Geldi gasped for air, feeling how her own drool was filling the helmet. With a trembling hand, she reached out for a syringe with an adrenaline shot at her belt.
She and Yuki were inside the crusher, in a narrow corridor that led into three other corridors and had several ladders leading up and down. With a single punch, Yuki made a hole in the meter-thick armored hatch, wide enough to slide into it, dragging the smaller medic after herself. The power armor on her right arm got thrashed along with the door, leaving the wolfkin’s arm exposed to the elbow. Even now, Geldi saw countless cracks on Yuki’s glowing bones, examining her skeleton with the accuracy of an X-ray vision.
The left side of her collar slid into her chest, revealing flesh, and the medic injected herself with adrenaline, forcing her body to keep on moving. Despite all her training with Tiny and the others, it was hard to phase through things with someone else. Her own camouflage cape nearly bisected Geldi during this attempt, in a panicked attempt to save Yuki’s life, Geldi forgot to properly manipulate her cloth.
"Yuki, your arm!"
"Geldi," Yuki chuckled, rising to her full height. The bones in her arm shifted, the edges of the radius and ulna reconnected, becoming whole again, the phalanges straightened up, pushing blood through the skin’s pores and dirtying her fur. Her shoulder, hidden behind the pauldron, shifted, indicating that the humerus returned to its original position. The pain that the warrior experienced during this must be beyond insane, "You are crazy, my blood sister. In a good way."
The medic could see that the warrior was in pain. Her movements slowed, she was sweating profusely. This rapid healing and superspeed took their toll on Yuki's body; these nanomachines were never meant to be used on someone like Yuki.
Geldi spent days reading and trying to understand these nanomachines used by mister Ingo, feeling both worried and relieved. True, he saved the wolfkin from having her limps amputated and replaced with artificial limbs. But there was a reason why Till Ingo eventually abandoned the idea of these healing nanomachines. The first was the problem with the mass. To rebuild the body after injuries and to supply the nanomachines with energy, the bodily mass was used. The bigger the patient’s body, the more mass was needed, resulting in an unsolvable problem. Yuki had to eat three times the usual portion to live normally.
The second problem was the cost. Till funded the prototype’s creation out of his company’s funds, and it ended up being way too expensive to be used in the military.
Geldi sealed her armor shut when the corridor became lit by the crimson light of alarms. She heard the movements of people, all converging at their location, and the shifting of metal. In a split second, three anti-infantry turrets appeared in the corridor—two from the walls and one from the ceiling.
Yuki became a blur, leaping at the walls before the turrets could fully unfold themselves to open fire. Her first kick shattered the turret on the right wall, before she moved in a line to the ceiling and onto the left wall, leaving behind two more broken machines. Yuki landed on her feet, accompanied by the fall of the torn cameras from the ceiling, and threw her left arm in front of herself to shield herself from the incoming fire of enemy soldiers who charged from the corridors. Blindingly fast, Yuki reached out for the shardgun with her exposed arm, firing twice at the foes.
The sharp shards reached their peak velocity and pierced the legs of some of the enemies, causing men and women to scream in pain and fall to the ground. Geldi steeled herself against their screams, feeling how a bullet hit her in the shoulder, leaving a small dent in the armor. Yuki fired once more, leaving a gaping hole in a soldier's chest who wielded an armor-piercing rifle.
The warrior charged forth, leaving dents in the floor, and appeared next to the soultakers, grabbing two of them and crumbling their heads in her paws like rotten fruits. Her claws came out, disemboweling the third one. Yuki stopped her attack, sparing two more soldiers after Geldi phased through their bodies, hitting them at the back of the knees, bringing them to their knees. Without a hint of mercy, Geldi slammed both soldiers into the floor, her already superior physical strength enhanced even further by a surge of adrenaline and her power armor.
Their faceplates cracked and their bodies trembled after follow-up elbow strikes at the back of their necks. Geldi turned both foes on their sides, making sure that they wouldn’t drown in their blood. Sure, it will take months for their bones to heal, but at least both men are alive. Looking up, she saw Yuki holding a claw to a man in a black uniform with a badge of a medic on his lapel.
