Chapter 19:

Yin Chen was now near sprinting towards the exit. He felt the rush of spiced adrenaline burning through his body even more so now than before. Her hearts were pumping again, ever more so than before. And he hated it, such a mortal response of sensation coursing through his body and soul, like the fatal poisons in the past, which almost laid him low before.

Almost, and that was merely just the physical, this was spiritual, and it gnawed at him from deep within his core. The hallways corridors were pasting around him like a blur, but in truth it was he who was passing through as a blur. A spec of a shadow, rushing through the space so quickly even the many defenses in place, almost didn’t register him, almost.

Pod was hovering after him but, because of the speed he was going, Pod couldn’t keep pace with him for long. This didn’t deter as Yin Chen at all, as he continued with his pace, building more and more distance between the two.

[Pod, return and triangulate the proper coordinates to me, I want full black out protocol initiated no one is to intervene.] Yin Chen commanded through his mind. Pod Beeps its compliance over the feed before it cut off the connection. He could also sense Pod drifting away despite the distance between them.

Onwards he went, passing the same routine hallways corridor, the defense measure reacted with immediately precision due to the speed he was passing through. Causing the defense measure to react before the sensors registered his gene code. Traversing the halls like a blur, caused some alarm even among his brothers, who reacted with perfect precision to such an anomaly. But retracted their blades at the moment of realization who the supposed threat. However, they didn’t loosen their guard, seeing their Captain General act in such a manner.

Though they asked no question they just prepared themselves for anything to happen. Yin Chen went on in this manner unhindered, till he reached the out docks port of Quan Zhou. His brothers present there too reacted in the same manner as the rest. However, if they had any questions or concerns, they didn’t voice withier vocally or inner voice. Even as Yin Chen jump headfirst into the water fully encased in his armor. Before the sonic boom of acceleration could be heard and he was gone.

At the same time within Quan Zhou.

“The Captain General has left?” The towering figure of Brother Praetorian Liang Lì slightly shifted his head at the report display before him. Still within the Strategium strolling through various information being displayed to him. Drinking in every morsel detail he can from them, even an insignificant act of one his own kind leaving doesn’t escape his attention.

[Has something occurred?] he tried pulling up the trajectory of the path Yin Chen was taking however he was restricted from doing so. He tried contacting his brother through the various means of communication of their kin but found that Yin Chen wasn’t responding.

“Not even responding huh.” Then another display appeared one of utmost importance. The Praetorian drank in the information, and his stern features tighten at what he had just received. He opened another link and then gave out his commands. This command had signaled the change that would forever shake the very foundation of their order. It was also at this precise moment, while Liang Lì was’s attention taken away from observing the docks. It was only till later that there he would learn that there was another figure has departed from Quan Zhou.

Far off from the coast of mainland.

[Mockingjay has sung, I repeat the Mockingjay has sung.]

[Good copy Mockingjay has sung, permission for Pandora to open.]

[You are green, I say again you are green open Pandora’s Box.]

[Hal copy, opening Pandora’s Box……. Pandora’s Box has been opened; I say again Pandora’s Box has been opened.]

Somewhere in another location.

A Man was waking. His eyelids were heavy, it took him several tries to open his eyes. Only to have a blaring light shine into his eyes. Causing him to clamp them shut again, before slowly but surely after rapidly blink them. The man adjusted his eyes, becoming accustomed to the light. Only then was he able to make sense of his surroundings. Finding himself in an isolated room, medical equipment surrounds the cot that he was laying upon. It was devoid of all colors other than pure white, along with the high beams of light coming from the edges above. There was no other furniture in the room, other than the single cot that he laid upon in the center.

Ripping out the tubes sticking into his skin, before hopping off the cot. Stumbling to his knees, barely able to hold himself from falling flat on his face. After a few more tries he was finally able to stand on his feet. While he struggled a hissing sound came behind him. He recognized what these were, the locking mechanisms of machinery. Looking past his shoulder, a portion of the originally perfect seamless wall had shifted. Revealing a doorway in its place.

Calmingly walking through the open path was a single female nurse. She came through with an unnatural calmness to her strides. Along with the sense of detachment as if she isn’t even concern with her environment. She wore a skimpy variant of the standard nursing uniform, her vision fixed upon her data slat. Only becoming aware of the man presence when he made to move past her. Another feature he could make out was her youth, she was but an adolescent adult at best.

“Oh, you’re awake.” The nurse said nonchalantly. Having removed her sight from her tablet, now looking the man. No other ways were said as the man rushed forward, without any further indication or warning. The speed of his sudden rush almost caused him to trip. Shocking even himself, he didn’t remember having such strength and agility before. Before he even reached the door however, the nurse swiftly drew a tube-like contraction from her breast. Timing her strike perfectly, she rammed the device at his neck. Sending a stream electricity surging through his body.

