiped out.

  “That’s not what we were aiming for, but it’s better than nothing.” Shepard pointed out. “If the fleet had jumped here without us, they would’ve likely been destroyed completely., so anything is an improvement when compared to that.”

  “I’m not sure they’re going to see it the same way.” Chachamaru cautioned. “They’ll likely look for someone else to blame.”

  “I vote we should not stick around to find out.” Wrex boomed with his loud and boisterous voice. “To me, it sounds like a great victory. We had a job when arriving here, and that job is now rendered moot as there are no Monstrum left. Are we supposed to go Tyranid hunting next? This galaxy is not our problem, and the Tyranids are not our problem. We aren’t even getting paid. We’re not the guardians of this galaxy. Let them deal with it. Some of them are going to die. Such is life.”

  Wrex’s view was rather cold, but it was also pragmatic. Probably partially influenced by genophage. His home galaxy had been more than happy to watch his race die due to a sterility plague the Salarians had concocted, and not only had not bothered to help with a cure but actively worked to stop his species from adapting to the disease. Sympathy wasn't high on his list of priorities.

  “Crude, but he has a point.” Yoruichi concurred.

  "Well, one thing is for sure. After wiping out a huge portion of the Tyranids, and saving their little fleet, we certainly won't be pushed into taking any responsibility for the situation. I'm ready to wash my hands of this place." Seraphiel stated firmly. "Chachamaru, do we have other job offers?"

  "We do. With several Core Worlds under attack, it's perhaps unsurprising that many of them have put out a general call for assistance to all mercenary forces in the universe. As such, we have several to choose from." Chachamaru confirmed. "Their offers are fairly standardized, although they're somewhat competing for anyone willing and able to help, so the rewards are higher than normal."

  "Anyone that we'd be especially interested in for some reason?" Yoruichi asked the important question.

  “That depends. Do we have any particular leanings towards particular races? There are three Core Worlds dominated by Humans. One by Elves and Dwarves. One by a wide mix of races. One by Demons. One by Giants. There’s also a world that used to be ruled by Vampires, but recently became the designated place for the Aeldari Craftworlds to congregate." Chachamaru listed off.

  Yoruichi’s suddenly looked more interested. “That last one seems intriguing. Especially considering Sephy’s history with them.”

  “And the recent Grail War.” Shepard also added with a grin. “I vote for that one.”

  “That does seem like the most likely to result in shenanigans. I vote for that one as well.” Tali quickly agreed. Their words seemed to sway the others into the same opinion as they all quickly agreed, leaving only Seraphiel.

  “I’m sensing a certain amount of directed mischief in this choice, but I don’t have a particular reason to try and overrule you on this. And I suppose this isn’t a dictatorship anyway. We’ll accept their invitation.” She acquiesced. “What are they being attacked by?”

  “Well, that’s where things get more complicated.” Chachamaru had found glasses somewhere and adjusted them in a very particularly stereotypical way before continuing. “They’re not being invaded in the same way as the other Core Worlds. The locals are actually partially looking for help against each other, so I suppose you could say the Vampires are being invaded by the Aeldari, but they are both seeing increased raiding and harassment from a wide variety of sources, including Drukhari and Necrons.”

  "Sounds complicated," Wrex complained a bit.

  “You’re looking at this the wrong way. Instead of thinking it’s complicated, think of it as having a variety of targets instead.” Teclis offered, showing his sense of humor.

  “Oh. That does feel better, doesn’t it?” Wrex seemed to agree.

  "Ashredar, take us out of here," Seraphiel ordered. "Before the locals start to ask impolite questions. Let them deal with their own issues from now on."

  “Aye-aye, initiating the ‘get the fuck out of here’ maneuver.” Ashredar had developed some sense of humor watching over the current crew as well.

  -------

  "That's a whole lot of ship in one place," Wrex muttered, clearly impressed. He'd seen ships larger than the Citadel before. He'd also seen space stations of impressive size, constructed by various races. What he now witnessed in a single system blew all of them out of the water.

  "That's a heck of a lot of ship." Shepard concurred as Wrex wasn't the only one blown away.

  “Huh. They’re bigger than I remembered.” Even Seraphiel nodded, impressed. “I suppose they’ve expanded since coming here and living in relative peace for ten thousand years.”

  Aeldari craftworlds had always been huge vessels. They ranged from planetoid-sized to continent-sized even back when Seraphiel had lived among the Aeldari. They’d only grown much larger since then. The sight was made even more impressive with almost fifty of the ships in one system. Together, they were easily larger than the already large Core World they were all surrounding.

  "That's a whole lot of Aeldari as well," Yoruichi stated. "I thought you said they were a dying species?"

  “Honey, I said they were a dying species before I killed the god predating on their souls. And that was the first universe I visited after being exiled. That was a long time ago. They’ve been in this universe for over ten thousand years and who knows how long between me leaving and them arriving here. Time that they’ve spent in peace, at least by their standards. They were dying while their numbers were being thinned by constant war and struggle, and they were still meeting replacement rate, if barely. Without that war? That’s a long time to procreate and increase your numbers, even for a race not known for its fertility.” Seraphiel explained.

  “Still, even if those ships are only half full, that’s a whole lot of Aeldari.” Yoruichi didn’t want to let go of the point.

  "No wonder the Vampires are having a bit of difficulty holding on to the world," Chachamaru interjected. “Incidentally, we have some options when it comes to picking a contract. As I said before we came here, the Vampires are seeking help against the Aeldari, which I think we won’t be providing. The Aeldari on the other hand are looking for help against the Vampires, and there’s a contract against the raiders.”

  “They have this many ships in the system, and they still need help with raiders?” Shepard wondered.

  “It’s exactly because they have this many ships and people here that they need the help. They can grow many things on those craftworlds of theirs, but if they want anything extra, they’re going to have to go out and get it. If you pay attention to the sensors, there’s almost a constant stream of ships going in and out of the system on various errands. The raiders aren’t attacking the craftworlds, but the trade ships traveling to other systems.” Chachamaru pointed out. “Most of their warships are stuck here guarding their entire population that’s on the craftworlds. It’s a bit excessive, but if something like a Tyranid hive world suddenly arrived and they didn’t have enough defenses, then their entire species would be potentially wiped out.”

  Yoruichi was staring at the hologram of the planet, or what was visible from beneath the ships surrounding it. “Hey, is it just me, or is that planet another version of Earth?”

  “Now that you mention it.” Shepard also seemed to notice.

  "Incidentally, that's the world where I learned my blood magic if I'm not mistaken." Seraphiel suddenly interjected. "So, expect not only Vampires, but Mages, Werewolves, Wraiths, Hunters, and all sorts of fun stuff. Oh, and for those that witnessed my Grail War, Haqim is also most likely there."

  “Oh, joy. I seem to recall there was some tension there between the two of you.” Yoruichi cackled.