"Help them," Geldi ordered, and Yuki stepped back, allowing the medic to start working on the screaming people. Geldi heard a loud booming sound outside, followed by explosion, indicating that their allies had still lobbed ammunition into the crusher, "Please call someone to move them… Our allies will soon follow! And this one can blee…"
"I know my job." The man cut her off in a dry voice.
"Yuki, are you still alive?!" Geldi heard how Sly shouted over communication, and the warrior shrugged her shoulders. Both of their helmets turned toward silent mode, not allowing a single sound that they made to be heard by the potential hostiles.
"Affirmative. Sorry about throwing you…"
"What did you think was going to happen after you charged like an oaf! Thank the Spirits, at least Geldi is there to keep your head cool."
"Don’t trust me to keep a cool head?"
"No!" Tiny, Leila, Sonya, and Sly roared all at once, causing Geldi and Yuki to laugh nervously. Here they were, alone, with only the Spirits knowing how many enemy soldiers, inside the massive behemoth of a machine.
"Listen, according to the data on my screen, this thing has a generator in its belly, about two levels below," Ursico said, joining the call, "If you can destroy it...
"It won’t work!" Sly cut him off, "Yuki, Geldi, I need you to trust me on this one. Climb up and follow my directions."
"Why?" Geldi asked, following Yuki to a nearby ladder. On the helmet's screen, a crude map appeared, showing their approximate location and a way to almost the top floor, "Surely you can’t expect us to take down the command center…"
"You don’t need to. After the enemies surprised us at Belaz with the Pearl’s tech, I followed in Aranea’s footsteps and read about the enemies' vehicles. Crushers’ main generators are encased in an additional force field during the alarm. Ah, I can almost kiss the one who came up with this idea…"
"Sly, honey, concentrate." Yuki sang cheerfully, climbing up and making a swipe at nothing above her. Geldi narrowed her eyes in confusion, the warrior’s claws were released, it looked like she was trying to gore someone who looked down on them, before climbing up in the new compartment.
"But! They have a crucial structural weak point," The holographic map was enlarged slightly, followed Sly’s rapid tapping on his terminal, showing several cables running from the command center down, "Sever them, and it’s all over the outer shield! And since the enemies are expecting you to go below…"
"Got it!" Geldi climbed after Yuki.
The corridor above was already marked by blood. The medic cursed, slamming her elbow into the face of a scared worker looking from a side corridor, sending the woman backward. Yuki moved forward, her every move leaving dead or dying foes in her wake. With almost blindingly fast movements, she was tearing away turrets from the wall or shooting them off the ceiling. Soldiers and workers who volunteered to defend the crusher were all met with unrelenting violence.
The warrior closed her distance with the people in the corridor, hitting one worker, who grabbed a rifle from a fallen soldier, with the shardgun’s handle, tearing off the lower jaw. Two soldiers tried to retreat and fire from afar, while another tried to push Yuki back in a desperate act of self-sacrifice. The first soldier had her throat sliced with four claws. Before the body even fell, Yuki fired twice, killing both soldiers.
Geldi charged forward, slamming one soldier against the wall and breaking her arm. After a momentary consideration, she broke the second arm, leaving the screaming foe behind. With a low kick, she sent another foe spinning and slammed her face across the floor.
Don’t think about the dying around you. Geldi forced herself to look away from the blood and dying all around her—people she could have saved. She followed after Yuki, only knocking down the foes, refusing to kill anyone. Yuki showed no such restraint, anyone who stood up to her paid in blood. Don’t think about their families, don’t think about their lives. Don't kill, don't kill.
Geldi wasn’t shy about killing. She made her first kill when she, Anissa, and a few other students were on their last practice session during their last year of studying at the medical academy. Geldi lucked out by being accepted to such a prestigious place, built in a joint effort by the Bento tribe and Soultakers. A cannibal attacked them in the field, and Geldi buried a scalpel in the bitch’s neck. But after seeing the senseless torture that Blaguna wrought upon the others, Geldi had enough of killing for her entire life. She never wanted to kill anyone ever again, shit, she didn’t even want Blaguna to die! Life, any life, was precious.
There were fewer enemies here than Geldi expected. The medic had to use phasing to avoid a bullet here and there, but the majority of the enemies were elsewhere, just as Sly suspected. The crusher, according to Sly, housed nearly two hundred guards. They barely beat the two dozen soldiers.
