Adam dived behind a pillar. Plaster rained down upon the prayer hall as the War Maiden emptied her magazine in his direction. Several bullets smashed through a mural at the back, piercing holes through Her wings. Adam heard the sharp clicks of a reload, inhaled the acrid scent of burnt carbon, and grinned.
"Open fire!"
[Turret P-02], [Turret P-03], [Turret P-04] and [Turret P-06] are engaging…
Several metal boxes, two on the ground, two on nearby tables, unfurled their mechanical legs. Cylindrical barrels extended out from their fronts with shrill beeps. A torrent of radioactive-green energy rounds exploded forward, striking the War Maiden dead on. Adam unloaded a sleek, rectangular-framed rifle from his back and fired. A spread of pellet-shaped energy blasts toppled the War Maiden over.
"It’s working!" Adam shouted into Miriam’s comms. "You seeing this?"
"No! No cameras! But I’ll take your word for it!" Miriam screamed back.
How did cavemen hunt mammoths, if all they had was knives and sticks? Simple: they wore it down bit by bit, then dived in for the killing blow. The War Maiden possessed skin like steel and near-limitless persistence, but all the damage—gunfire from the other intruders, wraith attacks, blunt force trauma via [Psychokinesis], and the toxins—stacked up.
Adam’s [Hacking] diagnosed the mini-turrets. All were stable, though a few had sustained damage from the War Maiden’s rifle bullets. Collecting them had been a journey itself, taking him around the breadth of the prayer hall, through multiple doors and multiple barricades. More wraiths had blocked the way, their origin apparent. He also purchased a new augmentation with his remaining Biometric Key: [Aim Stabilizer]. It kept his arms steady against recoil and his nerves.
Most of all, his hypothesis was right. Whether it was out of self-preservation, a hole in her perception, or the last working traces of a frayed mind…the War Maiden did not, could not, fire her energy blasts indoors.
"This won’t be enough to stop her!" Miriam said. "The intruders would have killed her by now if it was!"
The War Maiden turned and dove behind a statue. She dashed out as the turrets blasted their shots into the marble. She crouched down on the balls of her feet. The next moment, she vanished.
Adam blinked. The War Maiden re-appeared in front of Turret P-02, slicing her blade towards it.
The turret was thrown off its legs. The second swing sent it across the breadth of the prayer hall, eventually crashing into the wall.
[Turret P-02] has been destroyed!
The War Maiden disappeared again. She jammed her rifle into the barrel of Turrent P-03 and unloaded. Adam cursed as bullets smashed out the metal frame from the other side. The turret exploded in a cloud of fire and electric sparks. He fired at the War Maiden, hitting her in the shoulder. She charged as he backed off, the two of them now behind individuals pillar.
[Turret P-03] has been destroyed!
Her bullets chugged down the mixture of flesh and metal tubing. Adam grabbed the limb with [Psychokinesis]. With a head-pounding effort that turned his stomach, he forced the arm back. The rifle jerked back towards the War Maiden’s own body right as the mechanism fired.
The War Maiden screamed, and reeled back, brain matter leaking out of the pen-sized hole in her skull. She wheeled the limb back around, spraying bullets in all directions.
Vitality lost. Seek medical attention!
[Turret P-05] has been damaged! Firing mechanism compromised!
But Adam’s own [Psycho: Push] shoved her straight back into the range of [Turret P-05]. A harsh crack rang through the air. The War Maiden gagged and retched blood as she was bowled over. Adam aimed at her blade and blasted it out of her hands. It didn’t break, instead skidding over to a wall and bouncing off.
The rifle clicked. The battery was dry. He switched to his handgun and unloaded its contents.
[Turret P-05] has run out of ammunition. Now disengaging…
Adam reached for a pile of debris near him and hurled a piece with [Psychokinesis]. It smacked her down again; not that Adam could see that, because he was already reaching for the next one.
The War Maiden raised her rifle like a shield. The first chunk smacked into her eye. The second chunk banged against her forehead. The third broke her guard completely. The remaining of her lifeblood spurted out, the wounds brandished open for more incoming chunks. She fell on her back, spluttering.
Plasma: 24%
Warning! Plasma capacity is approaching low levels. Please find a restorative solution soon.
"Adam!" Miriam shouted. "Finish her! Finish her off now. Slice off her head and destroy her heart!"
