Every Samurai’s first underground hive destruction is a good indicator of how they will operate as a whole.

Are they panicking throughout the entire mission?

Are they calm and collected?

Or are they like Asuriel here who gossiped with her AI while slicing hive tendrils with a flaming sword?

-FoxFire, Moments before Asuriel tackled her, 2026

“So wait, you mean there are multiple hives down here?” I asked while the Tens before me all fell like wheat beneath a sickle.

Yes, unknown total, and size. The pit you discovered earlier was most likely the place a digestion pool was going to be grown to cut down biomass transport time until they moved it up into a satellite hive.

Ignoring the Eight for now, I turned my attention to the tunnel I entered from as I responded, rising panic in my voice “How do I even begin to destroy all of this? Should I just kill off hive structures I come across?”

That will slow down Model production. Both from the loss of infrastructure for outside Models to haul biomass to, and from the sense that a birthing tendril can not bear antithesis if it’s destroyed.

I took a deep breath, panic would only make things worse. “The gas canisters I’m leaving behind, will they dispose of the biomass once I’m done?”

Yes.

“Then the plan hasn’t changed, only gotten excessively annoying to put into action. I came this far already, might as well finish it.” I started firing into the tunnel. The antithesis didn’t seem to enjoy I was in here. “Do I have any sort of weed-eater to get rid of this stuff quickly?” I asked half-jokingly.

You do actually have something similar to weed eaters. From your Esoteric Explosives catalogue you have mono-wire grenades. These are generally used as area denial against swarms of Models; however, you can use the force of their unspooling to shred hive structures.

An idea quickly formed in my head, and I got a savage grin.

“Two things; Are they biodegradable? And can I get them coated in substances I have access to?”

Yes to both. Although the biodegradation of the wire is slow to the point I would advise a solvent regardless.

“But what if you modified the Biomelter just enough that it could eat the mono-wire?” I threw a grenade, “I know messing with this stuff is dangerous, but it's in an environment where antithesis is the only matter it can eat, and it’s going to get burned away regardless, so why not?”

I don’t see any immediate issues with your proposal, just be warned that the antithesis will start becoming resistant to the Biomelter after a few hours.

I laughed, “Pyri that just makes it more interesting! Can you get enough to handle the room?” I thought for a few moments, “Also a good knife with a sheath?”

I do indeed have enough resources at my disposal to complete your purchase.

New Purchases! Monomolecular Biomelter-wire x7 35 MKII Electron Combat Knife 80 Total: 105 Points Reduced To: 7658

A small box appeared next to me. After attaching the Trill to my equipment rack, I tossed a few proximity nades to delay for me, I swooped the box into my arms and dashed into the room. Opening it up revealed seven canisters that looked like wire spools got shoved into drinking glasses full of a yellowish gunk. The knife was about nine inches long and its sheath seemed to be the same material that my bandolier and holster belt were made out of. Drawing it, I found it was glowing slightly on the cutting edges.

The blade conducts electricity into the target, allowing for even shallow strikes to be devastating. The sheath can be attached to your various belts.

I walked up to the closest tendril, and set the box at my feet. Bringing one of the spools and the knife back up, I wriggled my fingers around the hilt then reversing my grip and plunging it into the antithesis flesh with a wet thunk.

“Definitely satisfying to stab with.” I noted as I pulled down to make a nice slit in the tendril. “How does it recharge?”

When you get your Vulgoran enhancements, you can recharge it using your claws to conduct electricity into the hilt while wielding it. Until then, the pommel is attached to a power cell which can be replaced.

The knife slid out without any trouble while a gross slimy substance oozed from the gash I dug into the tendril. The spool was unceremoniously shoved into it.

“The real question is what do I clean this thing with,” I muttered.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

The sheath has a cleaning rag underneath it which can be put into your center-left tool belt pouch.

I crouched down and picked up the sheath, and found the rag tucked underneath it. I absentmindedly went to attach the sheath to my belt when I had a better idea.

“Pyri, can I put this upside down on my arm? Like with the hilt pointing towards my elbow?”

Your armor can be shaped to lock it in place, yes.

“Can you do that for me please?”

Clean and sheath the blade first, then position it where you want it to be positioned. I will make micro adjustments to make drawing and sheathing it from that position as ergonomic as possible.

I carefully wiped the blade off, doing my best to not cut my fingers off, then sheathed it as asked. I held it to my upper arm around where it would work best, and released it. A few moments later it finished shifting and I had a wickedly sharp knife anchored to my arm.

Before you ask, the sheath will keep a proper grip on the blade, so there is no chance for it to drop the knife on you. It also has safety guards on it that only allow you to draw it. We don’t need a Model Four wielding it by accident after all.

That delightful image had me shuddering as I made my way to the next large plant that seemed to be sprouting flowers filled with some weird nectar.

“What’s this plant goo for?”

It’s a substance that is produced to feed Models with an uncapped lifespan. Some alien cultures harvest it, and after purification serve it in cultural and religious ceremonies.

I set down a spool in the web of stems, and moved to my next target. “I figure by processing, you mean making it completely safe to consume, and not let it create more antithesis.”

