The agent known as Rei had started working for the Nye Inkorpt three years prior. A series of poor choices and near-death experiences eventually brought him to the doorstep, or, rather the underground lair of the Inkorpt. Sensing keen awareness and promising battle prowess slumbering within him, they sent him to the Hall of Misfortune, a subsection of the great Technicist underground where many would go to find valuables and other ancient artifacts.
It was a pit of the unfathomable, of the unspeakable. Only those with a death wish or nothing left to lose would dare wander in and explore the vast abyss below ground. But the risk was equal to the reward. Though ancient terrors lurked far below, so too existed godly relics capable of raising an unknown, amateurish mercenary to levels they could barely fathom.
So, he had done so. Even if he had never seen the lowest levels, though he was far in a way still a fledgling compared to his superiors, he had managed to procure one relic of meaningful power.
“Who the hell are you?” A dark-skinned woman had appeared after bursting through the double doors at the far end of the factory interior. Her eyes told the Inkorpt agent that she sought his death, while at the same time there was another feeling in them. An acceptance of sorts, perhaps for the lives he had taken. Though anger and hatred for the meaningless murders did ignite within her, her reasoning mind wouldn’t let the flame consume everything. She had seen too many deaths of the same kind in all her years, and another couple dozen weren’t enough to shatter what was left of her heart. It had become callous and apathetic, and despite the fact that she still felt saddened upon seeing the corpses, after a brief moment they became nothing more than another series of events that she would later regale the Writer with.
Rei took a few wayward glances at the mercenary, her comrades behind her, the Lord of Cogs kneeling over the corpse of one of his acolytes, and his surroundings. A mountainous neon blue light on his mask twinkled as he turned his head. “Ah, Iteration 7. I thought you’d have heard the screams by now. Welcome in. You’re a tad late, but that’s alright.” A barely audible snicker was muffled beneath his metal visage.
Ma’at gripped her dual blades firmly. “What’s the point of this? You aching to die today?”
“To answer your previous question first, I’m from the Inkorpt. Nye Inkorpt. And, well… today we’ve decided to kill one of you. Just to prove a point.”
“Is that so? And what would that be?”
“That Vroque is old news. Freelance mercs can ride around the world all they want. Eighty percent of the money they make is spent on themselves. But Inkorpt is the highest ranking merc group in Reville, even hired by the Union themselves. Vroque can never compete. Even your technology is outdated. Have any of you ever even been underground?”
Silence followed.
“I thought not. I bet you’ve never even glimpsed the Mnemosyne.”
Ma’at, confused, glanced back at Tien for an explanation or two, but none met her ears. Tien was oblivious and distraught, her vision still locked on the deceased Cog.
“Don’t bother asking. What matters more is how you treated the Gunblades that night not so long ago.”
“You know about that?”
“Of course we do. The Nye Inkorpt sees all. Nothing happens in this city that we aren’t aware of. Our agent, you knew him as Cloak, was supposed to help them until they grew to be a big enough thorn in the Union’s side. Once the Union contracted us to get rid of them, we’d do it for a large sum. With a fellow agent in their ranks, it would have been trivial. But you all fucked it up. Today, we seek to show you that every action in Reville has long-lasting, rippling effects. Consequences that will inevitably catch and devour you without a second notice. High-level mercenary work is no game.”
The irony of someone clearly younger than Ma’at telling her such things did dawn on her, but she stifled what humor it brought. Even this overconfident brat must have an ace up his sleeve. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that beneath his awkward mask lay a wry grin. What was it, then? Something to do with his blade?
It was abnormal. Technology Ma’at hadn’t quite seen before. Others like it, perhaps, but nothing identical. The shimmering sword glowed an azure color, and as it moved ever so slightly with Rei’s hand, it almost seemed to multiply as if she were seeing double.
“Enough talk. Feel free to have your allies join you, it won’t matter. One of you has to pay for your crimes against the Inkorpt.” Rei readied himself, entering a battle stance.
His rapid advance was quickly blocked by one of Ma’at’s outstretched blades. It was all she needed to stop him.
With a screeching slash, Rei doubled back, sidestepped, and slashed at her multiple times. Strike after strike. Each time noctite met starlight, a burst of tiny explosions let out from the clash like beautiful fireworks.
“Is this all you can muster?” The Swordstress of Ironside locked blades with him again, yet slid forward and fell to her knees beside him, readying herself. In one smooth motion, she kicked him forcefully in the side, a blow that launched him backward. He heaved before getting back to his feet. Muffled exasperation. The fight was already taking a toll on his stamina.
“Tsk… fine, then. Voira! Get down here and help me.”
Ma’at, with crossed blades at the ready, stood in a defensive position waiting for the man’s own ally to come to his aid. Yet, after many seconds, no one came.
“Voira!?” Rei looked up at the rafters, then at the open door at the other side of the factory. “That bitch…!”
The betrayal seemed to cut the man deep, but it was of no concern to Ma’at. She simply wanted Rei dead. It was the only thing on her mind in the frenzy of battle.
