Hex's feelers tasted life in the air, and eagerly stretched out in search of it. A tide began to rise, dragging itself into the Net as a snakes-nest of crawling protrusions. From its depths rose a murky silhouette, soon spat out on the surface and clattering against the solar panels. A headless husk; once a Navi, now a hollow shell barely inches thick, carved of all vitality. White flooded the body, crumpling legs and torso into a segmented carapace. Its stiff arms snicked together, torn around and sewed into mandibles. The neck grew teeth out of splinters, and a long white tongue.
For a moment, it was still. Dim red light shone from a half-submerged metal ring, casting strange bloody shadows into its depths: the Manifest Conduit was active. As it processed and calculated, there was a sound, like static, mixed with someone moaning low.
Then, as suddenly as it stilled, all at once the white burst into motion. The crafted body jerked and swayed forward, while around it tentacles whipped and tore at the air. The tumour from which the glowing ring protruded, twitched at odds with the greater whole. Every motion was arrhythmic, uncanny. Organic, but not the slightest bit human.
Amidst the chaos, a growth of foul mass came to a head. The surface bloated, and squeezed out an oozing rope. Arms, bound to arms bound to arms, some human, some just veiny black ooze, crawling over the dingy panels. The white knew Mr. Progs well, nearly as well as Navis. The processors behind that vapid grin were always worth collecting, even pre-seasoned with decay. While the body distracted, the wretched braid snaked low across the field, rearing back to lash and snare with its many gripping hands. More matter, more white.
The Conduit pulsed, irregular and bloody. What thoughts were gleaned from intelligence begat of Hex? What did it perceive of the world around it? How did it decide the Megalian posed the greatest threat, and know to advance on the floating head? Only Ego might have known, and she - it, really - was not there. The thing called Egomorph was one projection of the white among many, defined only by the Manifest Conduit that served as Hex's brain - and when it was in use, there was no room in the tiny being for anything but Hex.
The mandibles snapped off at the shoulders, propelled forward on whipping tentacles. The tongue followed suit in lunging at the Megalian's head, hungry and devoid of thought. Whatever thoughts might have passed through the Conduit, in the end it amounted to nothing more than the drive to consume, to drag the world into its maw, and whatever approach was needed to take the next bite. Viruses, Navis, ground, space - more matter, more white, always more, more, more.
Curious palpi rose from the base of Ego's stalk. Razor-fine, they flowed liquid around the Megalian's barrier, testing it in small, probing bites. Ego swayed overhead, its little form stretched into a snapping sort of hinge. Where once there might have been a face, an obscene tentacle hung, thick at its root and bladed all down its length, little reaching feelers capping a barbed spearhead. There was a distressing sort of mimicry in the physics of its carapace: a heron's neck, a mantis' foreleg, a snake reared back to strike. Too organic to be the product of a thoughtless ooze.
The tendril hacked down, seeking a way in. It was more sharp enough to split a virus' carapace in a couple of bites, but some wretched logic instructed the white to find and follow the path of least resistance. Eyes, mouths, soft tissue; these were its favourite targets, where the Egomorph sought to bury home their cruel proboscis. he white looked at the Megalian's head, and saw only the resources of its matter, and a husk ripe for the taking.
Surrounded on all sides by a tide of dragging, biting ooze, it would not take long if even a few feelers took hold.
The tide was rising again, oozing into the Net from some unseen shore. The solar arrays creaked and groaned.
-WARNING: FOREIGN CONTAMINANT-
*FastArmour [40 HP Casing, Hex]
*All For One [Link Ego's HP to Hex]
1. Buster Charge
2. Dodge
3. Half Charge Shot: DarkProg [60 Null {A}]
4. Attachment: Megalian-E [Gravity, Freeze, Turn Delay (1 Turn): Hold, Self-Slow; 4TCD]
5. Buster Shot: Megalian-E [15 Null {A}]
E1.

Accuracy: B
Description: Creates a sword made of solidified energy, with a very short blade. Hits one target per slash
Duration: Until Overridden/Broken. Breaks automatically after 6 swings.
Element: Null
Trader Rank: D: Megalian-E [80 Null {B}, Slashing, 5/6 uses]
E2.

Accuracy: B
Description: Creates a sword made of solidified energy, with a very short blade. Hits one target per slash
Duration: Until Overridden/Broken. Breaks automatically after 6 swings.
Element: Null
Trader Rank: D: Megalian-E [80 Null {B}, Slashing, 4/6 uses]
6. Buster Charge