The pair approached another horrific site. Just like the one that they had arrived at nearly six hours earlier. The village was much worse than the first one that they had seen, this town was much less of an attack and looks much more like a small nuclear weapon had detonated at the very center. Because the epicenter of the town was eviscerated, all of the vegetation that would have been there was gone, replaced only by the dirt that lay beneath. The people here were nothing but skeletons, charred and pitch black. But Yor still left his signature killing pattern leaving the opaque stones in the eyes. James let out a deep sigh. "That's the eighth town we've come across."

"Again, it's the same. Except I think that this one is much worse than the original town we came across. At least the other towns had bodies. This one has very little left with regards infrastructure. What I don't understand is how there are skeletons, but no buildings."

"I agree, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Whatever power Yor has we need to stop it, and quickly." He replied hopping back on his sparrow. The two continued following the trace of the acid in the air. At some points, it would get so potent that James could see his energy shield slightly chip away. They kept moving along the path of devastation until eventually, they approached the newest site of this terrorist. The trees and vegetation in the area turned to a pitch black; the leaves went on all of them, there was a slight white frost on the ground. James, however, began to think otherwise about the nature of the frost when he saw a bright orange glow only a few meters ahead of him.

James sped his sparrow into the burning town with incredible speed, his sparrow's engine practically overclocking to get there as fast as he could. James then hopped off his sparrow into a dive roll pulling the Paragon off his back. He then saw him, a man clad in a tattered black cloak, with green fluorescent arm and shoulder components. His hands were sharp, pointed at his fingertips. His pistol was the same way, so much so that James didn't even recognize it. He held a woman in his hands off the ground. "YOR!" James exclaimed.

The dark figure then turned his head to the right slightly. His face was darker than the night sky above, his eyes gleaming like a predator in the shadows, green much like that of a hive warrior. Yor then dropped the woman and turned around to face James. "Well, here I am." He said with a sadistic smile. Yor had three eyes, one on his forehead and two where his original once were. His teeth were sharpened to a point, much like a shark or a snake.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Yor then blinked close to James pouncing on top of him. "I WAS ENLIGHTENED!" He yelled raising a knife to stab James in the head. Yor lowered his arm swiftly, but James blocked his blade with his gun. Placing the rifle underneath Yor's forearms. James then delivered a kick to Yor's stomach sending him off. James then tried firing his weapon into Yor. However, Yor disappeared turning into a shadow, reappearing on top of one of the houses. Yor then took aim firing his hand cannon at James's head. James, however, had other plans than dying today, creating a void light shield catching the bullet.

"Oh, this is going to be fun." Yor thought to himself. It had been a long time since he had last fought a guardian. Much less one as interesting as this one. The last guardian he had faced was a simple hunter, using a breathtaking hand cannon, one that he would have taken had he not been killed. He tried to wrap his head around this new prey, dancing around the orange bullets that James fired from his scout rifle. "He's clearly a warlock, but what he just did was unlike anything I ever saw a guardian do. Then again most guardians who I have seen are dead." He thought to himself briefly. James then had to reload his rifle.

"Well, it's been fun, but it's time to cut the metal!" Yor yelled leaping onto James with dual daggers in his hands stabbing him. But then James disappeared. "WHAT!?" Yor exclaimed in frustration. He then felt cold metal through his hood on the back of his head.

"It's over, yield before I have to do something drastic," James told him. He was hoping that Yor still had some level of sense left in him.

Yor, however, had different ideas, phasing through James and to the other side of him. Yor then let out a deep grunt of frustration. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?! NO GUARDIAN HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO USE SUCH BIZARRE TECHNIQUES!" He exclaimed.

"I'm afraid that's a trade secret."

"ENOUGH! I'M DONE PLAYING GAMES WITH YOU, I HAVE MORE VILLAGES TO TERRORIZE!" Yor then began to turn into a deep black, a darkness enveloping his person and forming a ball in his hand. "DIE!" He exclaimed throwing the sphere toward James.

"JAMES!" Ghost shouted as the sphere flew towards them.

"I'm on it." He replied placing the rifle on his back. James then used more of his void light to form a shield around himself, much like the ward of dawn that defender Titans use. The black sphere then impacted the bubble with a concussive blast. It was silent, then a loud bang occurred, breaking the bubble that he was standing in. The remaining detonation sent James reeling backward, sending him a meter into the air and landing with a thud a meter away from where he started.

James then stood up from the ground, his helmet partially covered in dirt and soot from the explosion that Yor had delivered. "Well, at least we know what leveled that town from earlier." Ghost remarked.

Yor yelled again out of pure frustration. He was the strongest guardian that the city had ever seen. He was the greatest of them all. He was a hunter, to be bested by a warlock of all people?! No, he couldn't accept that. To him, defeat at the hands of a warlock was a fate worse than death. The hive may have corrupted him centuries ago, but his hunter's pride still ran deep in his veins. His battle scars from the crucible were enough to prove how great of a warrior he was. Yor then formed a hilt in his hand made out of pure shadow.

From that hilt a blade nearly a meter in length formed, it was black with a white edge. "WELL WARLOCK HAVE YOU PISSED YOURSELF YET?!"