The pair reached a wide corridor, with the stairs reaching to the second floor. Five soultakers took aim in the center of this corridor, aiming their weapons at the entrance. Several turrets rose from the stairways, covering the entrance to the thick gates leading to the command center. Geldi turned herself into the blurry form, allowing the bullets to pass harmlessly through her body, and Yuki leaped over the gunfire, landing behind the soultakers. She grabbed one unlucky woman by the throat, reaching to her belt and tearing off a pin from a grenade. The poor soul barely had enough time to scream before she was flung into the stairway.
The explosion threw the Soultakers off their feet, reducing the turrets to rubble along with a large part of the stairway. Yuki stood up, the flame licking her back briefly, unbothered by the shockwave. Her gaze fell on the black, uniformed people.
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"Don’t kill them!" Geldi shouted, racing forward.
The warrior gave a quick nod, punching down at the soultaker’s back of the head with enough force to bury her knuckles. It was a knock-out blow. A piece of metal from the armor jumped up around Yuki’s fist. The man's body jerked once before going limb. The soldier got some broken bones, no doubt, but at least he was alive, thanks the Spirits. Geldi gulped, joining Yuki in the grim business of disabling their foes.
"Blood sister," Yuki said, ignoring the soldiers’ screams, "People are dying on war."
"I just want to save someone. And don’t call me sister. It is because of me that you…"
"Alive. I am alive thanks to you." Yuki gave Geldi a pat on the shoulder, walked toward the stairways, and punched a metal plate. Her claws slid inside, and Yuki groaned, struggling to pry open the heavy armored plate.
Geldi stopped. Yuki’s salvation could hardly be attributed to her. In fact, if not for her allies, Geldi would have never gotten anyone out. She cleaned the prisoners’ wounds and treated them, true, but others have done just as much. It was unfair that…
Geldi darted to the side, feeling how bullets hit the armor on her side, tearing a chunk of metal away. She came to a halt, turning into the blurry figure and allowing bullets to pass harmlessly through her knee. The medic charged at the enemy, who had been hiding in one of the side corridors until the last moment.
Yuki was still trying to reach for the cables, breathing heavily from exertion, and was unable to help Geldi right now. Their foe truly picked the worst possible time to attack them. No matter. Geldi thought, stopping before the figure in a black leather coat. I will stop her.
Geldi made a roundhouse kick, coming back into the real world just as her leg closed on the enemy’s hands, raised in defense. Her kick struck the rifle, bending it, and then came to a halt, overpowered by the foe. Geldi’s eyes widened when she saw the familiar long, ashen hair and a calm, pale face.
"Anissa?" She whispered, and the other woman pushed her back, allowing a knife to slide from her sleeve. Geldi dodged a thrust, before Anissa changed the direction of the hit, stabbing her in the left side and piercing the armor.
"Geldi," The other medic said with disgust, trying to reach her ribs, "Jumped on the mutants' side?"
"My people joined them!" Geldi phased through Anissa, turning to face her and reaching for her own knife at the belt.
They came upon each other, both moving at the same speed. Geldi had actual power armor, but Anissa was always a bit stronger and tougher than her. Back at the university, this pale woman always stood up for Geldi, never allowing others to bully her. Anissa’s drive to become the best medic possible and her positive jealousy, when the woman hated herself instead of others for not being good enough, made her an idol for Geldi.
And now she must stop her. Their knives came up against each other, and Geldi kicked Anissa in the side. Still holding the knife with her right hand, Anissa blocked the kick with her left hand, slamming her left elbow into Geldi and pushing the woman back. Geldi let her opponent slice at her armored chest before thrusting against Anissa's shoulder. Her knife, meant to cut through armor, failed to pierce the black leather coat.
"Geldi, I don’t really want to kill you," Anissa came at her, waving the knife and making a single thrust to bait her opponent, "Just stand down. None will dare to touch you."
"The same to you." Geldi replied, ignoring the feint.
"You lie! Yasen wanted to surrender, and you bastards killed him!" Anissa’s calm face changed to a mask of anger, and she crushed into Geldi, "And your own side revealed that one of your prison wardens was harvesting prisoners for organs!"