The energy was so intense, he seized up instantly. He couldn’t even let out a scream. After what felt like an entirety, did the woman release the trigger on the stun rod giving him sweet relief. He dropped to his hands and knees, huffing drawing in the air that was denied to his lungs.

“Mmh~, no signs of any displacement or rejection of the cells. No decrease in biological functions, instead it seems to have increased. Tolerance to pain however remains, subpar.” The nurse mumbled, appearing to be taking notes to her data slate. Once again uninterested even by the potential danger she could have been in. This didn’t sit well with the man; he felt the hot sensation of rage building up in his gut. Though not just in the metaphysical expression of it. This one felt physical like an actual urge.

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This was no emotional sensation but a boiling rage building within his very gut. It coursed through his body, overtaking every other sense. The fire within, it burned getting however by the second. Was he literally catching on fire or something? Looking back at the woman, he could finally see something along the notion of intrigued plastered on her face.

“Ooh instant transformation too huh. Mase cellular restructuring, with no visible pain that is most impressive.” Now the woman’s attention fixated on the man. Furiously typing into the data slate in her hand. ‘What was she talking about?’ then something caught his eye. His hands were different now. Overlooking the rest of his body through the thin gown that he wore. He could make out the disproportion shape of his body. Then the sensation faded so too did the changes, reverting to his original self.

The change was so sudden and rapid, the man didn’t even know what to comprehend of the situation. His flesh altering and changing before his very own eyes. Yet despite the physical change happening it didn’t seem to register on his senses. He felt no pain, no aftereffects, not even as he witnessed his own flesh shift and alter back to his original self. As if the one before was just an illusion of his mind.

“What is this? What is happening?” his voice came out so distorted he almost didn’t even recognize his own voice. Quickly overlooking his body, still processing what had just happened.

“You have been reborn anew, better than before mmh, tastier looking too.” The nurse seductively remarked at the side.

“Who are you where is this place?” the man demanded after a few second to regain his composure.

“Me? I’m Linda, pleased to be of service Mr…. I’m sorry what was your name again?”

“Jesse.” The man began to speak “My name is Jesse Curry.”

Back to the pacific oceans nearly 50 miles away from Quan Zhou.

The order had been given out. One that hasn’t been issued in the last four years. As a matter of fact, it has only been issued once, in the entire history since their founding, being the very start of their existence.

[Prepare. Threat vector prime alpha. Brace.]

Brother Praetorian Liang Lì’s words echoed in all the Blades head. Before the rumbling sounds of rumbling from Quan Zhou. Zilong knew what these sounds were, the sound of collusion impacts against Quan Zhou’s aegis shields. He had been in deep mediation within his private chambers, with the soft crackly of the herbal candles stationed around him. Even immersed deep within his psyche, he was still aware of what’s happening in the physical world.

Thus, he heard and felt the rumbling coming from Quan Zhou. Through his sealed door, he could also hear the rapid footfalls of his brother rushing the corridor. Yet he was clam, they all were. More rumbling came through the walls. He slowly rose to his feet his nude profile hidden under with the shadow of darkness around him. Slowly he made his way to another part of his room. Dimly illuminated by the soft seal projection of ethereal energy, of a stasis field however within in the capsule unit. Hovering in the center of it all was the dark silhouette shape of humanoid body armor.

During the duration of the short distance walk, Zilong had changed. Calling upon his nerve skin, or the Synthetic Nano Half Metal Muscle System. A key component of the Blade’s WarFrame Suit; a familiar terrible itching sensation spread across his naked muscles. Droplets of glistening silver sweat ooze out of the pores on his skin, as those glistening drops coalesced and flattened themselves into a hexagonal scale. More liquid metal emerged from his flesh and formed interlocking scales across the body with terrifying speed. The edges seemed to have sunken below the surface of his skin.

A wave of distortion shifted over it, causing its outline to fuzz and portions of the body

to fade in and out, like the world’s fanciest chameleon. By the time Zilong had stopped in front of the capsule, what appeared before the capsule’s glass frame, was now a semi black armored figure. Several areas were reinforced along the arms, legs, and chest in gleaming metal as smooth as chrome. Resembling stylized chrome metal-plated skeleton.

Zilong traced his finger along his new metallic skin. Feeling the synthetic fibres with countless thin but hard wick woven together. As he traced the thin wick, his finger arrived at the metallic skeletal frame. The metallic part was way softer than one would have expect it to be. The soft and elastic metallic part of the suit did not impede his movement as he then proceeded to move and flex his limbs.