James then activated his Radiance ability placing his gun on his back. "Not even close." He replied stoically.

Yor then ran at James swiping and slashing his sword. All the while it was making a swooshing sound. James all the while began to dodge and weave around Yor who was swinging rapidly. "WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?" He exclaimed Yor only seemed to get angrier and angrier. Something James began to notice. He could only assume that it was because of supposed rivalry that hunters and warlocks had. He wasn't a part of that, but it gave him an idea.

"What's the matter? Afraid your cloak will get dirty if you fight too hard?" James taunted him.

Yor swung his sword heavily down on the ground in a feeble attempt to cut James. James then hit Yor in the back of the head with a solar light charged fist sending Yor into a nearby tree. "Come on, you've fought a guardian with arc blade before! Or has all those years of killings of civilians dulled your blade just as much as your intelligence!" He exclaimed again.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" Yor exclaimed lunging at James from the tree.

James then moved slightly to the right and delivered a kick to Yors side. Sending him to the floor. "Empty threats from an empty man." He replied.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY MORE ATTACKS THAN INSULTS BOOK WORM!?" He exclaimed. Then a shot of pain ran through his chest. He then looked up to see the glowing Warlock, with a solar blade through his chest. The blade impaled him pinning him to the ground.

"Better?" James asked him.

Yor then rose up and pushed James off of him. Yor then coughed up a black blood from his shark-like mouth. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!" He asked demanding to know who this warlock was. He was just as annoying as a typical warlock that he came across however his techniques were unlike any he had ever seen. A shadow clone? A solar arm sword? A void shield on his arm and one that could surround him?

"My name is James-17." He replied.

Yor began to heal himself, his wound turning into the black aura that surrounded him. "So, James." He said to himself. "Not that it matters, you're dead anyway."

"Then prove it," James replied.

Yor then created a darkened pistol in his left hand and the blade in his right. Yor then fired a round into James the round impacted his side dropping him to the ground. Yor then leaped into the sky raising his sword above his head dropping in from the heavens. "PREPARE TO DIE WARLOCK!"

James then rolled over to the right then using his solar sword again pinning Yor to the ground. "Now that the tables been turned, any last words traitor?" He asked him.

Yor just laughed. "Last words? Don't you know well enough nothing stays dead in this world James? Also, you think I'm the most of your problems? Hahahahahahaha. You are sorely mistaken."

"What are you talking about?" James asked his pinned opponent.

"HE is coming back, and when he returns, nobody will be prepared for the destruction that will come."

"WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?" James exclaimed.

Yor laughed. "The Hive prince Crota. He is returning to this mortal plane, and when he arrives, there is nothing you will be able to do to stop him." Yor then flashed his evil grin with all his sharp teeth pointed out for James to see. James then pulled the blade up Yors torso cleaving him in two. But Yor then reformed himself.

"Stupid Exo, that doesn't work on a person like me."

James considered his options. He couldn't let him go, he would just terrorize another town. Bullets and blades couldn't kill him either. He saw only one way that this world could be rid of Yor forever, disintegration. "I'm sorry."

"What? What for?!" Yor exclaimed.

"For the pain, you're about to endure."

James then took his hands placing his two wrists together, and an orb of light began to formulate in the space between them. Yor was awestruck. "What's he doing?" He thought to himself nervously. James then fired the beam outward large enough so that it would ultimately encompass Yor. Yor screamed violently for a few brief moments as he was turned into nothingness. Once the light cleared and the dust had settled there was nothing left of Yor. Nothing but his hand cannon.

James deactivated radiance and walked over to the pistol on the ground. The gun was a jet black with green stones embellished into it. James got an all too familiar chill when he picked it up. A chill that he always got when he was close to hive structures or weapons. James then popped open the chamber of the pistol and got a closer look at it. The chamber that held the rounds looked much like a drill bit. The metal that the gun was made out of was carved irregularly, it had etching and scratches on the barrel. The magazine, however, was a different story, it had a symbol on the back of the gun, one that James had never seen before.

"Ghost what does this symbol mean?" James asked him.

Ghost took a good look at the chamber of the weapon emitting a blue light on the symbol. "I don't know, I'm between the mark of death and the mark of corruption. Both of them sound bad." He stated to his guardian.

"Tower, this is James. Yor's dead. Or at least I think so."

"What do you mean you think so? Don't you have a body?" Zavala replied

"Funny story about that, Yor could reform himself from any fatal injury he had sustained. The only option that I could take to get rid of him was disintegration."

"How did you take him down?"

"You know about that stupidly annoying "rivalry" hunters, and warlocks have right?"

Zavala let out a deep sigh. "Yes, I am."

"Well, he took way to much pride in his class, so much so that he lost his mind at the thought of me defeating him. I used his out of control emotions to my advantage."

"Clever. What happened to the towns?"

"All of the people in them were dead. You were smart to give me the kill order he was too dangerous to be kept alive."

"In any case, thank you, James. It's good to finally lay him to rest."

"It's my job Zavala, I'm gonna start heading back now. And I have some troubling news." James said to his commander before hopping on his sparrow and speeding off towards the tower.