He unsheathed his tomahawk and charged in for the final blow. As he raised it high, the War Maiden’s eyes snapped open. Her left hand towards Adam’s neck. The tomahawk’s blade dug into its skin. As Adam tried to prise it out, the War Maiden wrenched her right arm and smashed the side of her rifle into his face.
"You gotta be kidding me…" Adam groaned as he regained his balance. He slammed a kick into her chest and wrenched the tomahawk free. "You’re still alive?"
He bashed her over the head and climbed onto her body. He raised the tomahawk and brought it straight down onto her face.
You miserable freak. His thoughts regurgitated out in tune with his swings. Blood and flesh splattered everywhere, pooling onto the six-star sigil emblazoned on the floor. You damn monster! You murderer! You’re the reason this place is all messed up! You’re the reason I’m stuck in this hellhole!
"Just give up. Just lie down and fucking die already!"
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The War Maiden refused. Even as her frantic struggles turned into quivers and her howling screeches gave way to pathetic gurgles, the War Maiden did not die. She continued to lie there, a still-breathing corpse. Her lone surviving eye flickered up to meet his. A low moan emitted from her pulped mouth.
Her free hand agonized up towards the symbol on the front of the jumpsuit. Adam grabbed her wrist and pummelled her arm onto the ground.
A tremor pounded through his core. It resounded from a place deeper than his physical body, as if his very soul had grown its own heart.
The recipient target [War Maiden *#&234?@]’s defenses have sufficiently weakened for [IDENTITY_REDACTED] to occur. Seeking two-factor authentication…
What? Adam thought. What the hell?
Why couldn’t he pry his hand free? What were those hexagonal patterns forming around the War Maiden’s wrist?
ADOSCH! Stop!
[IDENTITY_REDACTED] cannot halt without Level 5 credentials.
"Fuck you! Let go!" After coming so far, beating the predator down as prey…this was what he was losing to?
"Adam? What’s happening? The War Maiden’s signal is fluctuating!"
His neck burned. It was his sister’s pendant. The gemstone now glowed blue, much like the sigil inscribed on the ground. A wave of light then shot out and penetrated the War Maiden’s chest. Her entire frame resonated with the light and she was growing brighter and brighter by the moment.
Two-factor authentication has been completed. Proceeding with [IDENTITY_REDACTED].
Adam gave one final effort to free himself. Mary’s pendant and the War Maiden blossomed a searing white that enveloped the whole room and the rest of Adam’s consciousness.
He was gone, again.
This time, he did not fly into space and meet the stars. Instead, he spun around and descended like a broken elevator. Falling past the MOB, the trees, the ground, and all its buried secrets…
…until he landed in the red.
Red above him. Red below him. A canvas of infernal crimson, spreading and stretching across all that he could see. Parts of it pulsated and wobbled like freshly cut meat off an animal. Shapes within expanded and contracted. A cloying, hot and mildly spicy scent filled the air.
Mary’s pendant still shone, covering him in a bubble of blue. He reached out with his hand and touched the red. The texture was blood and mud and fire all at once. His eyes bulged, his stomach flipped and he retched. Nothing came out.
This place…it’s just like the [Hacking]! Adam glanced down at himself. His weapons were gone, nor could he summon ADOSCH’s interface. The physical exertion and desperation from the battle had vanished into thin air. The plasma of the new mystic pulsed not through his hands, but rather all around him in sync with the light of the pendant. The War Maiden was nowhere to be seen.
Or is this still part of her? He thought, looking around. His body still acted as if it was physical, so he took a step. Part of the miasma shrank away with a dull squelch. Rocky stones floated up from the depths and arranged themselves in a straight line. They led deeper in.
He swallowed and walked forward. More miasma shrank from him, receding into nothing. The walls of red seemed endless, despite walking for what felt like an hour.
Just as he was about to reconsider, he heard a voice.
"I’ll protect you."
Feminine like Miriam, but full of spirit. Adam spun around.
"It’ll be okay, Saria! The older girls at the War Maiden Academy are nice. Besides, if anyone tries to bully you or Maddy, I’ll fight them. I’ll protect both of you."
A platform floated in the miasma. A girl—blonde, couldn’t be older than twelve—was frozen in motion atop there, clad in a school uniform of a navy-blue blazer and a long blue skirt. She held up a small, hexagonal device between her palms.
