The city of the Nyanko was laid out in a circle of tall buildings with a park in the middle. The arrival point of the floor was always within the park, and the last time I’d been there it’d been a flourishing locale. Yet at some point the trees had withered, the grass had died, and the nyanko no longer lounged in the sun.

Instead the feline based humanoids trudged through the park in silence. Their heads were kept low and they refused to look at anyone. It wasn’t their behavior that bothered me the most, instead it was what they had on their necks.

Lisa started to move in my arms, as though eager to leap down and go on an adventure of her own. I tightened my grip as I began to walk hastily away from where we’d arrived, my attention not on the nyanko but the distant surroundings. I had no interest in being caught by surprise.

When I realized that only Kuzu had opted to follow me I turned and motioned at the brothers with my free hand. “Quick, we need to move now,” I hissed at them, “don’t talk to anyone, don’t go anywhere. Follow me or we’re going to die.”

“Mind explaining what’s going on?” Adam whispered as he, and his brother, hurried after me.

“If I’m right we need to stay as quiet as possible, and hurry,” I replied. When he started to talk again I held one finger up to my mouth to try and encourage silence.

There was a near visible tension in the air as I rushed the group through the city. We managed to avoid any contact with the nyanko, as they instead seemed far more interested in avoiding not only us but each other. Some of them tugged at the collars on their necks with their displeasure at the ornament easy enough to see.

As we neared the edge of the city a forest of crystalline trees loomed ahead. The multi-colored plants fractured the sunlight into rainbows that covered everything in sight, except for the center of the woods. Instead darkened ground could be seen, as though some sort of entity had destroyed the heart of the forest.

My pace quickened as we reached the wall of crystal trees, while I struggled with the fear that had continued to grow. When we walked through that outer ring I was greeted by a sight that only continued to worsen my mental state.

The handcrafted forest of crystal had been scarred at some point in the past. A large chunk in the center had been turned into a blackened wasteland. As we walked the ground beneath our feet crunched, as though it had been turned to glass. The only feature within the remains of the heart of the forest was a solitary black pillar.

“So that’s why she locked it all down,” I murmured as I stared at the pillar, “Lisa, I need you to try and get in contact with her. We need to get inside immediately.”

In my arms my daughter looked at the pillar, a troubled expression on her face. She glanced at me and then wriggled out of my arms and jumped down. Her little feet crunched into the glass as she started to run.

“Don’t worry, I’ll wake her up good!” Lisa exclaimed as she twirled mid-run, a wide grin on her face. When she reached the pillar she knelt down on the ground and placed her head directly against the metal.

With her dealt with I turned to face the others. “I’m sure you all have questions so I’ll try to answer them all now, but we probably have minutes at most before company arrives.”

Kuzu didn’t even ask a question, nor wait for a response, instead she followed after Lisa. Our gazes connected for a brief second and it was long enough for me to know what she planned. No matter what would happen next she would guard my daughter with her life.

“A quick question then,” Adam said as he unslung his rifle and chambered a round, “why’d you want us to stay quiet and hurry to here?”

“Remember the nyanko in the city? They all had those collars on them, did you notice that? Each of those has been slaved to a commanding unit who in turn is able to know everything they hear and see.”

“Commanding unit?” Lance raised an eyebrow at that.

Before I could respond a tingle ran down my spine, one that I’d felt numerous times in the past. While the brothers watched on I leapt away from them as pulled my sword free from the scabbard. I gathered a small amount of my magic in preparation even as I yelled to the others, “It’s coming!”

A dark figure arced down out of the sky and hammered into the ground with enough force glass was sent flying everywhere. As it straightened up we could all clearly see that it was taller than even Lance. With wide shoulders and muscles that rippled beneath a skintight outfit it was clear that there was power within that body. A single hand came up to run fingers through white hair, while red eyes stared so hard at us that it felt like the gaze would punch holes into our bodies.

“An Architect,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear, and it was the word that brought a look of concern to the brothers’ faces.

Black boots crunched against the glassed soil as weight shifted and the Architect turned to glare at me. A gloved hand lifted up to point a singular finger at me. “Peculiar specimen,” the Architect said in a gravel-laden voice, “homo sapien offshoot perchance?”

Before I could respond the hand dismissed me with a wave, a wave that was strong enough to move the air itself and bowl me over. As I tumbled to the ground I could barely catch a glimpse of the response from the brothers.

Lance had pulled a long dagger out and lunged in close to the Architect, his course of action a simple stab at the chest. For a moment I could see that he almost managed to impale his target before I hit the ground head first, and the crunching of glass near my ears ruined any hope I had of hearing what came next.

