CHAPTER ELEVEN

Bastion

After his fall, Specter found himself trapped beneath a heap of debris, his steel limbs struggling to clear it from his frame. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed since he and part of the restaurant had fallen into the cavern, but he dreaded every minute he had spent trapped here, and not protecting Marcus. His right arm wouldn’t respond, raising fears that it was trapped or severely damaged. In the rubble, he could make out dirt, rotten wood, rocks, and the remains of dozens of monsters. Flames crackled nearby, mixing with the agonizing screams of dying and wounded creatures.

Desperation took over, and he redoubled his efforts, his mind racing with thoughts of his companions and how badly Marcus might be hurt. When Specter finally freed himself, he found himself deep within the cavern, the ceiling almost entirely destroyed. Smoke lingered in the air, thinner now as it escaped upward.

‘He’s fine… he made it out,’ he told himself, forcing down the rising fear. He activated his HUD, focusing on something else.

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[WARNING: Right arm critical damage detected...]

[WARNING: Structural integrity compromised...]

[ERROR: Motor control is below standard parameters...]

[EMERGENCY REPAIRS ADVISED...]

╚ ╝

Specter observed the cascade of warning messages, informing him of all the damage his frame had sustained, including the complete failure of his right arm. ‘Perfect... just what I needed.’ He then shifted his gaze to the injured limb, attempting to move it. The shoulder twitched, but the rest hung limp, its pistons and motors shot. ‘What is it with me and my right arm? Is this frame cursed or something?’ he thought before shifting his attention to the clock on his HUD, which showed only a few minutes had passed since he had fallen down into the cavern.

As Specter slowly rose from the ground, his robotic frame protested with creaks and whirs, echoing in the cavern. The sight that greeted him was one of utter destruction. Flames licked at the air, smoke billowed from burnt out bodies and partially consumed old car tires. Every few seconds he could see or hear more crumbling rocks falling down, and despite not having an actual nose, he knew that the stench of death hung heavy in the air.

‘I should be dead,’ he thought in disbelief as he looked down at the distance he had fallen. Everywhere he looked, monster bodies were strewn about, each different in its own way. Some remained intact but had clearly suffocated, others were charred or boiled, and a few were mere smears of red beneath large rocks that had crashed down during the collapse.

Looking upward, Specter noticed more of the cavern roof collapsing, sending chunks of rock tumbling down. Amidst the chaos, he looked up at the night sky, seeing the stars in the distance, now marred by the eerie blue hue of the Sphere. “I’m sure no one will even notice this,” he muttered sarcastically, taking in the magnitude of the devastation. He figured a group of Breachers would arrive in a few hours to farm more Glass and resources, as they had been doing for days.

‘I need to get out of here and find the others, before I get shot again, like what went down in the junkyard.’

The sound of shifting rubble snapped Specter’s attention to the source. “Marcus?” he called out instinctively. From amid the debris, a battered and bloodied monster emerged. It shook its head, disoriented, before fixing its six-eyed gaze on Specter. With a series of clicks and hisses, the scaly creature unsteadily lurched forward.

Specter reacted quickly, picking up a nearby rock the size of his fist and slamming it into the creature’s temple with a solid thud. The monster instantly went down, and Specter pounced, pinning it as he rained blow after blow until its features were unrecognizable. He then got up, gripping the bloody rock more firmly in his hand.

‘This isn’t good. Where the hell are my axes?’ he thought, frantically patting down his torn clothes and metal frame in search of his weapons, only to come up empty-handed. ‘No doubt lost it during the fall.’

More shifting rock caught his attention, his steel body freezing up as new monsters emerged from the wreckage. Dozens of them—maimed, charred, but all with hostile eyes—fixed their attention on him, brimming with hatred.

“Shit.”

Before the monsters could act, Specter took off in a sprint, heading in the direction where there were fewer monsters. He kept his grip on the bloody rock, dodging the lunges of nearby creatures. He jumped over a boulder and dashed into patches of thicker black smoke, vanishing into its depths. Abruptly, he changed course toward where he believed the Orb was located.

‘Gotta reach it or I’m toast,’ he thought as he increased his speed before a startled monster suddenly came into view. With a swift swing, he crushed the creature’s skull with his ruck, sending it crashing to the ground. He stomped on the monster’s head for good measure before he quickly cycled between his three cameras, doing his best to see through the thick smoke, spotting more and more monsters while planning his route towards the Orb. He took off again, evading most of the monsters, killing any that got too close by slamming the rock into their heads.