"She was hanged for this, Ani!" Geldi retreated, weaving a web of false slashes before herself, trying to take advantage of Anissa’s rage. The other medic was always too impulsive for her own good.
Three slashing cuts—this was how long their knife fight lasted before Anissa pushed Geldi against the ruined staircase. The soultaker grabbed Geldi’s right arm, pushing her blade toward Geldi’s ribs. The former regulator responded in kind, leaning against the ruined rails and trying to stab Anissa in the exposed clavicle while holding the blade away from herself. Neither hit should be fatal, but either cut will be enough to take out the opponent. Geldi clenched her teeth. If he could just…
The light flashed in the corridor, covering the entire hallway in darkness. A glowing arm rose behind Anissa, and twin crimson lenses looked at the back of the soultaker. Geldi could feel the panic in her opponent and tried to push her aside…
Something hit her. It was a passing feeling, a feeling of utmost exhaustion. Geldi examined Anissa's face, noting how her pale skin had become even paler, almost... stone-like? What? Geldi wanted to yawn, surely she was sleeping, right? They had the exam tomorrow, or something...
Her body flew into Yuki's hands after being kicked by a dark-skinned soultaker. A surge of darkness came from the man, and Geldi could see nothing else when her eyes turned to stone.
****
"Damnit!" Jericho pushed Anissa into the command center, shutting the door behind him.
His idiotic subordinate was still looking at the door, probably regretting her defeat. Jericho could hardly blame her for the irrational impulse to come out and fight, his teeth clattered and a tingle of fear ran down his spine. All the operators in the room looked bleak, some of them had their teeth clattering just like his, and one had lost her conscience.
"Help her!" Jericho commanded.
"Is your power permanent?" Anissa asked, moving down from the dais.
"What? No, at the month’s end, the bitch will revert back to flesh if my kick didn’t shatter her," Jericho climbed onto the throne, wondering what the hell was happening to him. Jekaterina saved him from being cooked by the cannibals, he was above fear, dammit! Shaking his head, he sent a call to the Old Guard, "Drop your weapons and ask the enemies if they are willing to invite you to stay a night or more." These words sounded silly, but all of the Old Guard had mental bindings. Surrender meant death to them, but maybe this loophole would save them.
He looked around. The majority of the monitors went dark, as did their ability to control the turrets and shield remotely. If they could get to the turrets, maybe they could fire them manually, but the loud banging on the door gave Jericho enough of a hint that this was not an option. Besides, the foes were already charging at the crusher.
The officer saw how a wolfkin with the markings of a scout aimed her missile launcher at the tower. Sick with fear, Jericho pressed a button, and the reserve generator started working, sending them up like a guided missile. His finger stopped above the flare button before going to a button that was activating the reactive armor around this flying command center. The wolfkin fired her guided missiles, and Jericho pressed the button, allowing sharp pieces of steel to shoot in all directions, detonating the missiles and creating a fire that licked the armor glass of the command center.
Last chance. Anissa’s power is too valuable to be lost here! Jericho directed the command center to Huntsman’s location and was wondering why he couldn’t shake off fear. The enemies below split, one group led by a winged creature stormed the crusher, while another group led by the wolfkin with the missile launcher ran after them on the ground. One more card to play in order to get out of here. For our sake, I hope this maniac is still alive.
****
The command center came crushing down with enough force to throw a weakened Aranea off her feet. She rolled to the side, trying to regain her balance, while Keyl advanced on the new foe. The door leading to a square-shaped room opened, and a wave of darkness shot out, stopping Keyl before he could bring his sword down on the metal. The knight captain and several warriors simply stood in place, unmoved like statues, while another wave of darkness came from the command center, followed by soultakers coming from the landed command center.
"Nobody move!" The dark-skinned man shouted, lifting a plasma grenade in his hand high, "Or this goes boom, and your friends perish with me! Anissa, now!"
Another soultaker dashed up to Huntsman, kneeled near him, and touched him with her hands. His wounds started healing. A new hand sprouted from a stump, new fingers grew, the terrible hole in his belly disappeared, covered by smooth skin. No. We were so close! Huntsman stood up on all fours, his rear end still in the flames that harmlessly licked his legs, unable to cause even minor burns.
