259 Field testing 3

Looking at the elder's vaguely humanoid form, Dax got a really bad premonition and not just because of the sword it had pulled out. Before he could voice that warning however, the elder disappeared, reappearing only a split second later right in front of Lux.

(!!!!)

As the elder swung down its sword Lux had no time to think, thus she reacted completely on instinct. Bringing up her sword to meet the downwards swing while holding it in a reverse grip, Lux didn't even have time to be surprised when she didn't cut through the elder's sword, instead, she was forced to take a step back as the elder stepped in and struck with its cursed sword for the second time within a second, stopping the downward strike before it hit the ground, bringing it upwards for a second strike. Sidestepping the second strike with only a hair's breadth, Lux continued her retreat away from the elder as it slowly lost steam before eventually disappearing once more. 

[It can teleport, but more importantly, I think it is running!]

[I guess we pushed it far enough into a corner for it to do something so stupid.]

Reassessing the situation while remaining alert for any signs of the elder, Dax once more realized that he was currently fighting a being completely outside his realm of understanding.

(It really is insane... To create a perfect copy of its own quantum state, annihilating its own body before recreating a new one at the target location.)

TL;dr, due to quantum mechanics and the no cloning theorem, the elder is killing itself every time it teleports.

Before Dax could get more distracted by the ramifications of the elder's action he was pulled back on mission when the elder appeared right in front of him, apparently, it believed him an easier target.

Needless to say, it couldn't have been more mistaken.

Without even flinching, Dax stepped into the elder's range as it brought down its sword, he kicked the pair of arms which held the sword and deflected it away from him while aiming his 50 mill flechette launcher at centre mass. But before the flechette round even left the barrel the elder once more teleported, appearing once more right behind Dax, this time aiming to decapitate him outright with its sword.

[Phillipa, cover please.]

[On it, on your mark~]

While making sure Phillipa was set up, Dax collapsed his own stance, bending over backwards as he brought his feet back up and kicked the elder in the chest, sending it flying.

[Fire.]

Achieving the minimum needed separation between himself and the elder, Dax gave Philipa the green light to fire.

[Firing.]

Ripping straight through a few city blocks, Phillipa's aim was flawless as always, but in the time it took to squeeze the trigger the elder had already teleported again.

(This is getting old really fast… IMI please establish a pattern.)

(ORDER CONFIRMED.)

[Force it out of hiding before it regenerates! Mu, find me a target!]

Dax's intuition told him that the elder was still in the area, but now that it started putting a lot of effort into using hit and run tactics it was clear that it was stalling for time. Hearing Dax's command over the radio Lux generated mana which she challenged into strengthening magic, jumping between half collapsed buildings and the rock walls Dax had created until she reached a church tower which enabled her to overlook a large part of the city. Casting a wide angle, relatively low powered heating spell from her new vantage point, Lux looked for any irregularities, finding an area inside a nearby building which wasn't affected.

[Target!]

[Relocating, standby… Firing.]

Within no time at all the elder was once more drawn out of hiding, its grotesque body leaking black, goo like blood all over the place as its multiple mouths continued shouting incoherent words, even if Lux couldn't understand what it was saying it was clearly pissed off. 

"AAAAAAAAzzzzzhHHHh!!! IqqQQpNSsssSOzLlllEEEEEEEeeeNT!!!"

[Wait, that was actually somewhat coherent.]

Cutting off a house sized piece of the wall she was currently standing on, Lux used a mix of acceleration and light magic to first make the chunk invisible, then launch it towards the shouting elder. Seeing the attack coming the elder slashed the compressed rock in half, but it hadn't been prepared for Lux who had followed right behind. Tossing out a few daggers made of golden crystals, Lux used magic to manipulate the airflow around her, moving out of the way of the elder's sword before cleaving a few of its arms off. Enraged by losing even more of its biomass, the elder let out another shout as one of surviving arms transformed into a set of decaying tentacles flying in Lux direction, forcing her to open up the distance as the elder created a swarm of arm sized black mana crystals in the air around it, sending them all flying after Lux as soon as they were completely formed. Detonating like they had proximity fuses, the elder forced Lux back for long enough to start regenerating its corrupted flesh before disappearing once more.

(Shit, it teleport- No it didn't!)