More rumbling came the vibration didn’t hinder Zilong motions in the slightest. All the while as he continued to feel and test his second skin. As it shifted and wriggle along with his movements, the sleeves, inseam, and other body parts adjusting itself to mimic his body stature. Sensing the linking of the nerves, the proses breathing in the scented air, the seams now fully interlock with one another, until he deemed it a perfect fit. Only then did he moved on to the arming capsule, to which it its frame had expanded. Showing its in inner exotic mechanism.

He entered where the glass fiber once stood, the armor held within had shattered into its individual segment articles. All shone with a glassy luster slightly reflexing the glow of the energy field it was contained in. it was never always like this. In the earliest days of the long campaign, in the order’s fledgling state, even the first among them didn’t have this level of power provided to aid them. their weapons and protection had been almost crude compared to the beings he and his brothers had been created for to quell. It could also had been the fact that they simply had no idea what they were truly facing.

However slowly, but surly painfully slowly, the artifice had increased. As more effort into their making was funded, more Techseers and artisans were brought to the mix. Old skills were recovered and improved upon, as new techniques devised. At his command the machine began to stir, his armor bits began to sway and shift in the air around him. Despite this Zilong stood stark still, before slowly one by one the pieces of his armor began to fix themselves upon his body. Zilong patiently watched as every component fitted perfectly against his flesh, the way every component slotted perfectly against the others. Feeling the familiar pin pricks of nerve connections as each plate became grafted upon his secondary skin. The familiar clicks and flickers of his plates nerve-interfaces sliding into position. Every sinew-link, every fibre-bundle, every synapse-jack – they were all works of art, tailored to him alone and wearable by no other soul.

He felt the spark of renew vigor rise within his core. As if an emptiness within him had been filled, his enhanced senses already on the borders beyond mortal realms, expanded. Newfound Potency flushed down his veins, augmenting the already prodigious strength fermenting there. He felt his consciousness delve further into a shadow-world of advance-perception and motion prediction. He could hear the faint hums and power currents in the walls within his room. His brothers silent breathing through the door, as they rushed past his room. He began to see the world around him in an unnatural view underneath him, the sides of him even behind him. See the specks of dust hovering slowly in the air. It was alchemy, this process, neither pure engineering nor pure biomancy, but something uneasily mixed from both fountainheads.

Each Blade’s armor was more than just some piece of equipment. It was a part of them custom made and gene craft for the one wearer and them alone. Once donned, the division between armor and wearer was more symbolic, than a matter of semantics or anything else – for all practical purposes, they become one being, a seamless amalgam of genebred muscle and lab-wrought nanotechnology.

Zilong, now encased in his killing-garb, flexed his fingers, then his arms, before performing a series of small motions throughout his body. Testing and checking the response of his metallic muscles. The slight motion of this act made the air around him hummed with danger. As if he were a patience hunting predator waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Through this he discovered many imperfections that require remedial work. He had inclined his head fractionally, detecting a minuscule delay response in his helm’s response time. His senses rapidly adjusted this.

A fractional time of 00.234 microseconds delay time in his right shoulder: readjusting

Alignment of his left thigh plates was off by 00.2 degrees.

The grip strength of his right hand was off by 0.3 precent, readjusting motor fiber tensions.

Pressure tensions on his boots was too high, recalibrating, altering tensions by 0.02 percent.

Zilong continuingly micromanaged the corrections of his suit. While simultaneously intaking an influx of other data that swarmed him, other variables that he noticed and fixed. To any other souls such minuscule details would have been imperceptible. Though none of these faults impede his responses in any measurable way. To leave such imperfects within himself was unacceptable, such deficiencies no matter how small must be corrected. Less they allow such complacent to take hold then this would have grown till it would have led to catastrophic failure. To fulfil their one true mission of their existence, such mortal efficiency was beneath them they need to excel beyond mortal bounds.

Once he deemed the fix sufficient, he moved away from the arming chamber. Towards the side where an equal sized case opened unveiling its contents within. Hung within a silver-flecked suspensor miasma field, his two true arms Fuchai and Feizi whom hung lightly in suspense ready to be grasped. Once Zilong’s gauntlets closed on the haft of the weapons, there would be no withdrawal not until the task at hand is done. His muscles wind tight as he gripped onto his spears, felt its familiar weight and rhythm as its systems kicked into life, and relished the sensation.

Testing his weapon by giving them a quick succession of swings, he nodded at their performance satisficed, before he started to move. The doors to the chamber hissed open. Releasing him to the wild, he was now free. After four long years, it has been four long years. Now he was free, the light break they’ve had was now officially over a new war dawn over the horizon now, and like before they would rise to meet it. That was their purpose, that was their reason to exist.