Kahn’s boot soles crushed the rusted alloy plating of the abandoned Cretan outpost, and as he clenched his knuckles around the hilt of the Ghoulfang dagger, the pads of his fingers could feel the frigid, viscous fluid oozing from the skull-shaped pattern etched into its surface💀. He had risked his life three months ago to wrest this dagger from the blood-red altar in the insectoid hive; at the time, the blade was still coated in the thick, gelatinous fluid of the hive’s core. Back on the Marine ship, the armory technicians were unable to identify the material, only noting that the serrated edge could effortlessly slice through the warship’s armored steel plates.
In the last mission to eradicate an insectoid nest, his teammate Lym had been infiltrated by a parasitic organism that burrowed straight into his spine. Kahn watched helplessly as Lym’s skin took on the insectoid’s characteristic bluish-purple hue. Clenching his teeth, he raised the Ghoulfang; instantly, the triangular runes on the blade flared with an eerie, ghostly blue light🔵. The moment the blade sliced through the parasite, the dagger seemed to come alive, voraciously siphoning off the creature’s bioenergy, while the skull-like eye sockets on the hilt began oozing the same blood-red, hive-like fluid.
Today, he had infiltrated this abandoned outpost alone in search of a missing reconnaissance squad when, suddenly, a strange metallic screech echoed behind him. Kahn whirled around, the serrated edge of the Ghoulfang automatically snapping out, the runes burning so fiercely that his fingertips went numb. Standing in the shadows was no insectoid—it was Lym, now partially cyberneticized. His mechanical arm bore the very same triangular-skull emblem as the dagger⚠️, and a guttural, machine-like growl rumbled from his throat as he advanced step by step. Kahn’s grip on the dagger began to tremble, and it suddenly dawned on him: this blade had never been his weapon at all—it was merely bait, a marker used by the insectoids to brand their prey...