Chapter Forty-One

“We’re going for it, right, girls?” Li Mei asked. She drew her swords and pointed down the spit, where the weevil shapes of the Type Twenty-Eights hunkered down in the mist. From their ragged formation, they knew we were here. But the raggedness suggested that the anti-tank gun had done some good.

“Yeah, we’re going for it. There’s a chance Overclock’s moved up along the tiny treeline, and she’s waiting to attack. Or, if that’s not the case, we can overrun that line and…” I stopped talking. And what? “Okay, we probably can’t take the Type Twenty-Ones, can we?”

Li Mei and Sam both shook their heads. Li Mei grinned, though. “We don’t have to. If we get the Magical Girl, we win. So here’s the plan. We shield in there with a Sam shield. Get in close. Take out the Twenty-Eights. That shouldn’t be too hard. Then we bait out the Twenty-Ones and gun for the Magical Girl. If we do it right, we can get her and get out past the Twenty-Ones before they dig in too tight.”

“Deal,” Sam said. I nodded, and we started running down Whiffen Spit.

As we broke cover, pop-pop-pop-pop-pop sounds filled the air. The Macks didn’t have the range quite yet, but they were opening up anyways!

“Now?” Sam asked, running a half-step behind Li Mei.

“No! Wait for it!” Li Mei swung her sword like she was leading a cavalry charge.

Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop! Rocks and driftwood exploded near my feet. We’d now closed to their shot range, and the three of us started swerving back and forth, trying to be a tougher target to hit.

“Alright, now!”

A pink shield burst into existence in front of each of us. Li Me’s started taking shots, flickering and flaring as the Twenty-Eights finally found their marks. She lasted about five seconds—halfway down the spit—before the shield flared out. She threw herself to the ground and rolled out of my way.

Then the bullets started slamming into my shield.

I tried not to flinch, but the shots hitting where my face should have been were too much. But we kept moving forward. Just two hundred feet. One hundred feet.

Fifty.

The shield flared out, and I threw myself to the side and rolled down the spit’s driftwood-covered beach. Li Mei tucked behind Sam, and together, they slammed into the Mack’s line.

Li Mei was out of juice, though. It wouldn't be enough, even though she was killing any Mack that got in range. Behind the Twenty-Eights, a half-dozen Ones and a few Fours had been waiting, and they rushed my teammates.

I clawed back to the path and pointed both hands toward the oncoming macks. “Will-o-the-Wisp!”

A blue, flaming ball the size of my head bounced from my hands, pulsing brighter and darker, and zig-zagged toward the oncoming Macks. Mack plating burst into flame wherever it hit—but it didn’t hit everything. Sometimes, it’d swerve away just before it slammed into a Mack. Li Mei had to jump it, and she glared at me. “Got anything less random?”

“Yeah.” I jumped behind cover as a Twenty-Eight started shooting. When it stopped, I popped up and pointed at it. “Arcing Rays!” Something that looked a lot like Moonray hit the first Mack, but instead of stopping, it chained onto the next and the next until five had holes through them. Two of them also burst into flames; clearly, Will-o’-the-Wisp made for a good force multiplier.

It didn’t take much more for the Mack’s line to break. Another Arcing Ray and a few kills from Li Mei, and the spit grew quiet.

Or, quiet-ish. Because to the east, the Type Twenty-Ones were moving.

One of them was digging in. I couldn’t see exactly what it was doing, but if I had to guess, it was making more Macks. Probably something tougher than the Type Ones and Type Twenty-Eights we’d just destroyed.

The other one crawled straight for us. From the distance, we had a bit of time, but it’d be our problem soon—and a big one at that. Our plan wouldn’t work; we wouldn’t be able to bait them.

“Anyone have anything left?” I asked.

“I can use Mana Surge once,” Li Mei said.

“A few seconds of shielding,” Sam added. “This one’s on you, Luciole.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Alright. Do your best to keep it distracted, and I’ll give it a shot. If I catch it with my Mana Surge, go all-in on it and try to take out the front arms. We need a shot at its eyes.” I shuddered, wishing we had a better option. None of our plans were working out.

And then, as the Type Twenty-One clattered across the driftwood and round stones, something finally went our way.

“Hey, kids.” Overclock wasn’t looking good. Her magitech arm had dents and divots, and she clearly couldn’t straighten it out. She carried her somewhat-bent war hammer and looked more relieved to see us than I felt to see her. “Anyone have any mana? I need a replacement chip and a few seconds to reconnect with Jimmy.”

“I do,” I started to offer. I wanted to hug her, but the Twenty-One was halfway to us. There wasn’t time.

“I’ll do it,” Sam said. “You and Li Mei can actually hurt that thing. Just keep us safe.”

