“I wouldn’t say it’s the safest way of doing this, but if you say so, mistress!!” Jel yelled back, leaning into a turn and diving towards the trench at high speeds.
“Mori, there’s got to be a better way of doing this than to go down there personally. I mean, I’m going too since I don’t want to be left out, but still!” VII shouted as the wind whipped past them.
Mori stole a glance at the hundreds of Clockworks lining up in neat rows, then turned to VII, “This is the best way of showing that the Forgeheart shouldn’t play around with us. It might give us some time to build our forces, too. Alright, we’re about to land!” Mori shouted, readying herself as VII did the same, “Three. Two. One. Go!” They leapt from Jel’s back when they were just ten feet from the ground. VII, with her significantly faster reflexes, was able to roll as she landed, coming to a stop on her feet. Mori, on the other hand, neither had the reflexes for something similar or needed to worry about such things. She opted to simply roll onto her knees, upon which she slid to a stop. Once she bled off all of her momentum, she stood laughing, “Oh, that was great!” she laughed, turning to VII, who had a smile as well, “You know, I think I’d like skydiving. Maybe come up with something that lets anyone skydive without a parachute…”
VII chuckled, “As fun as that sounds, we do have a band of enemies over there,” VII said, “Let’s deal with that first before anything else, alright?”
Mori nodded, turning to the Clockworks leaping over the trench, “I know, I know. So, how do you want to do this? I think we should go up close and personal. Maybe add some temporary shield runes and we’ll be fine against gunfire if we make them strong enough.”
VII stared at the weapons of the Clockworks arrayed against them, shrugging, “If we do that, then we won’t be able to cast spells around us with the mana in the atmosphere. Are you using your Sentient energy blade for this?” she asked, flexing her fingers and brandishing her claws.
Mori simply summoned the S. energy in response, shaping it into a mace. She was not stupid enough to use a sword on heavily armored Clockworks, but she still hoped that the little skill she had with the sword translated to using a mace. With her weapon made, she spun two mana runes onto herself and VII, covering them in a thick shield. Between that shield and her once-armband shield, she knew that she could take a lot of hits before being truly hit, “Alright, ready?” Mori asked.
VII nodded, smiling, “Very. Let’s go,” she said, sprinting off to meet the horde. Mori followed, wondering since when VII was so eager to fight. They ran unhindered for most of their way. It was only half way between their starting position and the trench when the Clockworks took notice of them, with Mori and VII being able to run unhindered half of the distance between the Clockworks and when they spotted the two approaching.
As soon as they were a few hundred feet away from the horde, bullets flew. The air was filled with streams of lead smashing themselves upon the pair’s shields. More and more bullets fell to the ground, until they finally reached the first Clockwork.
Mori lunged towards the enemy, mace raised high, when the Scout-Headhunter hybrid held up a hand. A copper-blue field sprouted from its hand, manifesting itself into a buckler. Mori’s mace smashed into the buckler, shattering the mana like a pane of glass. The force of her strike carried through the shield and smashed into the Clockwork’s cone-like head. The cone was flattened, debris and scrap scattering into its torso. With a weak click, it fell over, dead. Mori stared at the Clockwork for a second before turning to face her next opponent.
Something was off about that shield. It was as if it tried to block her very existence and keep it at bay. Disliking that feeling, she decided to test something; she called upon her body, which, having absorbed a few mana dynamos, could produce mana, and spun a spell into her hand. She waited for her next opponent, a Soldier hybrid, to raise its shield and pumped a fair amount of mana into it. She let it fly, watching as the beam of fire slammed into the shield. And was deflected into the sand.
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Mori would have frozen right there if not for VII tearing into the defending Clockwork with her claws, shredding it. Mori shook herself from her surprise, nodded to VII, and turned to meet the continuously-shooting mass of clocksteel, mana, and soulstuff. She rushed forward, bringing her mace back and smashing a trio of Clockworks to the ground with a single strike. She called upon her body once more and bathed her mace in fire mana, striking at another enemy in front of her with it.