Specter sprinted as monstrous roars echoed around him in the cavern, occasionally jumping over rocks. Through his thermal camera, he could see the monsters regrouping into smaller parties, while others wandered aimlessly, too injured to really make a difference or just continue with their recent hobby of suffocating to death. His fear spiked as the black smoke thinned faster. Gradually, he became more visible as groups of monsters spotted him rushing through the patches of black smoke. Several lunged at him again, clawing and biting as they latched onto his frame.

“Get off!” Specter howled, smashing the rock against a monster on his back, shattering both the rock and the creature's skull. He sprang forward, prying off another monster that had latched onto his chest, then shoved his thumb into its eye-socket until it convulsed and collapsed to the floor. Just as he prepared to leap over the corpse, a third monster tackled his legs, slamming him into the ground.

“No!” Specter roared as dozens of monsters swarmed him, raining blows across his steel frame, chipping away his plastic plating and denting the metal underneath. A sickening sensation gripped him as the sound of some of his fingers snapping off filled his sensors—a cacophony of bending metal and breaking motors. He tried to rise, but another barrage of blows slammed him back into the ground. Desperate, he looked around, seeing the spot where the Orb was located within the cavern. It seemed agonizingly close, as if fate wasn’t content with tearing his steel body apart—it wanted him to feel despair too.

‘Not like this,’ he thought, struggling to fend off the monsters before an even greater swarm engulfed him, blocking his vision with a swirling mass of hatred, teeth, claws, and burned flesh. Specter winced as each blow, claw, bite, and kick chipped away at his body, the damage worsening with every hit. Warning signs flashed across his HUD with each part of him that he lost or was damaged, eliciting a string of curses in his mind.

‘Shit, shit, shit,’ he thought, curling up defensively to shield his more fragile parts. Fear gripped him as he contemplated the possibility of the monsters reaching his Orb and tearing it out. ‘Is that going to kill me? Am I going to die here?’ Limbs pounded his robotic frame, pulling at him, trying to rip off more parts as horrible sounds echoed in the air, mixing with the hissing and screeching of the monsters. Desperately, he covered his head with his arms, hoping they wouldn’t breach his metal skull.

A loud impact shook the ground near him, accompanied by an even louder audible response from the angry swarm of monsters. Specter, barely registering the disturbance, tried to protect himself, kicking at the occasional monster, until he locked eyes with one that almost seemed to smile at him. The monster then started to headbutt Specter in the face over and over again, each impact rattling his senses. A thunderous roar suddenly pierced the air before Specter could hear things being thrown around, bones breaking and monsters screaming in pain.

Seconds later, the head-butting monster was yanked off him and hurled into the air, crashing down in a fiery blaze. He shifted his gaze to the side, seeing a monster get slammed in to the ground, a spear protruding from its back before the weapon was suddenly pulled out. ‘Marcus?’ Specter wondered, before a steel foot crushed that same monster’s head, killing it instantly and leaving a fleshy pulp. A moment later, the robot yanked Specter back up to his feet. Brushing away dirt and blood from his own lenses, Specter could see the other robot standing next to him. It was covered in dust and fresh blood while keeping the other monsters at bay as it swung its spear and shield around. The robot’s left leg was bent and twisted, forcing it to hobble as it tried to move and protect him.

“Thanks for saving my... wait, you jumped down?” Specter blurted out, not sure if he was impressed or angry at his companion.

“Can you fight?” the robot asked as it shifted into a combat stance beside him, shield and bloodied spear in hand. “I’ve got a spare axe on my hip.”

“Does it really matter? It’s not like I get to make a choice,” Specter hissed, spotting the spare axe and several knives taped to the robot’s frame, smeared with blood and dirt. He gripped the axe and ripped it free, the tape snapping sharply. Then he pressed his back against the robot’s, ready to defend each other. “What about Marcus?”

“He’s safe,” the robot assured him as more monsters closed in. They howled and screeched, some even throwing rocks, their hesitation clear now that they faced a second, larger threat armed with blood-coated weapons. Some monsters were small, with multiple limbs, razor-sharp claws, and vicious teeth, while others had bulkier frames and thicker patches of scale-like armor.

