Metallic chitin opened with a shriek as John tore his way into the Collector vessel's guts. Heh. It was huge. Which meant it had huge guts. Rip and--oh, screw it. Nobody would get that pop culture reference. Although the Collectors certainly had worse problems on hand than obscure shout outs. A golden comet streaked down and exploded amid a cluster of the insectoid warriors as John let loose with a Charge-Nova combo. His left fist pulverized carapace and decapitated Drones with contemptuous ease while his right spat fiery exploding bolts from the maw of an Incendiary-charged N7 Eagle. With a biotic tug, he brought a Collector he'd launched before him in an instant, blocking the hail of fire coming from a floating platform above. He charged again, scattering the Drones and Seeker swarms above with another explosion of biotic energy and divine Essence.<br/><br/>Say what you will about war being hell. The Exaltation made it a walk in the park.<br/><br/>Driving his pistol barrel into a Drone's eye, he unloaded on full auto, the incendiary rounds bursting through the Collector's skull and exploding with meaty thumps in its comrades' bodies. Eighteen shots. Overheated. He kicked the body free and slapped a new heat sink into place. The Solar sideslipped left as a Praetorian took a futile swipe before pistoning an Essence-wreathed fist into one of its eye sockets. Pivoting, he batted a gun barrel away with his gauntlet and shot another Drone in the face.<br/><br/>The motion tracker was awash with activity as red dots blinked into existence and were snuffed out as quickly. With each punch and pull of the trigger, Collectors died, and on they came. Praetorians. Drones. Guardians. Assassins. Seekers. All fell as the Solar unloaded into the horde. But even a Solar could not fight forever. John had been liberal with his expenditure of personal Essence and heat sinks. By this point, he'd burned through half of each and his armor steamed from boiling Collector blood and the heat of his flared anima.<br/><br/>Surrounded on all sides, half-spent, and here he was facing down a Collector Captain similarly arrayed. Blackened, twisted chitin adorned a muscular humanoid frame. On one hand, it bore a horrific bio-mechanical rifle. John could swear he saw the metal shift to display the screaming faces of tormented souls. Its other hand sported a blade made of similar material.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Soulsteel</span>, the Exaltation signaled.<br/><br/>John reloaded and raised an eyebrow. This was getting interesting.