“If you think one Samurai alone is scary just wait ‘til you see a group of them work together! The shit even newbies can get with a bit of teamwork is fucking terrifying, let me tell you.”

- Anonymous Redditor

The way there turned out to be without surprises, which was simultaneously good, since we weren’t jumped by angry aliens, but also bad, because we had no idea why we found so little.

Despite our lack of more specialised recon gear we both kept a sharp eye on our surroundings, making sure we didn’t miss a thing. The trip itself was spent in comfortable silence, both of us content just enjoying each other’s company. It made me worry a bit that I might have jumped at Chloe a bit too quickly, but that little bit of worry was helplessly overshadowed by all the happy thoughts I had by simply being next to her.

Even from afar we could see the building Castas had spoken about, a rather large, half-broken down storage unit that had rust everywhere. Multiple tin wall panels had fallen down and revealed the shoddy metal frames underneath.

The reason we knew it was that one was simple: A huge mass of xenos was in front of it, heaving away at big crates and dead people.

We stayed further away, hiding behind the corner of one of the more modern (modern for the district in any case) looking houses, while we surveyed the alien activity in front of us. Most of the xenos were Ones, Twos, and Threes, the Ones and Twos being those bird thingies according to Chloe. But there were also other aliens about. I saw two model Fours, pulling some of the dead Red Crows members out of the busted down front gate of the storage unit. They were pretty obviously Red Crows by the red bandana around their right upper arm.

There was also a model Six, organising the chaos, again, according to Chloe, plus a giant worm thing made up of multiple segments.

That is a model Eight. It is a rather peculiar model of antithesis, utterly disinterested in any conflict and ignoring anything other than biomass. It will not attack you, even if you provoke it. Killing it isn’t easy, however. Each segment has a brain, a rather rudimentary one, but a brain nonetheless.

“Damn,” I muttered, looking it over.

“Not sure we can kill that thing,” Chloe said. She stood behind me, more or less hugging me from behind while we both peaked around the corner we were hiding behind.

“Plans?” I asked, trying to figure out how we could go about killing this many xenos. I wasn’t exactly suited to big area of denial attacks, that was Chloe’s strong suit.

“I mean…” she started, looking at the buildings around us, “I can see some ways to get up on the roof. Maybe that way we can get closer and surprise them from above? Rain down big grenades, blow the fuck out of them. Not sure what to do about the Eight though, I don’t know if I can take it down.”

“Hm…”

I did like the idea of getting on the roof. That would mean that we would be susceptible to attacks from the Ones and Twos. But we would also be safe from the hordes of Threes, the two Fours, and the Six.

“Kaysa, do I have anything on the Hard-Light catalogue that could help here?”

You do. The Mark III Pristine Fortress costs you 60 points, but it does deliver for the price. It is a variable Hard-Light emitter that can project changeable Hard-Light constructs, which could be used to, for example, crush an enemy within. The constructs are a bit more durable than your Mark II General Hard-Light Emitter, although not by much.

“Can it do like multiple bullets? Or something?”

No. But it can project variable constructs, which makes it a lot more versatile than the Mark II General Hard-Light Emitter. Think big blades, or sweeping shields. While you can only project a single construct, the shape that construct can take is quite versatile.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it the first time.” I muttered with a smile.

If you truly wish to get something that can deal with big groups of antithesis, maybe you would like to upgrade the Mark III Pristine Fortress with the help of Vanguard Chloe?

“Wait, you can do that?” I asked, confused, before looking up at Chloe.

She peered down, confused, “Do what?”

“Like, do item upgrades and buying shit with other Samurai.”

She smiled, “Oh, that. Yeah, you can. I haven’t done much of it yet, but I do know the principle. What are you thinking about?”

With the help of Vanguard Chloe’s Class I Esoteric Single Use Explosive Devices Catalogue you could upgrade it to enable Vanguard Chloe to buy explosives inside Hard-Light constructs. That could mean either a killbox to kill any antithesis inside, a carpet rain of grenades from a construct projected into the air, or explosive shields. In effect, it could turn your Hard-Light constructs into explosive traps. The only downside would be the point cost for each explosive that Vanguard Chloe has to buy to make it work.