“Your last-second shove saved Marcus from going down along with you. It was close, but I got him out. I jumped down after I knew he was safe and heard you shouting,” the robot said as it watched more monsters circle and feint toward them.

Specter swung his axe to deter the more reckless monsters and shook his head at the escalating threat. “Why the hell would you risk—”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Because we don’t abandon family,” the larger robot cut in, steel fingers gripping its shield and spear. “And I’ve got my own name on the line, so I can’t have you dying on me yet.”

“Family... really? You sound like a cliché movie character,” Specter muttered, seconds before witnessing the monsters’ aggression and hatred reaching a boiling point as the enemy forces suddenly charged into them. The robots met the monsters with steel and violence. Specter smashed his axe into monster after monster. Despite the state of his ruined right arm, he used it to block attacks or awkwardly whipped it to fend off threats from his flank.

The other robot was struggling as well, stabbing several monsters with its spear before finally losing it in the mass of limbs and aggression. It quickly grabbed a knife and began stabbing at every monster nearby. Each time a monster managed to come too close, it would send it flying with a shield bash, or simply slam the edge of the dented shield into the monster’s chest with enough force to crack ribs. The robots hacked, stabbed, and bashed their way through the horde, gradually thinning their ranks. Specter’s vision turned red from all the blood that was hitting his face, while his hearing went out on his right after a monster slammed a rock against the side of his head.

“You dirty little—“ Specter yelled, about to stab the monster when a deep roar echoed through the cavern, freezing everyone in place. He snapped his head toward the Orb's location, spotting a towering monster rising from the ground, several times his size with multiple legs resembling a twisted centaur. The monster’s massive frame was covered in ash and dirt, with broken scales and charred fur adorning its body. The behemoth finished its roar before it charged towards them, smashing through debris and trampling other monsters in its path.

“That doesn’t look fun,” Specter shouted to the other robot as he slammed his axe into the chest of the monster that had just thrown the rock at him.

“We need to deal with that—” the larger robot growled, but it let out a sudden roar when a monster pierced one of its cameras with a claw. The robot retaliated, driving its knife deep into the monster’s eye before releasing it to grip the creature’s head. It crushed the monster’s skull and ruined the knife in one motion, blood and gore dripping from its steel fingers before it reached for another blade taped to its torso. “I’ll deal with it,” it said before swinging its shield sideways, smashing through the monsters ahead, ignoring the damage to its left leg as it limped forward. Its knife flashed left and right, cutting down creatures as it pressed toward the towering monster before they violently collided.

The collision echoed with a deafening crash, shrouding them in a cloud of dust and smoke. As the haze settled, Specter saw his companion struggling against the towering monster, its steel legs digging into the rocky ground as it stabbed the beast over and over, all the while getting pushed back. Specter noticed the robot’s left leg gradually giving way under the strain of the assault, deforming more and more.

‘This is bad,’ Specter thought as he dodged beneath a leaping monster, only to have another jump on his back while chewing on his neck. He rolled forward, grinding the smaller creature beneath his steel frame and the ground before rising to his feet and hearing the monster's pained howls behind him.

Specter veered right, moving closer the other robot and the monstrosity it was facing, keeping to the thicker patches of black smoke. His thermal camera picked up another monster rushing through the smoke. He swung his axe into its face the moment he closed the gap. The monster skidded to a stop, still twitching as its body caught up to the realization that a piece of sharpened metal had obliterated its brain.

Specter heard the rush of more monsters behind him and spotted their shapes through the smoke using his thermal camera. He kicked the ground, scattering pebbles in all directions and drawing the creatures toward the distant sound. As they blindly charged towards the noise, Specter sprinted towards his companion, seeing it being pushed back more and more by the towering monster, as well as endure the dozens of smaller monsters peppering its steel frame.

Despite the robot’s efforts to defend itself with its shield, Specter noticed the shield deforming under the monster’s claws, deep marks marring the surface of the metal with each strike or even ripping parts off. “Hang on,” Specter yelled, bursting through the black smoke and shooting past the other robot. He gripped his axe tightly, maneuvering around the massive monster and dragging the blade along its flank, leaving a long cut as he moved behind it.