“...I’ll be sure to let our boss know about this.” Rei gripped the zig-zagging metal hilt of his sword. His gloves tightened. “You’re more skilled than I thought, Ma’at. I’ll admit that. But your blade levitation, the magic imbued in those swords of yours… it means nothing if you don’t use it to the fullest.” As if to show her what he meant, the hilt he grasped glowed with more azure light. The zig-zag pattern on it filled with radiant color. The lights in the factory seemed to dim, the blinding wires sizzling to pinpricks of auburn chromatics in the dusty air.
Sato left the Lord of Cogs and Tien where they were and stood beside Ma’at.
“You don’t fight with enough fervor. Relics of the past were ultimately activated by emotional turbulence, after all, just like all magic. There’s a point where any advanced technology could seem like magic to the untrained eyes. That’s what lies in the underground. Nothing can prepare you for the things down there. Reville is sitting on a goldmine. Caverns of age-old relics unseen since the ones found beneath the desert. Below Sirithis.” Electricity burst from Rei’s helmet. More radiant, cyan light grew within his blade until it was the most blinding source of light in the room. The orange and red wire lights the Cogs had set up had all but been drained of their energy, empty and dead as those who lay strewn across the catwalks and broken-down machinery.
“We don’t give a shit, kid. We’re all just trying to survive. We never meant to be a threat to the Nye Inkorpt.”
Rei cackled beneath his vibrant mask, his hostility made manifest through the sparks leaping from his form. “I don’t think you understand. There’s another war coming. Someday, the other cities will come for everything Reville has. And not just the cities. Crazies across the continent. The way Inkorpt ensures its survival is by sticking as close as possible to the Union. We can’t do that with Vroque eating up all the contracts!” Layered mirror images of Rei’s starlight blade replicated before their eyes as he launched toward them.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Clashing with him again, Ma’at realized just how strong he had become. Every strike as they crossed blades sent aching reverberations through her forearms, rattling her nerves. Despite his lack of proper fighting form, a certain overwhelming power had greatly bolstered his capabilities out of nowhere.
No, maybe it had to do with the sword itself. Perhaps even the mask. The helmet’s eccentric design with its odd, glowing lines looked eerily similar to Technicist equipment Ma’at had seen in the past. There was no doubt about it, now. This man was a second-rate merc indeed, but he was being greatly empowered by magical technology that hadn’t seen the light of day in eons.
His emotions, too. The betrayal by his ally normally would have been the final nail in his coffin, but his fury only added to the strength garnered. He had entered a frenzied yet calm flow-state. Spectral stars seemed to explode and implode with every swing of the serene blade. In the darkness, it was actually quite a wonder to behold.
But Ma’at wouldn’t allow herself to underestimate an opponent again. She wouldn’t let her guard down for a second. The last time she had done so, even after prevailing against enemies far weaker than herself, the other end of a rifle had sent her spiraling into unconsciousness.
Another starlit clash sent azure sparks flying. Sato took a lunging step forward in an attempt to pierce the mercenary with her umbrella blade, but he evaded it just in time. More mirrored images seemed to split the merc into dozens of copies of himself. They were all false, distorted images, yet they all looked the same. It was too difficult to tell which one was genuine.
Torrential rainwater gathered at the end of Sato’s weapon, and upon lifting it and slashing across the room, her violet gaze aglow, vicious waves erupted from its end and splashed across the room. Reflected endlessly in the gloam of the collected rain, the images dispersed, glitched, and faded away as if they had never existed in the first place.
With no other course of action, Rei charged with all of the power he could muster. Faint chimes accompanied his explosive surge. Speeding through the lowering water, he slashed slantwise at Ma’at, breaking her stance and kicking her to the ground.
Sato’s sloshing rain splashed across her body. She was grounded. Before Rei could take advantage of the situation, Sato met his blade and met each of his clashes all the same. More radiant sparks let out and sizzled into the settling waves. With one final attack, they locked weapons, and Rei tried to pull away.
But Sato opened the umbrella. The bladed edge unfolded and barely clipped his arm, cutting through his high-grade sleeve and carving into his flesh.
Stumbling from the sudden pain, he cried out and threw his arms up, accidentally tossing the starlight sword over himself. It revolved a few times in the air and landed on one of the assembly lines.
As he went to run for it, a streaking white pain ripped his back open. Hot anguish flooded his senses. It felt as if his body had caught on fire and had been frozen at the same time. A deep, deep gash had been carved into his back by Sato. His blood dripped and leapt from her umbrella, combining with the water it conjured.
He fell to one knee, but still persevered. With the speed he had shown earlier, he launched toward the conveyor belt in the blink of an eye. There it was. The blade had clanked across the multi-faceted control panels and landed perfectly on its side. All he had to do was reach over and grab it. Grab it, then slash backward at his attacker. The Maiden of the Rain was right behind him. He could hear her deftly planted steps and faint splashing. All Rei had to do was reach, grab, and slash… and he’d kill one of them. That’s all he needed to do. Then he could run.