I quickly ran this by Chloe, who seemed to be quite enthused. Which was understandable, I was quite excited about the idea myself, truth be told. It did sound like the kind of shit we could abuse quite heavily, if we did it right.

Chloe nodded, “Not a bad plan, actually. How much would it cost?”

80 points with the upgrade.

“80 points, definitely doable. And it should help us get lots of points in return.” I relayed to Chloe, and gave her a warm smile, “What say you? Up to fuck up some xenos?”

She snorted, then ruffled my hair, which had me quite shocked for a moment, but to my surprise it felt actually really nice.

“Sure,” she said, “Let’s do it. But first, let’s try to find a way up to the roof.”

I nodded, maybe a bit red in the face from the unexpected head pats. Then again, she did say that she was the cuddly sort, so it was definitely on brand.

Plans made we snuck away from our hiding spot, before we found an old rusty ladder. It… didn’t look very stable, but it was the only way up, so it was the only option. Before we went up though I first decided to take off my boots. As much as I liked them, they were way too caked with alien goo, and having heels on while on a ladder didn’t particularly fill me with confidence. Since I was already at it I also took the time to take off my blouse, leaving me with little more than a micro bikini top and too short skirt. Chloe was, of course, typical adorable Chloe, blushing fiercely, while I used the cleaner bits of my blouse to clean off some of the goo caked on my skirt.

“You don’t by chance have something to wear for me, do you?” I asked, before I threw my dirty blouse away with a bit of disgust.

“Uhm…” she muttered, trying desperately to look me in the face, “I have armor?”

I shrugged, “I’ll take it, better than nothing.”

A moment later another box appeared next to her, and she pointed at it. I decided to have some fun with her and turned in such a way that when I bent down to open it, of course making sure to keep my knees straight, she got the barest hint of what was hidden under my flimsy skirt, without actually seeing much. The gasp I heard behind me told me that my little stunt had worked and I smirked. Picking up the armor and inspecting it, I acted as if nothing was wrong.

The armor itself was quite different from Chloe’s. It was pretty similar in terms of design, though while hers was more like the typical bullet proof vest that you would see mall cops wear, mine was a bit like a one piece swimsuit. It had a sort of panties attachment that would go between my legs, while covering most of my torso. It was a bit lighter on actual armor than Chloe’s and had less pockets. But for my purposes it worked. And of course it was the same purple colour as the sheets in my room at the brothel.

“Could I ask you to quickly turn around so I can change?” I said, not looking at her. I would definitely need to get rid of my skirt for this, and while I normally wouldn’t mind giving her the full view of my privates, something deep down was a bit more… I didn’t want to say reluctant, but I didn’t want to treat her like just another client. I didn’t want to just whore myself out to her, I… I think it could best be described as seducing her. And that meant knowing when to be a bit more… reserved.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

She nodded, blushing about the same bright red that those overly expensive fresh tomatoes I’ve seen online had, and I quickly let my skirt fall, before I put on the armor.

The general fabric was comfortable on my skin, but it immediately became apparent that it was not meant to work as underwear. I mean, it did make sense, it was armor, so typically you would wear it on top of your normal clothing. It did mean though that it was rather uncomfortable on my privates, not hurting really, but I was pretty sure I would have some soreness later on. Regardless, it was what I had at hand, so I would accept it and move on.

And if I was honest with myself, it was by far not the most uncomfortable “clothing” I had ever worn.

Looking down at myself I quickly realised that it really didn’t fit my look at all. But it wasn’t like I had options and it did cover me up, which was the important part. “Okay, ready,” I said, and turned to Chloe with a wide smile. “How do I look?”

She… tried to not look disappointed. “I mean… it works?” The tone of the voice told me everything I needed to know about her opinion on the armor she had gotten me.

I laughed, “Yeah. It really doesn’t fit me well, does it?”

“I think the problem are the pockets…” she said, then went silent for a moment, before she shook her head, “What, no way! She wouldn’t look good in that at all!... No, I don’t care for your mathematics, that just wouldn’t work… No, Atlas, it wouldn’t. For the future, let me do all the fashion decisions, okay?”