"Get us out of here!" The soultaker with the grenade shouted in Huntsman’s face, "Now, teleport us away…"
****
The boy felt another blood vessel burst in his eye, clouding his vision a bit. This distracted him, just for a little while, and with horror he saw that he had marked the wrong answer in the notebook. He blinked just once and received a hit with a frying pan across his head, causing him to grit his teeth in pain.
"Study," A dark shadow loomed over him, panting furiously, "Study you good for nothing, fool! I had to whore myself to get us this home and these books, and by the Sun God, you will study."
"Mom please…" The boy whined and received another hit. He grimaced and kept on going, making occasional mistakes and receiving hits after hits.
He hated it. He knew the answers, he really did! But when he was hungry, like really, really hungry, he always got distracted. And the others will always hit from behind for this. The teacher, although he was the only one who hit him lightly. Other kids. His mom. If only he could hit them from behind! If only the kids at school hadn't stolen his food, if only they hadn't beaten him, if only... If only he could eat something. Anything.
"I even prepared you food! And you failed the test. No, no, no… This won’t do," The shadow hit him again. And again, "I will not stay here for the rest of my life. You will not die out here like your father! You will earn us entrance to Iterna, and we will live properly!"
The boy never cared about it, instead throwing a sidelong glance at a bowl of food. Iterna, Smiterna—who cares? Food is where the true happiness is! No food ever called him stupid or locked him in the basement for fun, like the other kids did, leaving him unable to escape and feeling hungry. And the food looked nice—cut meat flowing in the soup, plus some cheap veggies. His favorite. He extended his hand and received a hit across his fingers.
"Study! You won’t get shit, until you answer the questions!" The shadow screamed at him.
The boy tried, receiving hit after hit and eventually seeing only red with his eyes, receiving hit after hit. His stomach rumbled, and another source of pain speared his body as his stomach tried to devour itself. How long had he stayed in this room? The boy couldn’t tell. The hits against his head no longer bothered him, and his eyesight no longer bothered him.
But the dryness in his throat did. Each time he swallowed what little drool he still had, he felt rakes running down his throat. The hunger was driving him mad. He could smell the food and was hit after hit every time he moved his hand away from the books. He can’t take it anymore. I want to disappear. The food was cold by now, but the smell scared him, driving him mad even now. What if his stomach ate him instead of the food? Please, tummy, don’t do it. It isn’t my fault.
"I need…"
"The test!" The shadow over smacked him again, this time with enough force to make him tremble, "No food until you pass the test!"
"I need to feed!" The boy roared.
There was no hit this time. While the frying pan flung through the space where his head used to be, he was somewhere else entirely, behind someone. The boy dodged something for the first time in his life! The boy didn’t linger in his happiness. He lunged and bit the meat, ignoring the thrashing and howling. He grabbed the meat with both arms, feeling warm juice running down his chin.
The boy was wrong. The meat wasn’t cold after all.
Huntsman’s eyes opened wide, and he felt a rumbling in his stomach. He ignored the night above him and the heat of the fire nearby. His body hurt, the bones protruded, his muscles reconnected, but this was fine. He was used to pain. Pain meant that he was alive. He could endure all sorts of pain, except for one.
"I want…" He spoke softly, and no one listened to him like usual. Only King ever listened to him, always giving him proper treats and speaking with respect, never cutting him off. Not once. Huntsman even tried to act like a proper human for him, saving the others to please King. Anything for someone who actually speaks with him.
For years, his stomach was his only friend. People shouted at him, calling him a cannibal, but what do they know? Everything is just meat, human or animal! And meat is meant to be eaten! Why is there glory in killing enemies but none in eating the remains? Where is the logic in this?
King filled a void in his soul, making him human again, making him… Huntsman failed to remember. His stomach rumbled, hurting him, driving him mad. Why? He ate everything, food, animals, and people alike, he stuffed his belly full of this damned warlord and even with several doggies, so why is he feeling hungry?! How dare you betray me like this!
He stood up and saw shadows screaming at him. Always wanting something, never giving anything in return. The stomach rumbled again, and his eyes almost jumped from the sockets from horror. His stomach. It was eating him. No, I will not allow it!
"I need to feed!" The monster roared.