As his arm outstretched for his brilliantly gleaming weapon, his vision flashed red. The oozing of bodily fluid filled his ears. Before that, however, there had been a different noise. The sound of fluttering wind, of a faint instrument being played… of a deadly object flying through the air. His entire body numb, he awkwardly raised his left hand to wipe away the blood blinding him. He pinched at his eyes, gathering the fluid between his gloved fingers, and flicked it away. Pushing it from his vision. Smearing it across his face.
All that was left was a bleeding stub. His right arm had been completely severed at the elbow joint, chipped bone protruding through what was left of it. A clothed slab of meat bleeding profusely. He couldn’t reach the blade anymore. He couldn’t feel anything anymore. Ma’at’s blade lingered, floating a few feet away, then returned to her hand when she’d realized he was finally defeated. He teetered, swaying back and forth, then fell onto his back and into a red puddle. The slight interference of the water with the technology on his head led to a violent eruption of energy that electrocuted him. Even then, there was nothing left of the man. No life. No energy. No soul.
Sato took a few wet steps to stand at his side, lifting her umbrella. With a barely audible grunt, she plunged the watery lance into his chest and heart, killing him instantly.
The factory was a mess. Though Sato’s rainwater had long dispersed, many objects that had previously cluttered the floor were now displaced and left hanging and clumped up together in corners of the room. The bodies of the Cogs were gathered by them all and left laying on the ground beside one another. The lone Cog from Kohru was in the center, him and his fellow acolytes' heads still covered by tattered cloth.
Tien, her case in her lap, stared blankly at the corpses.
“It’s time to go,” Ma’at said suddenly, slightly scaring her.
“...I could’ve saved him, Ma’at. Even if it was only one, I could’ve saved him. I was just too slow. I couldn’t find what I needed. Haah… why wasn’t I ready for something like this…?”
“No one could have seen this coming. Blaming yourself for what they did is… just stupid.”
Tien wiped clear tears from her cheeks onto her sleeve. She sniffled. “I’m supposed to be prepared for anything. Anything we need. That’s what the Writer wanted. I’ve already failed…”
“Listen,” Ma’at cried, somewhat aggressively. She tugged on Tien’s shoulder, and the weary woman peered up at her. The only wire light in the factory to survive Rei’s draining ability shone over her dark hair like a halo. She coughed, settling her tone but still keeping her scolding serious. “We can’t save everyone. It’s impossible. But I promise, as long as we keep accepting contracts, that I’ll keep you, Sato, and the Writer safe. I can assure you that.”
Tien nodded, her mournful look lightening up somewhat. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to let it get to me.”
Glancing at the dead Cog that was the source of Tien’s sorrow, Ma’at carefully stepped over the bodies and barely lifted the cloth draped across what resembled its face. With a bit of effort, she ripped something out of it, then returned the cloth back to where it was before.
“What are you doing…?” Tien asked, slightly worried for her colleague’s sanity.
“It’s his eye. The one from Kohru,” she replied, revealing the item between her fingers. “I thought you should keep it. In your case, I mean. And, one day, if we ever go there, we can throw it into the sea.”
Tien smiled, grabbing the eye from her hands and studying it with a certain warmth in her face. “Thank you, Ma’at. I think he’d like that.” She unclipped her suitcase, lifted it open an inch, and dropped the eye inside. It vanished, devoured by the endless void within instantaneously. Then, she closed it back up and finally came back to her feet with a revitalized disposition and new goal in mind.
The Lord of Cogs returned, looked down at his acolytes passingly, then walked up to Ma’at. “I suppose… this is where I take my leave.”
“Where are you going?”
His cogwheel head spun and clicked several times. The lone light above painted him in a sad yet hopeful hue. “Anywhere else. Somewhere far from here. I’ve grown tired of living in this damn city… and someone must dispose of the bodies. You all have made me realize that the version of Reville I want is, well, impossible. I have to accept that. But it doesn’t mean I can’t start anew. The world is large and wonderful. Certainly, there must be a place for us to thrive and dream. If any group can restore some light to Reville, it should be you Vroque fellows. I hear good things about other Iterations across the way. Behind the Enlightened Towers.”
“Where will you go?”
“That is a mystery. But mystery keeps life interesting. Those from the Nye Inkorpt may experiment, observe, and scientifically and systematically examine every little thing, but they’re missing the point. Knowledge kills wonder. Having no answer at all is more comforting in times like these. So, I do not know. But that’s what motivates me. The not-knowing.” As if he were smiling woefully, the cogwheel spun quickly around once, then ticked forward a couple times, then stopped altogether. “Oh, I almost forgot. I know you’ll be unable to finish the contract that brought you here, so take this. I have no need of money, no matter the place of my future.” He opened Ma’at’s hand and placed a large pouch in it. Coins clinked inside its leathery exterior.
Accepting the money and thanking the Lord of Cogs, the women from Vroque left the factory and began returning home. Back to the office. Back from another strange, dire, unfortunate contract. There was the fear of Inkorpt. They had made an enemy of them a second time, of course, even if it wasn’t by their design. They hoped that with Rei’s belligerent actions and death that they would finally give up their one-sided feud.