When I managed to stand back up a hint of blood spilled down from the various cuts on my scalp. All I could hear was a combination of the rush of blood in my ears and a howl, one that sounded like it came from Lance. I shook my head and then focused on where the howling had come from. What I saw was that Lance had somehow lost most of his right arm, and he’d fallen to his knees as blood gushed from the wound.

Adam’s rifle roared as he fired round after round, his hands a blur as he worked the bolt and loaded a new round faster than I could follow. Yet his bullets slipped past the Architect as the thing walked toward Adam, the bloody and torn off arm of Lance held in it’s left hand. It grinned as with minute sways of the body it avoided each shot and continued to close the gap.

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When it got closer Adam pulled out his pistol and tried to fire into the Architect’s face, yet it lifted Lance’s arm and slammed Adam in his own face with his brother’s limb. Adam collapsed to the ground while the Architect discarded the arm on top of him, a neutral expression once more on it’s face.

My fingers tightened on the hilt of my sword while electricity began to dance down my arm and to the weapon. It was what I’d used to disrupt the blizzard, and what I’d used to sever the gargoyle in half, and yet even as I swung the weapon there was that doubt in the back corner of my mind. The blade slipped through the air so fast that it wasn’t even a full second, and it was still too slow.

Instead the Architect caught the tip of the blade with a single forefinger. “Astounding,” the Architect commented as a hint of blood dripped free from a fresh minor cut on the finger, “absolutely impressive.”

I growled in response to it’s pointless platitudes and retracted the sword. My mind raced as I tried to figure out how to deal with the current situation. If I’d had access to Mika’s armory I would’ve had no problem, as Markov’s suits should have still been in there. Even if they’d degraded due to a loss of the stasis fields I’d have had a way out.

If I tried to summon weapons it would knock them away, as my current energy reserves weren’t enough for me to deal with an Architect with that strategy. I could create a clone, but I wouldn’t be able to maintain it for long enough. I took a couple steps back in order to create more distance between us, while I worked at my internal strategizing.

The thing before me cared little for my distancing, instead it studied the small injury I’d caused on it’s finger. The emotionless mask that it wore remained flawless as it licked at the blood, and then the red eyes shifted to look at me.

It walked only a few feet before icicles speared the Architect from behind. The ice projectiles managed to pierce at least a couple of inches into it’s body, though they weren’t deep enough for my preference.

The Architect’s face was as impassive as it had mostly been from the start, even as it reached over it’s shoulder and pulled one of the icicles out. When it brought the icicle in front and looked at it, the Architect’s eyes widened and a smile appeared. “Magic,” it hissed as it turned to glare at Kuzu.

Everyone else no longer mattered to it, as instead Kuzu had garnered all of the Architect’s attention. It walked with an air of confidence toward her, taking it’s time while Kuzu’s eyes widened. Even from afar I could tell that she was scared, as her ears tucked in close to her head and she wrapped her tail around her waist.

Out of nowhere a small bag flew over and hit the Architect in the arm, an act that made it stop and look down. Once it realized what had hit it it looked up at who’d thrown the bag and noticed that Adam was awake. There was almost no time for it to react before Adam fired his pistol at the bag at the Architect’s feet.

The ammunition in the bag ignited on contact with the bullet and the spot where the Architect stood turned into a ball of fire. Even at a distance I could feel the heat as it washed over me, and I held up one hand to shield my eyes and face from the light and potential shrapnel. Try as I might I couldn’t see past it all to check on how Kuzu and Lisa were.

If the explosion had been loud the clap that came next was even louder. A burst of air erupted from the center of the fireball, and the Architect was revealed as the flames spread outward and dissipated. It held it’s two hands together, and though there were burn marks all over there was no telltale sign of significant damage.

For the first time since we’d seen the Architect there was a look of hatred on it’s face. One hand lifted up and formed a fist, and then it swung so fast that I couldn’t even see the movement of it’s hand. The fist was aimed in the direction of Adam, and soon thereafter a blast of powerful wind hammered into him. The impact was enough to send Adam hurtling back into the crystal forest and out of sight.

While it’d been distracted by Adam I burst into action and utilized my high speed to get in close to it’s back. The smell of burnt flesh filled my nostrils as I once more did my lightning quick sword slash, this time at point blank range, and attempted to cut horizontally along the waist. Beneath my feet the ground cracked as I shifted my weight in an attempt to maximize the damage of the blow.

Once more my blade bit into a finger, though this time I managed to reach all the way to the bone. In that split second between the middle of my swing and contact the Architect had put it’s hand down. Fingers curled around the blade and wrenched the sword out of my hand, while the Architect’s left hand lifted up and it tapped at it’s ear with one finger.

“Acoustic mistake,” the Architect said before it drove an elbow directly into my face.