Yes it’s actually quite common for antithesis to be used as a food source in the wider intergalactic community. Most civilizations that partake in actions involving consuming antithesis, treat it as an act of symbolism, to ‘steal from thieves’. Humans have attempted similar projects, with more disastrous results due to a basic lack of planning.

“We have?”

Zurich is the most prominent example, a large part of that conflict sparking was due to a corporate attempting to farm lower tier antithesis Models for their meat.

Images of those old food weather movies went through my mind, “Tacodile supreme made out of antithesis sounds terrifying.”

I shook my head, “Pyri I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but humans are weird.”

It’s actually quite endearing, like watching a civilization of toddlers play with things they very much so shouldn’t.

“Like what?”

An improperly maintained submersible to see long rotted wreckage of a ship that sunk over a hundred years prior, for one.

“Never heard of that one, must've been before I was born.”

By about twelve years. Also, you might want to put more grenades in the hallway.

A few more tossed nades later, I was shoving another spool into a freshly made gash when a question came to mind.

“So what is my metaphorical toddler playing with?”

Metaphorical? You use car batteries and explosives like building blocks.

I pouted, “Pyri I have hardly touched explosives!”

Generic ones yes, but I know you have played with pressurized steam quite often and from a young age.

Another feeding plant got a spool stuffed inside one of its massive flowers, “I’m being bullied!”

Hardly, if anything, I’m praising your ingenuity, and penchant for creating dangerous machines. Not many people would look at a backpack pressure washer, and think it could be weaponized.

Snorting, I cut open the main structure of the proto-hive and shoved a spool inside, with the final one getting tossed into the digestion pit and sinking to the bottom. I dropped the box the equipment came in, and began cleaning my blade while walking to the room’s entrance.

“It did work though! If anything I kinda wish I could’ve created new weapons before heading out here. Buying them doesn’t hit the same.” I shrugged, “but that’s what the munition launcher plans we made are for.”

Aren’t you forgetting something?

“What. the plans? No I don’t think I remember deciding to make more than just the one weapon, why?”

I’m referring to the fact that you are currently unarmed, you dork.

Blushing, I pulled my Trench Stormer off my back, “That was what I meant to say.”

Walking into the tunnel, I discovered just how much work the grenades I had tossed in had done.

The cave was full of corpses to the point I would have to climb over them to get through. Beyond that, the tunnel was silent.

“Where are the rest of them?”

You likely pulled in most of the forces in the area, any others might be under the direction of a command Model to let you come to them, or wait for new birth cycles to pass.

I did a quick little happy dance before refocusing on the corpse pile. “Might as well get a few more of those wire spools to clear this away. Speaking of, am I far enough away to watch the proto-hive get shredded without getting diced up?”

You are beyond the minimum safe distance, yes.

I turned towards the room with a grin, “Shred them then!”

Shredding them now.

The spools didn’t release with a bang, if anything they sounded like high tension fence wiring getting played with. Nothing but the sound of metallic warbling, and flesh splattering all over the place.

Visually, it was like everything in the room just fell apart, including the Model Eight. It was slightly unnerving how quiet the detonation was.

Mono-wire was not something to fuck with.

But that kinda made it even more enticing. The horrors of being an engineer with too much time on her hands, and access to all the coolest toys. Turning around, I deliberately made sure my finger was off my shotgun’s trigger, and the safety was on before starting my climb.

Checking my points had me do another little dance. I was sitting at a comfortable eight-thousand-six-hundred-fifty-nine, but one thing seemed to be missing.

“No token for the hive?”

Due to the fact that this isn’t your first hive kill, and the effort to destroy it was minimal you won’t receive a token for the destruction of the proto-hive.

I pulled my leg free from a leg that shifted over it, “So the token stuff is all up to you?”

Mostly yes, generally each Vanguard will get a few common token requirements early on, those being a lives saved milestone, the first hive kill, and other small goals. After that each AI Assistant will be in charge of rewarding tokens when they feel their Vanguard has surpassed a suitable challenge, such as your defeat of that aerial swarm earlier.

I nodded as I tried to avoid a particularly blood soaked spot where a Three must’ve tripped and gutted itself on a dead Nine’s blades, “I can’t cheat the system by intentionally handicapping myself can I?”

You cannot. The only thing rewarding that kind of behavior would cause is reckless actions that would simply result in more overall deaths. It also prevents other Vanguard from taking lethal action against those who would cheat the system like that. Also, none of us want to see our Vanguard run into action with a mundane stick to try and farm tokens off of a group of Model Ones.

Reaching the end of the corpse pile, I jumped off the end while chuckling. “Has that happened before?”

Unfortunately, a great many times. As much as your species has a unique desire to show off, others seem to delight in killing antithesis in the most inefficient way possible.

I looked down and dusted myself off, “Hey now, showing off is fun. Especially when you have an audience that is with you at all times.”

Someone above me snorts. “Well then, new kid, why don’t we give you a wider audience?”

Looking up in surprise, I saw a trio anyone who lived near Indianapolis would recognize.

Looks like the Magical Girls finally got here after all.