Having lost sight of the elder Lux unintentionally lowered her guard, something she came to regret the very next second when she realized that the elder had camouflaged itself the same way Dax had cloaked the chunk of rock only a minute earlier. Reappearing right in front of Lux the elder once more swung down its cursed sword as it aimed to cleave Lux in half, but unlike the last times it tried that tactic, the elder was already prepared for the attack to be ineffective, as such it was only a distraction. At the same time as the elder's cursed sword hit Lux's, the elder was already continuing its offensive as it formed a spear out of its own flesh which it plunged towards Lux's head. Swapping hands on her sword, Lux switched her centre of gravity while continuing to parry the elder's sword as she sidestepped the elder's spear with minimal separation. As the elder's spear passed Lux's head it transformed back into a mass of tentacles and wrapped around Lux's head and gripped her, picking her up then flung her into a building. As Lux crashed through several buildings Phillipa chose the moment to re engage, having relocated to a new firing position she executed a perfect ambush but somehow the elder saw the shot coming and sidestepped it, suffering only minimal damage.

"What the fuck!-"

Realizing too late that she had just given away her position, Phillipa cut her own words short as all the hairs on her back suddenly stood up straight. A split second later a single black crystal priced straight through the building she was in, passing right through the exact location her head had been just a moment before. 

[Seems like it has finally started taking this thing seriously… Lux, are you still alive?]

Observing the state of the battle from the rear, Dax's aura started changing.

[Sadly.]

Popping a few of the vertebra in her neck back into place, Lux spat out a mouthful of blood before a cold smile formed on her face.

[Philippa?]

[Operational.]

[Then let's do this for the first time in a while, IMI establish pattern black.]

[ORDER CONFIRMED, PREPARING FOR FULL MIND DOMINATION. WARNING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 100% PATTEN BLACK NOW IN EFFECT.]

"""I have control. IMI load CQC program, disregard all safety protocols and establish CAS priority omega."""

The first one to act after reorganizing was Lux who charged the elder with a vacant look in her eyes, seeming more like a puppet than herself. 

"Download complete, pattern analysed."

Sliding her footing in the very last second, Lux flawlessly sidestepped the elder's sword as mana suddenly bloomed in the air around her. Forming a complicated array of different coloured runes using the massively increased processing power, the runes looked more like a jigsaw puzzle than anything else, but still, it activated without issue. Creating multiple blades made of highly compressed plasma in the air around her, Lux attacked like a whirlwind, carving up the elder with blades that instantly cauterized the wounds they created, causing even more damage to the elder.

"Optimal assault pattern archived: Striker."

While Lux kept the elder busy Philipa and Dax wasn't idle, the former had relocated to the top of church tower, aiming her Lazarus type 19 mana powered anti barrier rifle at the elder's core with a dazed expression on her face as mana flared around her, constantly creating and breaking down rune formations, creating an ever reforming rainbow coloured halo like aura around her.

"Commencing 5639th optimal pattern test… Test successful."

Archiving the breakthrough she needed at that moment, Phillipa's aura changed as her eyes completely lost their focus while a pair of angel like wings made of see through mana crystals started growing from her back.

With the resources currently available to her, Phillipa no longer needed her eyes to target the elder.

"Thermoacoustic engine script operational, suppressing target."

Generating high amplitude localized sound waves which cooled down her rifle, Phillipa eliminated the sole limiting factor on her fire rate as she started suppressing the elder with fully automatic fire which perfectly interwove with Lux's current offensive.

The elder which was already sustaining quite a lot of damage from Lux somehow found the spare energy and mana to deal with Phillipa, creating an array of black crystals the size of a person, the elder launched a burst of them in an attempt to silence its new threat.

"Counter battery detected, killing with CWIS."

Continuing to suppress the elder sacrificed a small amount of her fire rate and redirected the freed mana to form a defensive screen, identifying every single projectile that was launched at her, calculating if they were a threat then shooting down only those that were going to hit her with her own swarm of mana crystals.

"Optimal artillery pattern achieved: Archer."

Under an ever increasing intensity of fire, the elder was no longer able to regenerate or form effective defences fast enough, as it seemed like it realized that the elder's mana output once more soared but it finally seemed like it was reaching dangerous levels as the elder's core started producing gravitational waves of a highly irregular nature.

(That wave pattern is?... Ah, right. Of course it is…)

"Tch. Seems like I won't be able to go for an offensive style after all… Utility it is."

Having already fully optimized his manatech armour and equipment, Dax was forced to start from scratch when he finally realized what the elder's really were.