All was darkness.
The silent black infinity stretched out before him, accompanied by only the deep rumble of stone.
Then suddenly, light!
A pinprick of red flickering in the distance.
Slowly, it grew larger as the black void rumbled and shook.
Then, like a newborn flame roaring to life, it expanded.
The stone wall in front of him crumbled away, and Alpha stepped out of his rocky tomb and into the top of the wall that had given him so much trouble. He moved the TAWP closer to the edge of the wall and peered out into the burning city beyond. Deep roars, like the sound of an earthquake, echoed through the abandoned city of stone. They were met with the garbled, broken cry of a million dead voices.
Alpha shook the last remains of stone dust from the TAWP and, with a hiss, opened his pilot hatch.
A cyclone of air shot out, circling back around and materializing into No. 7 beside him. Alpha’s strange companion knelt on the rooftop and raised their hands in the air. “Oh! Blessed open sky!” No. 7 snapped to Alpha and pointed, yelling, “I’m never doing that again! You nearly got us killed! What if the enemy had taken control of the wall?!”
“Oh, there was no risk of that happening. Only the Wallkeeper even knows about my imprint, and they’re dead. These fools probably killed him, thinking they could just take over. Ha! Like I’d make it that easy.”
No. 7 froze and stared at the upper half of a woman sticking out of the TAWP’s nanite skin.
No. 7’s arm fell, and they asked with a flat voice. “What are you doing here…?”
“I’m coming with you!” Jīshí responded.
“Ya! She’s coming along!” Alpha echoed.
No. 7 covered their face with both hands and sighed.
“Can someone at least explain what the hell is going on out there?! How long were we in that wall?!” No. 7 asked, gesturing to the burning city. Somewhere off in the distance, one of the larger buildings crumbled, and an enormous stone creature, a quarter the size of the wall, rose from the rubble.
Jīshí raised her hand, “OH! I can answer that! Only a little more than an hour. Some… things happened, and moving you up the wall took a little longer. Given the current state of things, I figured it would be safer than throwing you into the streets.”
“Which would be…” No. 7 asked, rolling their wrist.
Jīshí shrugged, “Someone activated the security system at one of the siphons. That triggered the city’s primary defenses to activate. But time and that — ” she waved to the much thicker swirling dark clouds in the night sky, “ — caused a lot of damage. The system is rampaging.”
“And this?” No. 7 gestured to Jīshí.
Again, the elemental shrugged. “Only way I could leave the wall. I don’t just control the wall; I am the wall.”
No. 7 gawked and asked, “Wait, so the wall is — ”
Jīshí nodded, “Yup. One big elemental body. That causes some issues, though. Specifically, I can’t easily be separated from it. Thus, the projection crystal I stuffed in this fool’s soul.”
“Hey!” Alpha complained, feeling like a third wheel.
Jīshí rolled her eyes and folded her arms. “Oh, stop whining. Think of me as using you like a data hotspot. Besides, it’s one of the safest ways to do this. I don’t suffer from the same issue you do, so the energy you’re radiating acts as a natural shield against all… that.” Again, she gestured to the dark sky.
No. 7 sighed and shook their head before asking. “I’m not even going to ask what the hell you two have worked out. That’s none of my business; I want nothing to do with it. Rather, what do we do now? Can you get us through the city? We’re running out of time.”
Jīshí looked away and scratched her cheek. “Yaaaa, about that. Remember how I said the security system was damaged and corrupted by whatever the hell they’re doing to the Heart? Well, I had to cut myself off from most of the city systems to stop it from spreading. Trust me, you don’t want to see me corrupted.”
As if to emphasize her words, a massive stone hand, as big as the TAWP, slammed onto the top of the wall, only a few meters away. The shadows of the night deepened as the fires burning in the city were blocked by the giant stone figure that pulled itself over the wall. The creature stared down at Alpha and company, then roared with the voice of a mountain.
No. 7 stared up at the creature and said flatly, “…. Right… of course.”
Alpha peddled backward as the elemental swung at him while No. 7 dissolved into the wind.
“Coward!” Alpha yelled at the escaping masked friend before returning to the elemental. How the hell was he going to deal with this thing!? It was at least ten times the size of the TAWP and outmassed him by a lot more.
His only option right now was to go around it instead. But even that wasn’t a perfect plan. He could see several other similar figures wandering the city, crushing everything in their path. He might outrun one, but Alpha would have a bad day if he got trapped between two or more of them.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
However, the choice was taken from him as a TAWP-sized boulder slammed into the giant creature the next moment, knocking it away. It roared as it fell and then broke into a thousand pieces when it hit the ground.
Alpha paused, then turned.
There, on the wall beside him, a massive construct had silently pushed itself out of the wall.
On the surface, it appeared like an old-fashioned M198 howitzer, like the kind Alpha had only seen in some of the ancient war documentaries from Earth. But made of stone… and several dozens of times larger, dwarfing even the TAWP.
Jīshí smiled down at him and said, “What? Did you think you were the only one who liked big guns?”
Alpha shrugged and said, “Well, let’s go do this, then.”
Then, he lept from the walls.
— — — — — — — —
“Charge! Mow them down!”
The young woman stood atop the war machine, a single foot placed on the swerving gun turret, one hand pointing forward while the other kept the slightly oversized PASGT helmet on her head in place.
“Not helping!” Alpha yelled. His point-defense turrets blared and shot another zombie penguin out of the air as it lept from the roof of a nearby building. A sudden right turn into a side street barely allowed them to avoid the fist of the giant earth elemental as it appeared around the corner, hidden by one of the larger buildings.
Jīshí rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. A large boom sounded from the distant wall, followed by a long whistling sound. A second later, a massive boulder slammed into the earth elemental as it tried to follow them. The creature was thrown into the building beside it, and both collapsed into rubble.
