Prologue: Shadows in the Storm
Greetings, Azure Infinitum.
I am Grum, and I bring you the tale of one of our most daring operations to date—a joint strike between Azure Infinitum and our allies in wFimloppe. On Saturday, July 19th, 2955, our combined forces launched a coordinated raid against a rogue scientific group known as ASD, infamous for conducting grotesque and unethical experiments deep within the outlaw frontier of Pyro.
The mission would take us across irradiated wastelands, through corporate strongholds, and face-to-face with a creature out of a nightmare: the irradiated colossus known only as the Irradiated Apex Valakkar.
The Gathering at the Edge
Our story begins at the edge of the Pyro system, near the entry point of the more civilized Stanton. There, both organizations assembled aboard a Polaris-class corvette, heavily outfitted with ground vehicles, ammunition, supplies, and environmental suits strong enough to endure the hostile elements we were bound to face.
The operation was divided into three teams:
Air Support Team – responsible for transport and air superiority.
Ground Support Team – using Ursa Rovers to control ground logistics and secure landing zones.
Ground Assault Team – the spearhead unit tasked with direct infiltration and combat.
Our first objective: investigate a suspected data facility on Pyro IV tied to ASD’s rumored experiments.
Phase One: Breaking into Farro
Upon arrival at Farro Data Center, the plan unfolded without a hitch. The support teams secured the perimeter while Ground Assault breached the facility. Inside, we located keycards carelessly left behind by ASD personnel on their corpses and accessed critical intelligence.
The data revealed something alarming: Dr. Jorrit, ASD’s lead researcher, had been conducting experiments on a Valakkar—a massive, worm-like invasive species from the deserts of Leir III. But these were no ordinary tests. He was attempting to weaponize and mutate them. Worse yet, all signs pointed to their core lab: The Lazarus Complex, located on Pyro I.
We resupplied. We regrouped. And then we launched.
The Lazarus Contact
Pyro I welcomed us with a field of hostile radiation and an uninvited guest: an unknown Polaris corvette already stationed near the Lazarus Complex. Hails went unanswered. Warnings ignored.
With mission integrity at risk, we fired first—launching a precision salvo of torpedoes from our Polaris. The enemy ship was annihilated. The way was clear.
We touched down just beyond the facility’s scan range and deployed the ground teams. ASD wasn’t unprepared—multiple heavy security squads were stationed near the tram entrance. A fierce skirmish followed, but our combined firepower overwhelmed them.
Then we found the tram.
Descent Into Lazarus
The tram carried us through the heart of a storm—lightning flashing, radiation thick enough to dissolve armor. But the Lazarus Complex waited. And we weren’t turning back.
We hit the facility hard.
Room by room, hallway by hallway, we fought. Gunfire echoed off the steel walls as we clashed with ASD operatives, automated defenses, and even rival outside operators trying to derail our operation. The lower we pushed, the stranger things became—twisted labs, scorched walls, and ominous data logs suggesting something had already gone horribly wrong.
At the lowest level, we found it: a massive armory, overflowing with experimental VOLT weaponry, explosives, and a lot of ammo.
But more importantly—we found an egg.
The Egg and the Pedestal
It was unmistakably Valakkar in origin—but warped, cracked, and radiation-scarred. A nearby terminal revealed the final chapter of Dr. Jorrit’s madness. Obsessed with his creation, he had designed a ritual of sorts: placing the egg on a control pedestal would summon the Apex Irradiated Valakkar, a creature born of Leir III’s deserts and Pyro 1’s corruption. His “masterpiece.”
We placed the egg.
The storm howled louder.
And then—She arrived.
The Apex Awakens
The Irradiated Apex Valakkar tore through the stormfront like a thunderclap incarnate. Towering. Radiant. Feral. Her arrival intensified the radiation, sending bolts of plasma lightning crashing across the battlefield. Her body pulsed with glowing veins, spitting acidic bile, and from beneath her—a wave of smaller, mutated offspring burst forth.
Environmental suits began to fail. Armor melted. Communications crackled with static.
We split into rotation: while the team as a whole kept pressure on the beast, others fell back to repair, recover, or revive the fallen. The creature’s acid orbs splashed across our cover, forcing rapid movement. Lightning strikes obliterated static positions. And all the while, she screamed with a voice that felt less like sound and more like madness made manifest.
We focused our fire on her gaping maw, the only visible weak point. Our weapons sang—a chorus of railguns, missiles, LMGs, SMGs and good old-fashioned grenades.
After thirty relentless minutes of carnage, her movements faltered. With one last roar—a sound equal parts rage, despair, and something almost mournful—she collapsed into the irradiated soil.
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Aftermath: The Quiet Harvest
We moved in slowly, wary of aftershocks. From the beast’s remains, we extracted everything we could: irradiated pearls, fangs, and sections of plated hide. Proof of what we’d survived—and what we’d stopped.
As the storm finally broke, we boarded the tram and returned to our extraction point. No words. Just silence. The kind of silence earned through fire, grit, and four hours of unrelenting battle.
ASD is gone. The Lazarus Complex is buried. The Apex is dead.
But in the wild systems of Pyro… There's always another monster.
