The Goliath burst through the wall; the open door was too small to accommodate its size. Fragments of rock and metal streamed all around Daniel, but he stayed focused. The creature’s fist glowed with the light of a mighty sun, crashing down to crush the smaller Pioneer, but he ran up to meet it with an overhead swing. Sword met fist in an explosion of light, shaking the platform beneath their feet. Daniel felt his bones shudder under the pressure as he strained to hold it back. But in a contest of brute force, even with the creature’s empowered strike, he held out. The light surrounding the fist dimmed, and Daniel began to seize the initiative. Inch by inch, David pushed back Goliath, and the Xenos was the first to blink. Roaring in frustration, the monster lashed out with its other hand, but Daniel was ready. Ducking under the strike, he freed up his sword and slashed at the creature’s ribs. That drew another howl of pain, but Daniel was still forced to block its powerful retaliatory strike.

  An empowered kick sent Daniel skidding toward the platform's edge, knocked slightly off balance. His Dexterity saved him, keeping him stable enough to react to the dual projectiles heading right at him. Daniel narrowly dodged one but couldn’t evade the other, so he attacked. Daniel cleaved the sunshine-colored sphere in twain in one overhead chop, sending each half spinning away harmlessly. But that was far from the last of his trouble as the Xenos closed the gap again, unleashing a flurry of fist strikes, trading power for speed. Daniel was kept off balance, scrambling to block the lightning barrage. But he had his own abilities as well.

  His Hunter’s Domain expanded, empowered Psyche allowing him to generate it at full strength, his prior training enabling him to avoid sensory overload. With his senses brought up to code and his Dexterity further boosted, the monster’s furious barrage turned into harmless and predictable flailing. Daniel blocked several attacks before slipping inside the monster’s guard again, delivering another painful cut to its ribs. The follow-up kick was almost too predictable, and Daniel bent his back to limbo right under it. That proved to be the wrong call as it left him unable to dodge the follow-up, an enhanced two-fisted overhead attack. He straightened his back to block, only to be driven to one knee by sheer brute strength. Everything held, however, and Daniel gritted his teeth before pushing back again. He could see the fear in the monster’s eyes as he fought his way back to his feet:

  “Note: Power at 15%”

  That was fine. The beast’s injuries were catching up to it, the power in its eyes beginning to fade. Daniel was just about to shove its arms away and finish it before the creature did something unexpected. It brought back its hands and lunged forward to grab him. While he hadn’t seen it coming, Daniel still managed to dodge by jumping backward. Then the Xenomorph unleashed another trick.

  In a flash of light, the giant produced a globe filled with a black liquid that swirled around a glowing yellow core. The monster threw the object down its gullet in a heartbeat, swallowing with a sickening gurgling noise. Daniel didn’t even have time to react before the creature’s veins began to bulge, wounds healing and eyes shining with renewed vigor and power: “Was that a stimula-“

  Daniel didn’t even get to finish his thought before the beast seemed to teleport right in front of him, lunging with suddenly empowered legs. Its whole body glowed with the softer, reinforcing light as the creature rained down blow after blow once again. But it was much stronger than before, forcing Daniel to put up a vigorous and fast-paced defense again. He tried to weave within its guard again, striking horizontally when he saw an opening, but the creature was leading him on. A last-second step backward meant that the sword only did limited damage to the beast’s reinforced hide, and its retaliation was swift and brutal. Danny barely blocked an enhanced forearm strike, but the force of the sweeping hit sent him flying over the metal gangplank. He watched with his Domain as the creature leapt at him again, determined to finish the job. In a panic, he took evasive maneuvers.

  Manifesting his wings with a thought, he immediately flew out of the creature’s path, soaring away swiftly. If he could get away from it, maybe he could wait out the effects of the ‘stimulant’.

  The crushing force of the creature’s enhanced fist crashing into his back said otherwise, sending his body flying diagonally upward, crashing into a rock wall. Dazed and disoriented, Daniel fell to another platform below, armor beeping in alarm as its healing subfunctions and shielding labored to keep him in fighting shape. The Goliath cast a menacing shadow as it jumped up after him, and he barely managed to get out of the way before being pulped again:

  “Note: Power at 10%”

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  Daniel dismissed his wings as he leapt to his feet, bringing up his sword to block another sequence of mind-bending attacks. It was clear now that there was no running from this thing, and flying around just made him a target. He’d have to put this thing down, mano a mano: “If only this thing were a spear!”