I snorted at that, then came over and hugged her. I didn’t really know why, but I just felt like hugging her right this moment. “You are adorable, you know that?”

She reciprocated my hug, although a bit more reserved, “You did mention that earlier.”

I nodded, “Yup, and I was right. Now, want to kill some xenos?”

She nodded at me when I looked up to her, so I released her and quickly made my way over to the ladder. Of course I wouldn’t make things easy for her, so while we climbed up, her right behind me, I made sure to wiggle my butt around her field of vision as much as I could.

By the time we arrived on the roof she was bright red again. If I wasn’t careful I might actually cause her blood pressure issues at some point. Or have her pop an artery in her face. Something to keep in mind.

For once though it was me who was distracted and I nearly jumped down in a big pile of trash near the ladder, but luckily I looked in front of me before I did so. With a bit of gymnastics, no doubt much to Chloe’s appreciation, I made my way over the pile of trash and onto… at least semi-clean ground. It felt disgusting under my naked feet, but I had to deal.

“Well…” I said, looking around, “I guess down there would be a good point to hunker down.” I pointed to a roof further down, closest to the xeno horde. We made our way over and hunkered down as planned, looking over the edge onto the chaos below us.

“Okay, Kaysa, I think it’s time for new toys.”

I have a catalogue for that.

That quickly derailed my thoughts. “Wait, what?”

I have a catalogue for toys, if you wish to obtain it later. I am very certain you would very much enjoy it.

I gulped, then slowly shook my head, “Kaysa, while I thoroughly appreciate your mention of such options, and I will be putting them onto the list for later, right now I need to focus. Could you please refrain from distracting me?”

Very well.

New purchase: Mark III Pristine Fortress (Upgraded)!

Points reduced to: 147

A small box appeared between Chloe and me with the typical decorations on it. Chloe looked at it with raised eyebrows and just the slightest hint of a blush, but she didn’t comment.

I opened it and found… I wasn’t quite sure how to describe it. It looked similar to those vambraces you see people wear in those mediaeval movies. It was the same silvery colour with purple metallic accents as my General Hard-Light Emitter, but with a big screen on it.

I picked it up and put it on my left arm. Again, just as with the General Hard-Light Emitter, it shifted then settled, leaving it with just the right amount of tension to hold tight, without being uncomfortable.

“I think I’m ready,” I whispered to Chloe and gave her a warm smile.

She smiled in return and nodded, “Okay. I think the best approach would be to blow up the flyers. Then we need to kill the model Six and the two Fours. Everything else can come up after.”

I thought about it for a moment, it did make sense. “Okay, Kaysa, how can I use this thing?”

I have taken the liberty to preprogram different shapes into the Mark III Pristine Fortress. Just name the shape and it will form. I am pretty certain I have programmed any and all shapes you could imagine into it, but should I have forgotten one, you can also use your augments to create a new one.

I raised an eyebrow, then looked over the edge again. A big ball should be enough to encompass the flyers and explode them into small bits. Then I could use another smaller ball to encompass the model Six, before I used a cube to get the two model Fours. I wasn’t an expert, but I hoped it would be enough.

Nodding at my plan I looked at Chloe, “Get ready to buy lots of big grenades, okay? I’ll start projecting constructs around them. Hopefully we can be quick enough about it.”

She nodded with a smile, then looked down.

Raising my left arm I pointed at the flyers. “Ball,” I whispered, and just as I imagined a big ball appeared around them. I didn’t even have time to appreciate how smoothly it had gone, when a loud explosion rang out inside of it, utterly annihilating the aliens and shattering my construct.

Not wasting any time and seeing the Fours already getting ready to dash I entrapped them first. “Cube!” A big cube formed, then started to shrink to pull the aliens together, before another explosion shattered it, and the aliens inside.

By this point the remaining xenos were already dashing about, but I didn’t let myself get distracted and pointed at the Six, “Ball!”

