17:55
The night exploded into chaos.
Appointment moved first -- diving down from the sky, thrusters flaring behind him like aurora borealis. His aim was clear: to enter the shopping centre through the hole his Schedule Breaker had created and quickly execute his targets. Even he knew that was unlikely, however. It wasn’t just the possibility of potential further targets arriving that had stayed the hands of the bounty hunters around this place -- each and every one of them knew that the first to attack would become a target as well.
None of them wanted to be beaten to the punch, after all.
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DEPLOYING PRAETORIAN 1
PRAETORIAN 2 GENERATED … DEPLOYING
PRAETORIAN 3 GENERATED … DEPLOYING
PRAETORIAN 4 GENERATED … DEPLOYING
PRAETORIAN 5 GENERATED … DEPLOYING
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Three of the Praetorians intercepted Appointment just before he could reach the roof.
Praetorian One whipped out a shining rapier and thrust thrice at Appointment’s head, so fast that the triplet stab seemed a single motion.
Praetorian Two sprouted four additional arms and then fused the new limbs together with the originals, forming a massive cannon that it fired at Appointment.
Praetorian Three opened a hole in space next to it -- and from that hole flew a blizzard of knives, pelting against Appointment’s armour.
Appointment, for his part, responded.
He infused his Chassis’ venting system to form a layer of frozen air around his helmet, deflecting Praetorian One’s attack.
He engaged his Chassis’ thrusters to flip, avoiding Praetorian Two’s massive cannonball by inches -- the projectile slamming into a nearby skyscraper and decapitating it instead.
He flared his thrusters once more to weave through the rain of tiny projectiles -- in this situation, his mobility was limited, but even a limited Appointment was better than most.
As Appointment cleared the last of the attacks, he just floated in the air for a moment -- surrounded on three sides by the Praetorians who had stayed to stall him. The remaining two had dived into the shopping centre to take advantage. A cold bead of sweat ran down Appointment’s temple. If he didn’t hurry, they were going to beat him to the targets -- and as if that wasn’t bad enough, he’d fail his mission.
“Appointment,” mused Praetorian One in its regal voice, holding its rapier up to its face as it floated on white-feathered wings. “I’m glad to see your skills haven’t decayed since our last encounter. I truly thought you were going to feel Dignity’s kiss just now.”
Appointment narrowed his eyes behind his helmet. Ideally, he’d have liked to blow these pests away and hurry to his destination… but this wasn’t one he could take so lightly.
The Praetorians, the elite soldiers of the Hive of Malkuth, were bespoke consciousnesses generated by the Queen for specific tasks. If there was a battle she couldn’t leave to the instincts of a mere drone or warrior, she would create a Praetorian with intelligence and personality to handle the matter. By nature, they were temporary existences, discarded as soon as they were no longer useful.
But Praetorian One alone had never stopped being useful.
“Why are we even bothering to speak to this stain?” Praetorian Three asked in a sultry, feminine voice, cocking its head. “Let’s just wipe it away and be done with it.”
Praetorian Two grunted in agreement.
“Silence,” Praetorian One snapped sternly. “A powerful enemy deserves a level of decorum. Do not forget that I am your superior in this matter, Three, as I am in all others.” Its compound eyes flicked back over to Appointment. “My friend, surely there is an opportunity for compromise here. Inside that treasure chest below are targets to spare. Perhaps we can agree to split the stock between ourselves?”
Appointment snorted.
Praetorian One cocked its head. “Is something amusing, good sir?”
“It’s a nice show, bug, but I’m not buying it. A hive mind having infighting? You’re just stalling while your buddies take care of business down there… right?”
There was a moment of silence -- then, Praetorian One sighed.
“Very well,” it said. “Three -- wipe as you will.”
She didn’t need greater permission than that. Laughing wildly, Praetorian Three threw her hands out, palms broiling with bloody red Aether.
“Die Sanguine!” she screamed -- and a torrent of red smoke poured forth, washing over Appointment nearly instantly. He blasted up out of it just as quick, flying straight up into the sky, but even that brief contact had made its mark. The outermost layer of his Chassis’ armour had turned sloppy and wet, like a melted candle, drops of molten metal falling down into the battlefield below.
Twitches of his fingers sent commands to his on-board systems. Cooling to harden his melted armour again. Overdrive to push his thrusters further and increase his speed. Preparation sequences for higher-grade missiles and firearms.
Tonight, he’d need to be in top form.
A warning flashed from his Chassis, the predictive systems of the suit elevated to near-precognition by the level of his infusion -- and so he did not doubt it. His thrusters shifted across his back, sending him into a spin, allowing the second cannonball fired by Praetorian Two to slip right past him and off into the distance. That didn’t mean the danger was over, though.
During his spin, Appointment had caught sight of the first cannonball Praetorian Two had fired. The shattered remains of it were still lodged in the ruined building. Only… he realized now that it wasn’t a cannonball.