I nodded, and Li Mei and I sprinted off to face the Twenty-One.

The gigantic Mack rumbled toward us until its bulk filled a narrow section of Whiffen Spit. Then it lowered its six massive arms to shield its eye and waited, a gigantic wall of Mack Plating in our way.

I hesitated. The Mack’s behavior wasn’t anything like the all-out aggression the one at West End had used. Why would it be blocking us off? It wasn’t like we could stop it if it just charged us.

“Luciole, now!” Li Mei screamed, jolting me back to the fight.

“Feu-Follet!” The light wave slammed into the gigantic Mack’s arms, corroding and cracking plating. The machine’s eye flared and sparked behind the arms for a minute, then flicked back to burning red.

I expected Li Mei to all in, but it was her turn to hesitate. She dropped her swords into a guard position but didn’t attack. Maybe she’d been more hurt by her skirmish with the Type Ones at the dock than we’d thought. Or perhaps she just wanted to stall for a bit. Either way, a slower, less aggressive Twenty-One was good for us. Overclock would join the fight soon, and then we’d be back on track. Sort of.

The Mack rumbled forward, arms pounding the ground. Driftwood splintered and exploded as it rushed Li Mei. Then her sword flashed, leaving a tiny cut across one of the arm’s plates.

Another arm caught her and shoved her sideways. She started picking herself up and nodded at me.

“Will-o’-the-Wisp! Will-o’-the-Wisp!”

My stomach started to feel empty as the two fireballs rolled down the spit. Driftwood smoldered in their wake. Neither would reach the gigantic Mack for a bit, though.

I looked over my shoulder while Li Mei dodged fireballs and the Mack’s arms. How much longer did Sam and Overclock need?

That turned out to be a mistake, though. As the first fireball touched the Twenty-One, it surged forward, overrunning Li Mei and skittering toward me. I ducked to avoid an arm, then started running toward the driftwood-covered beach. If I could avoid the Mack, that’d give me a window to shoot at its relatively-unarmored body.

Li Mei thought the same thing. As the Mack kept running, she caught up to its backside. The sword’s edge glowed, and she swung once and sliced through the thinner Mack Plating. Then she turned again and cut into gears and servos.

A moment later, the Mack spun. Two arms thudded into her torso. She flew toward the beach and careened off toward a pile of driftwood.

The Mack didn’t stop moving, though. It bulled its way toward Sam and Overclock, arms reeling back. I fired a Blazing Light spell at it, trying to get its attention, but even though the flames flared more than usual from the Will-o’-the-Wisp, it didn’t change its course. It swung forward with its arms.

Only to bounce off a pink shield. Sam’s Mana Surge had gotten in the way just in time.

But I could see the pink starting to flare as, instead of swinging again, the Type Twenty-One just pushed against it harder. Its servos screamed, and the shield popped and sputtered.

“Feu Follet!” I shouted, firing another burst of light. This one ripped across the Mack’s back, splintering armor and exposing its black and metal insides. I expected it to turn, but it just kept shoving. The shield flared out.

I took a deep breath to cast again, but a familiar voice interrupted me.

“Activating Overclock!”

The Mack froze.

Li Mei didn’t.

She blurred white, swords flashing and slicing. A moment later, the blur stopped on the Mack’s far side. I waited for something to happen. For parts to fall off the machine or for it to crash to the ground. Instead, the battlefield stayed still. The Mack didn’t move.

Until Overclock’s Overclock ran out.

Mack parts rained down to the ground behind Li Mei as she turned, sword drawn. The thing’s red eye flickered and flared. Then it faded out to nothing.

“That’s it?” Li Mei asked. “I expected more.”

“I think our Mana Surges work together really well. Its armor was already beat up when you hit it, and with it not moving, you could get as many hits as you wanted,” I said. “The one in West End lasted a lot longer.”

Overclock stood up. “Jimmy’s just finishing a few syncing things, and we’ll be fully online.”

“Hey?” I asked. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” Overclock put her hand on the side of her head, where something had hit her. “I ducked into a building, and the whole thing came apart on me a second later. It clipped my chip holder and bent Jimmy’s chip just enough that it wouldn’t work anymore.”

“Okay, I have questions, then. Why didn’t you make a new chip for me at West End? That’s a thing we can just do?”

“Not if there are no Operators, and Bentley’s batch wasn’t available. We didn’t have another Operator for you, so we couldn’t just make a chip.” Overclock shrugged and picked herself up off the ground. We have a mission to focus on, kids. And I think it’s just gotten easier.”

She pointed down the spit, and we looked. Sure enough, a figure in a skirt and blazer sprinted toward us. We’d almost finished our mission