Again the same routine happened. The thing exploded in a myriad of bits, although it wasn’t quite dead by the time my construct had shattered. I didn’t worry too much though, it looked utterly fucked up, so I thought quickly and pointed into the air, “Circle!”

A giant circle appeared overhead, and as Chloe started buying more and more explosives, they started to rain down onto the biggest groups of aliens. Kaysa was probably deliberately placing the explosives, since soon enough most of the Threes were dead, with only a couple of them still running around. Dismissing the circle I pointed at the Eight, “Take care of the Threes, please. Cube!”

Chloe didn’t wait for even a moment, before she started firing down onto the xenos below us, quickly killing most of the remaining ones, although three or four managed to get away.

Simultaneously I started to shrink the cube around the model Eight, which was still happily munching away on whatever cheap rations it was finding in the storage container it was busying itself at.

Soon enough the construct started to push the alien inwards, then further, then even further. By the time I got the notification that I had killed it, it was not much more than a messy cube of green goo, roughly two meters on a side.

“Eww… That’s… disgusting,” I muttered, dismissing the construct.

Chloe nodded, not really looking at the thing. “Yeah… Let’s get this over with quick, yeah?”

We both made our way back to the ladder, after we had made certain that wherever the last model Threes were hiding was outside of our view or range, and with another set of gymnastics, I started to make my way down the ladder, Chloe following close behind. As much as I wanted to enjoy the view above me, I really didn’t want to slip on the ladder, so sadly I had to focus on going down. Once I had arrived on the ground, I looked around, making sure we weren’t about to be surprised.

Chloe did the same, then looked at me with a smile, “Shall we?”

I held up my hands and walked over to my discarded blouse. With a few quick motions I cleaned my feet up as much as I was able to, before I grabbed my boots again and put them on. I really didn’t want to walk into mulched alien bare foot.

Finally ready I nodded at her, and together we moved closer. Of course I stuck close by her side, both of us weapons ready. When we entered the big opening where the xenos had been, we quickly found the remaining couple Threes, and the remaining Threes found us. A quick shootout later they were dead. I really liked having two emitters available to me, something that hadn’t even occurred to me on the roof.

“What should we do about this mess?” I asked, looking around, “We can’t just leave it.”

Chloe shook her head, “We can’t. Go ahead and check the warehouse, I’ll deal with the bodies.”

While I didn’t like going into the building alone, I nodded. She was close enough to help me if things went sideways. Just to make sure though I conjured a protective bubble around me before I started making my way into the warehouse.

The inside were… I wanted to say dilapidated, but that would have been an insult to dilapidated buildings. In short, it was a mess. Pieces of the ceiling had come down over time, crushing some of the shit deeper inside of the building. Near the front were a couple pallets that looked like they had been put here a bit more recently. Most of them were disturbed by aliens, but two were still untouched. From one the size of them would be more than enough to supply the shelter for weeks.

The only problem was, I had absolutely no idea how to move it.

“What should we do?” I asked, more to myself than anyone else, while I crossed my arms in front of my modest chest.

You could use the Pristine Fortress.

I raised an eyebrow, then the other. That… wasn’t actually an entirely stupid idea. I had used the same principle with my protective bubble, and it wouldn’t be hard to adapt it.

“Okay… I need like… a forklift shape, or something.”

I pointed my arm at the thing and let Kaysa work her AI mathematics magic and soon a construct appeared, enabling me to lift the thing. To my surprise it didn’t fully stay in position relative to my wrist, instead it followed the motion, but moved much slower than my own hand. Probably some tech restriction, or some easy to use bullshittery that Kaysa had come up with, it didn’t matter much to me.

“Will the charge hold until the shelter?” I asked, while I was already on my way outside again.

It should. Even if you didn't have enough points for a replacement battery.

I checked my point total and saw a proud 269 points being displayed there.

Outside Chloe was halfway done… melting? The bodies around.

“Everything okay?” she asked me with a smile when she saw me come outside, throwing a grenade to one more big pile of alien.

I nodded and looked around, “Yeah. Damn, you work quick.”

“Well, flesheater grenades are useful. Just give me a moment to finish up, okay?”