It was an egg.
A cloud of black locusts had exploded out of the sphere and were now surging through the sky towards Appointment as well. He assumed the enemy wouldn’t have dispatched them if they weren’t capable of getting through his armour, so taking care of them should be a priority. It was just a shame that he was being given so many priorities tonight.
The locusts coming from one side, the red smoke coming from the other. Both were fast -- he needed to deal with them at the same time. Instinct and experience allowed him to put together a plan in the time it took to blink.
Schedule Breaker!
The blazing pillar of Schedule Breaker shot down from the sky, enveloping the red smoke before it could reach Appointment. This close to midnight, no petty ability would be able to survive its light. At the same time, he pointed his index finger towards the incoming locusts -- and fired the flamethrower wired into the digit. Infused with his Aether, the weapon was able to produce an inferno of blue flame that scorched the insects out of existence.
That only left --
Ow.
Appointment looked down… and saw the thin blade of a rapier protruding from his stomach.
“Indeed,” chuckled Praetorian One from behind him. “You truly were a formidable opponent.”
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“Huh,” said Morgan.
The enemy descended like a boulder, slamming into the floor and sending clouds of dust flying in every direction. Annatrice raised her hands to cover her face as the air pressure billowed against her body. Without infusion, she likely would have been sent flying just from that alone.
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A silhouette pushed its way out of the smoke. A hulking biomechanical figure, built like a gorilla, compound eyes and veins glowing a malevolent red. It grinned with teeth fused to its lips like prison bars.
“Gahaha!” it guffawed. “Good evening, you damn meat-smears! The great Praetorian Four has come to end your worthless --”
Annatrice widened her eyes.
Ego Emulation: Gustavo Mordecai!
Gustavo narrowed his eyes.
The situation was bad. Two enemies had definitely come through the ceiling just now, not one. The big one was grabbing their attention while the other prepared for a sneak attack. As if that wasn’t bad enough, based on their appearance and the way they had identified themselves, they were most likely units from the Hive of Malkuth. That meant there was no telling what kind of absurd abilities they’d come equipped with.
Before anything else, that needed to be determined.
Brown Aether ran through Gustavo’s legs as he lunged forward, ducking under the arm of the clawed woman and darting right into Praetorian Four’s face. There was a cry of warning from behind him as the beast raised its massive arm, but he was ready for it. He dodged to the side, avoiding the crushing blow -- then kicked off the wall to shoot himself towards Praetorian Four’s head once again.
Contact was made: his palm placed against the abomination’s face.
Changelog: Download!
Information flowed directly into Gustavo’s mind.
Praetorian Four Changelog (5 minutes)
* Came into existence. Hello world!
* Received ability “Bunyan Drive One”:
* Allows user to increase their size and strength based on the number of enemies attacking them.
* Received ability “Bunyan Drive Two”:
* Allows user to increase their size and strength based on their level of injury.
* Received ability “Bunyan Drive Three”:
* Allows user to increase their size and strength based on the demonstrated strength of their opponent.
* Received ability “King of Currumpaw”:
* Allows user to adopt traits of animal lifeforms they have previously defeated in combat.
* Sustained superficial damage by crashing through ceiling.
* Minor increase of size from ability “Bunyan Drive Two”.
As Praetorian Four went to rip Gustavo’s hand away, he vaulted over the creature and kicked off its shoulders, launching himself up into the smoke cloud. The second enemy. He hadn’t seen this one yet, but he knew it had to be here. For a sneaky opponent like this, they’d be in the one spot nobody could see.
He plunged into the smog and -- for an instant -- saw them. Another Praetorian, much smaller than its companion, the size of a child even. Gustavo tried not to think about the implications of that. It was fluttering high up with wings like those of a fly, the shine of its compound eyes intensifying as it spotted Gustavo.
Too late.
He wrapped his hand around its thin ankle.
Changelog: Download!
Praetorian Five Changelog (5 minutes)
* Came into existence. Hello world!
* Received ability “Flutterfly”:
* Allows user to place insect wings on themselves and other entities. These wings can be activated at will.
* Received ability “Void Contract”:
* Allows user to sacrifice the lives of their subordinates for weapons of equivalent value.
* Received ability “Gut Inventory”:
* Allows user to record and store consenting entities within their own body. When this ability is released, all stored entities are manifested at once. Partial use is not permitted.
Gustavo took a deep breath…
Changelog: Upload!
… and transmitted the gathered information to his allies.
Only, one thing still bothered him. As Praetorian Five shook his hand away and he fell back down into the hallway, Gustavo’s brow furrowed. That third ability.
Gut Inventory…?
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The Hive of Malkuth had not spent its time on Azum-Ha in idleness.