I fell over onto the ground while blood oozed from my broken nose. I let out a groan of pain as I laid on the shattered glass shards, new lacerations gained all along my back from the fall. The Architect gave no more attention to me and instead returned to it’s walk toward Kuzu. It was then that it paused, and from my vantage point I could barely tell that it was instead looking past Kuzu.

“No!” I almost shouted as I realized what, or rather who, that had garnered it’s interest.

Kuzu threw icicle after icicle at the Architect, but it swatted each of them out of the air even as it hastened it’s steps. When it came close Kuzu threw up her hands and created a dome of ice, one that blocked her and Lisa away from the Architect.

As though curious about what had happened it put one hand against the wall of ice and slowly slid it’s fingers down the exterior. A tilt of the head was it’s only reaction before it punched the wall, the ice cracking as the fist went deep into the wall. A few more punches was all it took to make a large hole in the front of the dome.

I struggled up to my feet as the Architect reached in and yanked Kuzu out of the dome. She clawed at him, and the diamond-tipped blades of the gloves were more than capable of cutting into flesh. Yet the Architect treated her like a pest as it threw Kuzu off to the side, a toss that had enough power that she cleared a good thirty yards.

When the Architect walked into the dome and approached Lisa I could only feel a combination of fear and anger, and I ran as hard as I could to get there before Lisa could be harmed. I knew that the reason she hadn’t reacted was because she’d connected with Mika’s system, and that meant she was in that world of machines and systems. I didn’t even want to think about what might happen if the Architect caused a disruption of that connection.

Perhaps it was due to the noise I made as I dashed, or maybe the Architect’s instinct, but in the end it turned and caught sight of me before I could get close enough to attack. Without a hint of haste it reached up and gripped the shattered edge of the dome, tearing off a chunk. When it threw the chunk at me I tried to guard, but the aim was far lower than I’d expected as it aimed for my left knee.

I wasn’t certain if it was the ice or my knee, but in either case all I could hear was a loud crunch. I tumbled face first and skidded to a stop near the dome of ice, my face covered in fresh cuts from the glass field. Every part of my body had started to ache and all I could feel was my energy steadily draining as I continued to bleed.

I wanted to stand up, but the ground was so warm and I was so cold and tired. We stood no chance, we couldn’t get away, and the Architect would show no mercy. It even seemed like it was stronger than what I could remember, which meant that it’d only get worse even if we survived.

“What about your promises?”

It was a question that made me chuckle. “You would ask that,” I muttered from my place on the ground, as I started to push my hands against the glass.

Though the shards dug deep into my palms and fingers I ignored the pain. Though my knee screamed in protest, as something cracked and blood oozed out of my pants, I stood up straight. Though I could barely focus on the Architect I still balled my hands into fists.

It’d already turned away from me, far more interested in my daughter and the pillar. I gathered all of my energy and focused, as there was only one solution that I could think of. I put all of my weight onto my right leg, and then used a burst of energy to throw myself at the Architect.

It had no chance to hear the sound of my forward leap, as I’d moved far too fast for the sound to beat me there. I unleashed a punch at the exposed back of the Architect, refusing to listen to the burning pain that filled my entire body.

There was a gratifying grunt of pain from the Architect as it’s body lifted for a moment off of the ground. It turned and glared at me, one hand lifting up to swipe at my neck. It was an easy enough move to see coming, and with my current speed I had no problem swaying back enough to avoid the fingers.

It was as the fingers neared my neck that I realized the mistake I’d made. In front of my eyes the fingers seemed to almost elongate and reshape themselves, and instead of a hand it was instead a thin blade. I attempted to pull back further but it was already too late as the tip of the blade cut into the front of my neck.

I already knew that it was a lethal wound. Soon enough I’d bleed out and the Architect would have all the time it needed to do anything it wanted. It even knew that, as it grinned at me and crossed it’s arms. All the damage I’d done so far had been nothing compared to what it could handle.

That was why when my fist connected with the Architect’s chin there was only surprise on it’s face. The blow was far stronger than the one before, and as my hand touched against the chin I also released every ounce of magic I had left. The strike was strong enough to rip the Architect’s head clear off and send it hurtling upward, and as it hit the dome the head crashed through the thick ice and continued to ascend.

Like I was a puppet who had it’s strings cut I collapsed on the spot. I’d basically laced my bones and muscles with magical energy, and then used it to force myself to move faster than I was physically able to. All in all it was almost like I’d had Markov’s suit on again, but without the safety features there was only one result.

It didn’t matter what that result was though, since I could feel numbness as I continued to bleed. I let out a long sigh and closed my eyes, savoring that moment of victory I’d had.

And then there was darkness.