Adam couldn’t help but stare. Don’t tell me…
Blue light streaked a trail from behind Adam and sank into the miasma, dissipating a whole chunk. Another platform rose in the distance, on which another statue of the girl was present. She was older now.
"Begone, foul Scourge! Humanity will not fall, as long as we, the War Maidens, are here!"
The girl held a blade high, her blonde hair shimmering with mystical power and her mouth open in a battle cry. It banished the very flesh of the creature before her, its gooey black flesh caught frozen mid-evaporation. A mother and a child huddled in the shadow of the girl, their faces obscured.
The miasma continued to vanish back. More statues lined the path.
"How dare you bully your dorm-mate? Come here, Rookie. I’ll grind Her Justice into your skull by the time we’re done!"
"Don’t worry about me, sir. We’re fine. We War Maidens aren’t bothered by scratches like these. I’m glad to see you alright."
The girl smiled as an older woman embraced her. "She saved our family by making me a War Maiden. I’ll repay Her as best I can. It’s my duty, right?"
The path sloped upwards. A horrible cracking sound resounded through the space. The miasma throbbed like a beating heart, followed by screeching metal and wailing sirens.
"Emergency! Emergency! Temporal and spatial distortion detected! Code BLACK has been initiated! A mechanical voice blared. "Prepare for impact!"
A single star fragmented and scattered across an unknown land beneath a crimson sky. The blonde girl stumbled across the hot sand, a trail of monster corpses behind her. Her blistered hands clutched her rifle to her chest.
"Have…to get back. Have to commune with…" She coughed. "Faith and Justice, Charity and Magnanimity, Prudence and…and…Saria, everyone, I’m coming. Hold on!"
She tripped and fell over. The red miasma devoured her whole. It forged her bone into steel. Her flesh and weapon became one. The single most powerful thought blossomed like a wonderful flower and ground the rest into dust.
"Return. Must return. They’re waiting for me." The whimpers of the imminently deceased trailed in her wake. "Have to defend them, help them. I will fulfill my duty. I am…I am…"
The abomination of flesh, metal, and plasma stood among the silent graveyard of the MOB. The red orb in the sky waxed and waned. Intruders entered the base on occasion. Monsters like the wraiths. Humans with their vision filled with greed. They killed them all, careful not to ruin the base’s sacred interiors.
"May you return to…too…intruders eliminated!"
She looked over her shoulder. A blurry group of people in white uniforms clapped. They congratulated her. They vanished, and the War Maiden continued her ironclad, fruitless vigilance.
"You…" Adam jerked his head away from the memory. He glared straight at the girl at the end of the path. She was bound by crimson chains, clad in a white uniform, her knees were curled up to her chest. The rest of the miasma floated behind her. "Don’t give me any of this shit!"
He stomped over. The girl did not react. "What, you think that showing me your memories is going to change anything? You didn’t protect a single damn thing. All you did was kill, even your own people! And you put me through so much bullcrap when I didn’t even do anything to you!" Adam grabbed her collar and screamed in her face. "I learned magic. I smashed your face in for god’s sake! I beat you!"
"I’ll protect you." The girl said. Her empty eyes stared forward. "Saria, Madeline, everyone…I will. I swear."
A faint smile appeared. "My dear sisters and brothers in arms."
Adam recoiled as if the girl had slapped him in the face. His fingernails dug into his palms. A cry of frustration burst from his throat. He grabbed one of the chains and pulled it with all his might.
"Get up, War Maiden." Adam snarled. "Get up and take responsibility yourself!"
There was the sound of shattering glass. The chains fell apart in an instant. The miasma roared as it collapsed down to a single point and vanished from sight. A canvas of blue painted itself across the landscape, on which pinpricks of light glinted and shone.
The War Maiden opened her eyes. Their gazes met.
Then Adam was catapulted back to reality, where all of his exhaustion and lack of plasma hit him at once. He dropped like a stone.
The last thing he saw, before fading into unconsciousness, was a cloud of crimson smoke trailing off his opponent, revealing the form of an unblemished human girl.
[IDENTITY_REDACTED] was successful!
200 Stellari acquired!
Experience (Combat/Purification) acknowledged: +250%!
User Adam Westfield’s Competency Level has increased from 1-3 to 1-5!
Acquired 2 Biometric Keys!
User Adam Westfield is now entering hibernation mode…