The Clockwork raised its translucent buckler, clashing with her mace and providing more resistance than she faced previously. She dispelled the mana on her mace, finding the shield breaking almost immediately when doing so.
She smashed that enemy and felt something poke at her side. She looked up and saw that her temporary shield was breaking down, likely due to her moments of inaction. She growled; she would have to deal with the implications of the bucklers later. With her curiosity satisfied, she went about systematically tearing into the Clockworks. She ripped them in half, smashed their body parts, turned their guns against each other, and did everything she could to destroy them.
A half hour later, she and VII were sitting atop the husk of the last hybrid Clockwork they had killed. Mori turned to the trench, but all of the transports had retreated, leaving the hybrids to die. With a sigh, Mori laid her back across the upper chest of the husk, “You know, this isn’t good…” Mori remarked, sighing, “Looks like ATHENA’s insistence that we use traditional munitions for the necromechs was a good choice.”
VII smiled, patting Mori on the shoulder and laying back with her, “Yeah, not good. But now you know how I’ve always lived,” she said, laughing. “Every time I’d come up with something interesting, like a cool new gun for the trooper unit, or an interesting new shield for the shield maiden unit, it would only really work for about a week before countermeasures are developed. Then I’d have to go back to the drawing board, or counter some other cool thing made by the enemy. It’s really, really annoying, you know?” she sighed.
Mori thought for a moment. She certainly did not want to be in a sisyphean loop like that, “Alright, how did you make that bearable, then? You would have to spend so much time making things only for them to be countered…”
“I didn’t,” VII laughed, “I just made it easier. I worked with my siblings who had specialties, making it easier for me. It was better than being alone, alright. Granted, for us, the solution is obvious,” she said, “Just give them normal guns again.”
Mori did not answer immediately, pondering her own fights with them. “No…” she slowly said, “They only have one offhand, and there will always be more than one Talonec, so they can always shoot the Clockwork. And if that fails, then the lone Talonec can just charge the Clockwork and tear into it with its bayonet!” Mori exclaimed.
VII stared into Mori’s eye-flames for a long moment, “I suppose, but what happens when that isn’t the case? When the Forgeheart comes up with something that can really counter the Talonecs or, even worse, you? What then?”
“I rely on you and Fara and ATHENA and my death knights and the rest of my friends?” Mori asked.
“I suppose… Mori, I’m trying to get at something here.”
“I could tell,” Mori chuckled.
VII cracked a smile, gone in an instant as she began to speak, “Mori, I think you need to tie the necromancers you picked up to us, not only so they can come along after all of this is over, but also so they can work with us.”
Mori raised a finger to refute that, but lowered it a moment later. She thought about it for a long, hard moment. They had agreed to become death knights, sure, but they did not know anything about the baggage that it came with. She knew that all she had to do to raise them as death knights was to encase their souls in her mana and put those souls back into their bodies, but- She paused. She did not know that before, but she smiled widely. That little nugget finally gave her something useful, and she was happy about it. With a laugh, she stood, “VII, that little bit of gifted knowledge Kel’rk’ath gave me finally ponied something useful up!” she said, “With this… alright, I guess I might as well not put it off any longer…”
At that moment, a Clockwork Transport fell from the sky, torn and slashed by claws. Mori looked up to see Jel flapping her wings above them, “Mistress, VII, are you guys ready to go?” she shouted.
A minute later, they were flying back to ATHENA and Mori had plenty to think about. She still had to talk to her death knights about the prospect of adding over a dozen more to their ranks, not to mention talking with the necromancers about the nature of her employment to the gods. She did not think that the day where she would convert the living to her ranks would come so quickly, but she was not unhappy about it, though she made sure to remind herself that she was no god. For every thug and king, being arrogant was a fast track to being dethroned, and she did not want to lose her little world she made for herself.