Alpha glanced toward the wall and the several dozen gargantuan stone howitzers lining its top, pointing into the city. Occasionally, one would fire, obliterating one of the larger elementals or undead. Jīshí folded her arms and said, “Don’t make a habit of relying on those. Even using the optimized plans dug up from your memory, they’re draining mana and spirit energy like crazy. Without my connection to the Heart, this is about as much as I can do.”
The wind swirled next to her, and No. 7 materialized. They blasted away a few smaller earth elementals clinging to the TAWP that the turrets couldn’t reach and spoke. “We’re almost to the branch temple. Only a few more streets to go. Though, remind me, why are we wasting our time with this instead of heading for the Heart?!”
Jīshí sighed and said, “As I mentioned before we started, someone activated a transit point, which means someone’s trying to come through the siphon. Only a very select few people should even know about the transit system. Meaning either the enemy found it, or…”
“We’re getting backup,” Alpha finished.
Jīshí nodded and continued, “Right. If it’s the enemy, this is a great opportunity to grab some of the enemy outside their fortified position and gather information. If it’s backup, that will make our push toward the Heart much quicker. Especially since both the defenses and the undead are thicker the closer to the city’s center.”
The woman grinned from ear to ear and said, “Besides, I’m having a blast. I’ve not had this much fun in centuries!”
Alpha paused then whispered to No. 7. “Hey… 7… does she seem more… bubbly to you?”
No.7 shrugged and responded, “Elementals are beings of reaction and stimulus. Earth elementals tend to be more stable, but they’re very much affected by their environment and those around them. Besides, being a wall for lord knows how long must be a boring gig. It must be nice to cut loose a little. Or being in your soul is affecting her.”
“Are you calling me a bad influence?!” Alpha asked, insulted.
“Yes.” No. 7 responded.
“… You could have at least hesitated…” Alpha muttered.
“I can hear you both, you know,” Jīshí called from her perch, blank-faced.
“‘We know,’” her two companions said in tandem.
No. 7 was almost thrown off as Alpha made another quick turn to avoid the next street. A moment later, the street was destroyed as one of the giant elementals crashed through it, wrestling with the zombified form of a massive worm-like creature. The two creatures rolled around, flattening several blocks before another boulder from the wall ended them both.
— — — — — — — —
Ten minutes later, the group closed in on the low, wide building that was their target. As they did, new sounds were heard over the constant earthy rumble of elementals and the various dead screams of the undead. The clash of metal and the sound of human voices.
Alpha pushed the TAWP harder and drifted around the last corner to see an odd sight.
The street opened up into a large plaza. In a time long past, the plaza would have been filled with street vendors and merchants hawking their wares to the various travelers and pilgrims. Now, it was filled with a mix of undead and elementals, so thick they prevented each other from moving well. Even now, more and more poured into the cramped space, pushing their way toward the squat building at the far end. Past the outer walls of the building, a small obelisk, only a dozen meters tall, stood in an inner courtyard.
Alpha could see a large group of humans surrounding the courtyard through one collapsed wall, beating back the tide of elementals and undead.
They weren’t alone, however. Mixed in with the undead were a dozen humanoids dressed in black, their faces obscured by black veils. While the undead didn’t seem to bother with the figures, they didn’t appear to be undead themselves. Or, at the very least, they showed far more intelligence than their rotting friends, slipping between the chaos to strike at the defending humans in various malicious ways.
“7!” Alpha called.
“I’m on it!” the other responded before dissolving into a torrent of wind. The small, horizontal cyclone cut a line through the undead horde and elementals before No. 7 materialized above a surprised black-clad figure as they snuck up on one of the defenders. Alpha’s masked companion dropped from the sky and skewered the black-clad figure through the heart with their rapier. The figure jerked, then burst into black flames as No. 7 retreated.
Alpha didn’t waste any time, either. The TAWP’s legs flattened, and the armor on the two front legs thickened and elongated, forming a wedge shape. The TAWP lowered as far to the ground as it could as the treads on its legs squealed. Alpha short forward, plowing through the weakened horde of undead left in No. 7’s wake.
Barricade breaker mode wasn’t as nimble as walker mode. Nor was it as fast or suited for long-distance travel like travel mode. But as the name suggested, it excelled at pushing through defensive lines and getting to places where the enemy didn’t want him. The TAWP pushed through the horde at speed, crushing or pushing them away as he plowed through their line. Those “lucky” few who grabbed onto the TAWP without being crushed were rewarded with a bullet to the face from a point-defense turret. Or Jīshí’s foot.
In only a short amount of time, they’d broken through most of the horde and skidded to a stop just before the front lines, even squishing one of the black-clad figures. The TAWP lept into the air and soared over the human’s defensive line using the remaining momentum, landing in an empty part of the courtyard.
Alpha raised his arms in the air. 10 points! Woo-hoo!
Alpha was greeted by a black-and-white-haired snarling woman as she lept into the air and swung a large… shovel (?) at him. Before Alpha could turn his turrets on the threat, Jīshí appeared on top of the TAWP and caught the bladed shovel between two fingers, stopping the wild-looking woman in her tracks. The shovel lady stared, her eyes wide and mouth agape.
Another figure ran toward them, yelling, “Wait! Stop! STOP! They’re friends!”
Neither party knew which the approaching woman was addressing or referring to. Alpha turned and waved, saying, “Hi Kallik! It’s about time you all showed up. You almost missed all the fun!”
Kallik stopped short and bowed, a closed fist cuffed in the other, before responding. “I’m glad you could make it, though I’m afraid we’ve had more than enough of our own fun recently…”
— — — — — — — —