With a desperate leap, Specter shot upwards before he slammed the axe into the monster’s broad back, using it as leverage to hoist himself higher. Clinging to the creature’s back with his damaged limb and frame, he crawled higher, continuing to hack the axe into its flesh to drag himself up until he reached the monster’s neck. He then started to hack at the monster’s flesh and bone in a maniacal frenzy, each blow extracting a spray of thick blood that coated his steel frame. It even got so bad he had to constantly switch between cameras to even be able to see what he was hitting.

Amidst the blood and gore, he roared a death chant, “Die! Die! Die!” burying the axe deeper with each strike, as if he was trying to fell a tree. He ignored the smaller monsters swarming them, some attacking his companion, others climbing the massive creature to reach him. “I said…” Specter hissed desperately before something snapped in his mind, his remaining Mana surging through his frame in a violent burst of energy.

Ignoring the barrage of warnings on his HUD, Specter felt his battery life plummet as blue mist poured from the cracks in his steel torso. In that fleeting moment, fueled by the burning of Mana, he could almost feel a surge of strength coursing through him. “…die!” He then brought the axe down with a speed that was beyond what his body was capable of, feeling the strain on his pistons and motors as the axe sliced through the air with indescribable ferocity.

The axe tore through the monster’s neck, shredding bone and muscle like paper, the sheer force twisting and bending the steel handle until it finally snapped off, leaving the axe-head lodged within the creature. Blood erupted from the wound like a geyser as the towering monster’s roars turned into gurgles of pain. Specter froze as the monster trembled beneath him, moments later toppling over and forcing him to drop the useless steel handle.

‘Crap, crap, crap!’ He clung to the dying monster as it crashed to the ground, the impact obliterating nearby creatures and sending a wave of smoke, dust, and debris in every direction. Through the thick dust, it took him a moment to realize he was back on the ground. He shrugged off the disorientation, ignoring the warnings on his HUD about the damage he had sustained and the issues regarding his remaining Mana. Struggling to his feet, he was immediately knocked down again by three monsters, their claws and teeth tearing into his frame.

“Get off me!” he roared, smashing his head into one of their faces with enough force to crack a camera lens. Grasping another by the throat, he squeezed with his damaged left hand, feeling the creature's windpipe break as the monster struggled helplessly. Specter barely noticed the sounds behind him before more monsters rushed in, slamming him to the ground.

‘Marcus, you better have made it out safe,’ Specter thought as he kicked one monster away and slapped another with his flail-like right arm, which suddenly came loose at the shoulder in a spray of light blue liquid. One of the monsters grabbed the arm and held it above its head like a grotesque trophy before Specter kicked it in the face, dislocating its jaw and breaking several teeth.

‘We’re screwed,’ he thought, hearing the other robot roar in defiance as it smashed monsters even while being pinned down. ‘I wonder if dying like a robot will hurt,’ he thought, struggling to shake off the monster clawing at his face, further damaging the still-functional cameras.

Suddenly, the monster in front of him stopped attacking him, instead it started clawing at its own head as if in distress. Specter froze in confusion for a minute before looking past the monsters that had swarmed him. Through the smoke and dust, he saw the Sphere above him shatter into countless fragments, dispersing into the air. In that moment, the collapsing structure of light and raw Mana seemed almost beautiful to him, like shooting stars before vanishing into oblivion.

‘Did it get the Orb?’ Specter thought as he slammed the monster aside before shoving the others away, ignoring their final, futile attempts to cling to him as he rose. He kicked one of the more determined monsters aside as he took in his surroundings. He could see the same thing all around him; groups of monsters that were either already dead or dying, many of them clawing at the back of their own heads in agony.

‘That one-legged sack of bolts actually did it? We won!’

With his thermal camera scratched up, he had trouble looking through the lingering smoke. He made out movement in the distance and soon spotted a battered robot limping toward him, caked in blood and dirt.

“Still alive, huh?” he asked it.

“Barely. Hanging by a thread here... or a few screws,” the robot said, limping closer, clutching its shield, now dented and bent beyond repair. “I lost my hand somewhere. Some bugger probably ate it. Marcus isn’t going to be happy about that,” it added, wiggling its ruined metal limb to prove his point, which stopped abruptly near the wrist. “You stored the Orb already?”

“What?” Specter responded, moving closer. “No, I don’t have the Orb. I was getting ripped to shreds down there. I thought you grabbed it.”