While there could only be one-hundred and eight true members of the Hive at any given time, the same did not hold true for their thralls -- the ‘new recruits’, so to speak. They were extremely limited in terms of the duties they could perform -- basic movement and attack -- putting them just barely above animated corpses in terms of utility. The Queen generally elected to keep them in storage until they were needed for conversion to new drones and warriors.
However… that didn’t mean they didn’t have their uses. Praetorian Five smiled with stitched-together lips.
Gut Inventory.
Praetorian Five’s body shone with crimson Aether for a moment -- and in that same moment, a torrent of the walking dead flowed out from its form. They poured forth mercilessly, their sheer numbers washing away each and every one of the warriors that had been making their stand in the stairwell. Floors buckled and walls crumbled as the thralls continued to emerge: some were crushed by the mass of their fellows, but they had already served their purpose.
The targets had been separated… and now this place was filled with the Hive’s ranks.
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Countless grasping hands reached for Ruth Blaine, and Ruth Blaine dodged them countless times.
She was a blur as she retreated back out of the clogged stairwell, zombies pouring after her. As she skidded to a halt in the middle of the shopping centre’s ground floor, just before the fountain, Annatrice dropped to the ground next to her. The girl had moved with more speed and grace than Ruth had thought she’d had in her.
Ruth cast her a glance. “You okay, kid?”
Annatrice narrowed her eyes as she looked back. “I’m older than you,” she said seriously.
She was doing another weird voice. Was this her ability again? Emo Emulation or whatever, letting her mimic another Aether-user? That was probably how she’d managed to beam that weird information into their heads earlier.
Well, whatever the case, Ruth supposed it was a good thing she’d done that. It looked like they’d be needing that intel. She adjusted her claws, moonlight shining off the blades as she glared at their approaching enemy.
“Powerless, powerless!” cackled Praetorian Four as it pulled itself out of the stairwell, taking a huge section of the wall out with it. “It’s so sad to be powerless, isn’t it, my little meat-smears?!”
Just like the Changelog had said, the Praetorian’s size had greatly increased. The number of people it was fighting… their level of strength… the injuries it had sustained during the crush on the stairs… they’d all done their work. It was nearly ten times its original size already, and it hadn’t been small to begin with. Its head nearly scraped against the second-floor ceiling as it grinned viciously down at the two of them.
That grin, too, had changed -- rather than the jail-bars it had previously, now that mouth was lined with razor-sharp fangs. Ruth recognised them from her homeworld: the deadly teeth of a paleo-beast. A heavy tail swayed in the air behind the monster, too. An apex predator of the jungle -- the Tyrant Lizard King.
It slammed its fists together, the shockwave shattering every piece of glass on the promenade.
“What are you waiting for?!” it roared. “Come at me!”
Annatrice’s eyes flicked back over to Ruth. “You have a blade? I fight best with a blade.”
Red Aether sparked from Ruth’s hands, and she tossed Annatrice the bayonet alone from the Revolutionnaire Set. “Will this do?”
The blonde girl flipped the short blade in her grip, the slightest smirk spreading across her lips. “Yep,” she said. “That’ll do.”
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A geyser of the living dead exploded out of the roof of the Alyn Grace Memorial Shopping Centre -- and the warriors flew out with them.
Atoy Muzazi relieved a good number of thralls of their heads as he flipped through the air, landing in a crouch as the severed skulls rained down around him. Still, he had slain droplets in a bucket. A tide of the dead continued to flow out around him.
Rufus landed a short distance away, del Sed and Aguta still slung over his shoulders. He let them slide off his arms and onto the ground, his eyes fixed on the encroaching mass. There was no sign of their numbers abating -- fresh thralls crawling out from within the crushed ranks of their brethren. The Nebula looked back at Muzazi.
“Look after these two,” Rufus said. “Me and Nacht’ll deal with these things.”
Indeed, Morgan had come out onto the rooftop too -- landing on the other side of the overflowing horde.
“Right,” Muzazi nodded, moving over to defend the two on the ground. Aguta seemed to have slipped into unconsciousness again, and del Sed still hadn’t woken up. Muzazi ignited Radiants from his hands and whirled around, ready to defend his charges --
-- when a sword whipped past his head.
A thin cut opened on his cheek, and in the same moment Muzazi lashed out with a Radiant to counter as the blade came for him again. It had flown independently, without a wielder, and it made no move to defend itself as Muzazi bisected it. It dropped to the floor in two melted pieces… but it wasn’t alone.
In the Changelog that they’d received, there had been mention of one of Praetorian Five’s abilities: Void Contract. It allowed the creature to turn its subordinates into weapons. What were these thralls, then, if not a legion of ready and waiting subordinates?
The tiny figure of Praetorian Five hovered high above the battlefield, fluttering on vibrating insect wings… and all around it, newly forged, floated eager swords. Each and every one of them had a pair of wings to match their masters.
Of course this wouldn’t be as easy as just killing zombies.
Muzazi took a deep breath, adjusted his Radiants…
…and let the storm of blades surge towards him.