  He thought as he twisted himself in knots to survive. Swords forced Daniel to get up close and personal, leaving him drastically open to counterattack. Not to mention the fact that he was much more familiar with a spear in the first place:

  “Heavenly Armament, Mode Shift [Spear] Recommended.”

  Daniel fought to get a bit of distance and ordered just that, lacking the time or mental energy to even be frustrated. In a flash of white particles, the sword’s golden handle elongated into the haft of a mighty spear, the plasma blade shortening and broadening into a large triangular spearhead. Triumphantly, Daniel swung it to turn aside another empowered fist strike, the shining yellow energy exploding in an impotent show. The extra length gave him the leverage he needed to match the creature’s boosted strength, the familiar weapon spinning in his hands and blocking the beast’s follow-up strike. Internally, Daniel swore to have a long chat with Nuntius about the finer details of this System’s abilities later:

  “A Schematic has been downloaded to your Codex for perusal.”

  “I’ll get right on that.”

  Daniel barely managed the thought before being forced to turn his full attention back to the fight before him. The Xenos was still full of wicked moves and fearsome strength as it came at him with a furious blizzard of attacks. A stream of punches and kicks forced him back, mixed up with a single projectile that it threw underhand in close quarters. Daniel wasn’t prepared for the move, but his Domain alerted him to the attack before it even left the Xenos’s hand, a slight twist to his left allowing him to evade death narrowly.

  He took a couple chunks out of it with some quick stabs, but it kept hammering away at him, seemingly unbothered by the injuries. They danced in a circular struggle, legs scuffling frantically as man and beast strained for the smallest advantage. Weapon and limbs blurred with activity as the fight kicked into another gear, the air around them heating with activity as the end loomed:

  “Warning: Power at 5%”

  Through a haze of mental exhaustion, Daniel saw he was winning. He still had gas left in the tank, and the creature was visibly tiring. The wounds he’d inflicted weren’t bleeding, but they weren’t healing either, their black flesh cauterized and painful looking. The Xenos lacked the extra oomph it had packed when it initially took the stim, its loss of steam allowing Daniel to retake the initiative and start pushing it back, inflicting even more injuries. But even as the Goliath began to backpedal, Daniel’s vision faded into black.

  It was only for a moment, but it was enough to swing the fight around. Daniel had kept the Hunter’s Domain running at maximum power the entire battle, his armor-enhanced Psyche and past training allowing him to use the ability more than ever before. It gave him such a strong insight into the creature’s movements that he could almost see what it was doing in advance, drastically weakening its ability to surprise him with anything. The Dexterity boost alone kept him one step ahead. But he was reaching his limits. His depleting Psyche was approaching rock bottom, causing his enhanced senses to fuzz and weaken. That didn’t change things too much until they winked off for a single moment.

  The Xenos sensed the weakness and pounced. With the last of its fading strength, it enhanced its legs and lunged at Daniel with a tackle. The young man was taken aback and unable to get out of the way as the Xenos smashed into him. Their bodies skidded across the platform before coming to a stop, the massive Xenos using its superior size to pin the Pioneer to the ground in a final grapple. Its right hand firmly grasping Daniel’s helmet, it used its left to control the spear's haft, leveling it away from its body. Daniel’s right hand struggled with the spear, but the tackle had broken his concentration, forcing him to drop the Domain entirely. That, in turn, further disoriented him and prevented him from putting his full force into the tug of war. His left hand grasped impotently at the hand clutching his helmet, unable to do anything as the Xenomorph’s hand glowed with the bright light of enhancement for the final time:

  “Warning: Power at 2%”

  Daniel’s whole world was black and yellow, eyes burnt by the shining light stuffed in his face. But he was aware enough to hear the Xenos when it opened its toadlike mouth and uttered a few throaty, unpleasant sounds that the armor translated:

  “A worthy fight for such tiny prey.”

  But as it spoke, Daniel regained some of his focus. Thinking quickly, he desperately issued a mental command: “Mode Shift, Sword!”

  “Heavenly Armament, Mode Shift [Sword]”

  The Xenos suddenly found itself grabbing onto a long blade of white-hot plasma, the Heavenly Armament changing form faster than thought. It barely had time to feel pain as the blade cleaved through its left hand and crashed into its right. That arm’s enhancement gave it more defense, but it wasn’t enough. With a flash of power, the blade cleaved through the Xenos’s forearm after a moment of resistance. Goliath stared in alien shock at its severed forearm, unable to process what had just happened. And it wouldn’t get the chance as another stroke of the blade cut right through its midsection, severing the beast in two.