The other robot shook its head. “Wait... Marcus?” it asked awkwardly before they both glanced toward where the Orb should have been. They heard only falling rocks from above, the smoke still too thick to see through.

Suddenly, a familiar roar shattered the silence, its reverberations pulsating through the walls, echoing exhaustion and relief.

“Marcus!” Specter exclaimed and bolted forward, his steel feet pounding the stone surface as he sprinted as fast as he could. He heard the other robot hobble behind as they moved through the wall of smoke.

They reached a spot where the smoke cleared enough to show more of the cavern. Specter skidded to a halt, spotting the young man on a pile of rubble, drenched in blood, surrounded by dead monsters while still letting out a deafening roar.

The air around Marcus was still distorted in a light blue mist, bits of Mana still bleeding from his system. ‘It’s turned blue. He’s really Beta rank now,’ Specter thought as he took a few hesitant steps closer. His gaze swept over Marcus, checking the man for injuries before spotting the pulsating blue light in Marcus’s left hand.

As the smoke cleared further, they could see a bent spear stuck in a nearby monster and a partially ruined gas mask in Marcus’s right hand. The two robots edged closer, stepping over dead bodies and broken chunks of rock.

As Marcus finished his roar, he collapsed to his knees, gasping for air. Specter rushed forward, extending his metallic arm to grip the man’s shoulder, providing both support and a mental connection.

Memories flooded his mind as he became one with Marcus, chaotic thoughts swirling like a tempest. He recalled Marcus’s hesitation back on the surface, watching as the other robot jumped in after hearing his companion get attacked. He remembered Marcus fighting the urge to retreat or help before instinct forced him to climb down the treacherous slope. Each step had been a struggle, the unforgiving incline causing Marcus to slip and stumble as urgency grew with each echo of the robots’ shouts and the sound of combat.

Specter severed the connection, overwhelmed by the influx of new memories. He recalled Marcus's frantic dash through the thick smoke after reaching the cavern's bottom, the gasmask barely offering protection against the smoke while dirt and blood obscured his vision.

Flashes of Marcus's desperate struggle against the monsters filled Specter’s mind, each kick and stab bringing him closer to the Orb. He recalled the pain as claws and teeth tore into Marcus, the unforgiving terrain leaving even more bruises and cuts across his body.

Specter shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts as warnings flashed on his HUD, signaling that his steel frame was running on fumes.

“Being smart... and taking... calculated... risks, huh?” Marcus's voice, heavy with exhaustion, broke the silence before he slipped on the gasmask again, aided by the other robot.

“I...” Specter paused, mentally replaying the words he had used to persuade Marcus to clear this Sphere back in the apartment. “Things went to shit. I didn’t expect there to be so many left, or how quickly they’d adapt and regrow their numbers, but—”

“Let’s save the finger-pointing for later, back in the apartment, after we’ve got all our fingers again,” the larger robot said, wiggling his remaining fingers to prove a point. “There’s got to be hundreds of Glass pieces scattered around us,” it added. “Hundreds, either strewn about or buried, and we’re running out of time to grab them.”

Specter nodded, well aware that the security personnel on site would likely notice the Sphere breaking apart in the sky or the massive smoke signal they had just created for all to see.

“It took us a few minutes to get here from the Sphere’s edge. I doubt the guards will rush in immediately. They’re probably freaking out at the moment,” Specter reasoned. “But eventually, others will come... government officials, Breachers, maybe even a guild if our bad luck really wants to screw us over. If they find us, they’ll either ask questions we don’t want to answer or pose a threat to us in some way.”

“Alright,” Marcus said suddenly. He tightened his grip on the Orb, stepped closer to Specter, and handed him the pulsating object. “Let’s spend a few minutes searching for any Glass we can find. Then we’re out.”

The two robots nodded, well aware of the risks. Even if they escaped without being caught, getting home unnoticed would be harder with sunrise approaching.

Marcus then turned his attention towards the larger robot, eyeing its damaged shield, missing foot, and a ruined features.

“But first,” Marcus said, his voice distorted by the gasmask, “I think you need a proper name.”

The robot paused briefly, lifting up the shield and staring at it before tightening its grip on it. A few seconds later, it reached out and touched Marcus’s shoulder.

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[Reconfiguration in progress...]

[System designation is now complete]

[Unit activation: Bastion is now online]

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