A battle with Aphels will typically only end if they have captured a sufficient number of Phelion fragments (anywhere from 1-10 Phelions, typically, depending on the size of the invasion) or if they are all defeated. If no Phelion fragments are ever captured, they fight to their end. If some have been captured, they may retreat at any time, or the ones who have taken the fragments may escape on their own while the rest fight to the end.

You may freely use existing designs or randomly design your own if you want to, say, draw a scene during an Aphel invasion. You have no ownership over the design, however, and you cannot make them characters—they are non-sentient drones. You can use the designs repeatedly, as many Aphels look identical. In my mind, a "character" is a unique individual in existence that makes multiple appearances and has some significance; this is not allowed. Every Aphel is a mass-produced drone with no individuality or uniqueness.

Aphels generally have the same shape, consisting of:

• a black amorphous body

• dark metal parts around their head and for their wings/other structures

• saturated red markings, including a thin sliver/diamond shape on the head. 

They typically have an almost serpentine appearance, though with numerous tendrils coming from the back of their head and the end of their body. Wings are typically attached by extensions from the body, and they do not usually have hard-light structs.

They have many abilities that are similar to those of Phelions, if in a much weaker form. Abilities include metallokinesis, hard-light struct fabrication, and a hivemind connection. If their armor becomes damaged/scratched, it will "heal" very quickly, with the metal becoming more liquidlike and smoothing over the damage.

Aphel Hive

The Aphel hivemind is a different system from Phelions, one that allows little individuality of will. When an Aphel attempts to extract the fragments from a Phelion, if they are conscious or regain consciousness, they may briefly connect to it. The will is astronomical and apathetic, a crushing weight that tears away their own thoughts and replaces them with nothing but the unified will.

The same exact individual Aphel will never be seen twice, even if it escapes. Phelions are unaware of this at the start, but they are absorbed into a mass to have their materials recycled, in a sense; the mass will then produce new Aphels.

Extraction

The process by which Aphels extract fragments is essentially by interfacing with the Phelion. They attach their tendrils to the Phelion's own body and tendrils, and they fuse slightly before the hard-light structs break apart, the armor dissolves into the body, and then the blackness is entirely absorbed by the Aphel, leaving only the former Phelion's original form behind.

Aphels are able to sense Phelion fragments. On Earth, there is much background noise due to the dispersion of fragments, so they generally cannot sense those in an absorption stage and only have vague sense of those who are at the integration stage. They can immediately sense those in the mergence stage. If they suspect a non-Shifted individual of being a Phelion host, they will scan the individual by projecting a beam of red light from their "eye" lasting a few seconds; they may scan normal humans due to fluctuations in the signals on Earth. If the individual is normal, the Aphel will leave them alone. If they are in any stage of Phelion metamorphosis, even the absorption stage, the Aphel will be able to detect it and will attempt to grab the individual to take their fragments. An Aphel can make contact for about 5-10 seconds without there being any consequences for the individual, but any further and the connection will be established, allowing the Aphel to take the fragments.