“The first stop will be somewhere near the entrance of the research station. The number of undead there will be low.” The robotic bat flew up and landed on Shade’s shoulder.

"Acknowledged, honorable Shade. If I ask a question?” Roberion has many questions, but he needed the main ones taken out of the way fast.

“Drop the formality, and I may answer.”

“Alright… Shade. How do you know where the research station is, and how do you know the way there? Where will we need to go to help the fizznaults? Do you know how many undead are there?”

“That’s really a lot of questions. The first one, I can’t answer. Let’s just say I have some interest in it. Second, that is our first stop. I will lock the gates that are causing so much trouble for the fiznaults. While I am at it, I will try to change the route where they will go; the farther from us, the better. I don’t want to waste time here. Third, I know how many undead we will find because I scouted ahead. The next stop, I will need to make these little guys work again," saying that Shade just brought from nowhere a rat creature, another robot, having a dark metallic skin, no ear, and no tail, so small that it would fit on the palm of Roberion’s hand. In the giant hands of Shade, it seemed like a little toy.

The little robot mouse left Shade’s hand. As fast as light, the creature was already on top of Percival's head.

“Ahhhh! He-hello, my little metallic friend.” Percival wasn’t afraid of Shade; no, he was just observing from a distance. Someone needed to be seeing the whole picture. That lie wasn’t fooling himself. Shade was completely alien to him. He needs time to assimilate. So many machines; is that a giant machine too? Percival was confused.

“And hello, giant metallic friend, honorable Shade.”

“No formality; that’s just a waste of time. And cut out the giant metallic friend thing." Shade didn’t even look at Percival. Roberion didn’t know if the metallic giant didn’t care or if the mouse had something connected to Shade’s vision. The mouse was a scout, after all.

“Curious weapon I heard, but not the most curious I saw. As far as I know, he is also used to scouting. If need be, please help me with it. Or is he truly like a bonded being? I wouldn’t want to make him traumatized or something of the like. Most of the scouting will be deadly.”, the robot bat looked at Roberion.

“I have, you know, hono— Shade, I’m a knight. I don’t fear the danger. We use it to temper ourselves. Reforging our knight's heart with each danger we face. I can scout ahead with no problem at alll," Percival said first, trying to reign over his fear of these machines.

"Plus, he also can’t feel pain or discomfort; it's part of the enchantment. But being a scout can be complicated for him. Let’s just say that when in danger, I will always have a weapon in hand. When it vanishes, I will have another one show up in my hand. Before, it was easier; now, with the club, it’s impossible to predict.”

“Oh, that I know. I did observe your training with the undead. I needed an assistant anyway; what your weapon does isn’t that important. It could be anyone. Sadly, the fiznaults refused, hence why my time is short. Let’s talk on the way," Shade said, saying that the giant and the bat started walking fast ahead, the mouse still on Percival’s head.

“Let’s go, Percival. I think Shade wants to use this metallic mouse to locate us. Percival, are you okay?”

“Ah yes, sir, I’m fine. You don’t need to worry neither about me nor about this metallic creature," Percival kept his bravado, showing a stoic expression.

“Alright...Let’s go.”

Blasted robot creature. Why would you choose to be in my knightly head? Another knightly trial to be overcome. Percival followed Roberion, feeling anger and fear in equal measure.

Percival wasn’t the only one having problems with their new acquaintance. Roberion followed the tunnel where Shade had gone. It was similar to the one Percival carried, albeit more spacious. In this one, though, there weren’t any marks or symbols; there was nothing. There he couldn’t find the giant. Panicking, he started to run.

Reaching an intersection in two directions, he stopped, hearing footsteps from Percival behind him. The right tunnel didn’t seem to have anything, and before he could analyze the left, a dark giant figure showed up. Roberion’s heart jumped to his mouth, and as startled as he was, blessedly, it was just Shade again, and he stiffled his scream.

“Dammit, are you doing this on purpose??”

“What?” asked Shade, emotionless, through the metallic bat.

“Forget it. Let’s just go. How far are we?”

“A couple of hours if we run. The undead will only show up near the entrance.”

"Let’s run them.” Roberion gave a comforting nod to Percival, trying to signal that all was okay.

The two of them followed Shade into the left tunnel. The faster they finished with this thing, the faster Roberion could be away from this weirdo.

It didn’t take long before they reached the area near the entrance. Roberion didn’t talk much during the whole walk; he didn’t know much about Shade; it was better to be careful. Percival had another motive to be silent. The robotic rat above his head took much of his concentration. He just wished the mouse would leave his head before the fight, or he would be forced to remove the creature with forcible means.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Alright, the entrance is on the right at the next intersection. From there, we will need to fight the undead near it. If you need to prepare yourself, do it now. And if possible, don’t damage the entrance terminal or anything that seems electronic, including cables. Honestly, I doubt it, even if I damage them. But I need to check it personally," said the robotic bat.

“Understood. Eh, I don’t know how to ask it, but are you the robotic bat or the being inside the armor? I need to know who I should follow and defend, you know.”

“Why would I be my magical automaton bat???”

“Automaton? The bat is the one that keeps talking. You can see how I can be confused.”

“Yes automaton. I won’t give you a history lesson. Let’s say that, from where I’m from, we have a difficult relationship with machines. The more controllable and the less digital interference they have, the better. Magic is an integral part of it.

Shade stops. If Roberion was being honest, he felt somewhat that Shade was sighing.

“No, I’m not the bat, "I’m the “being inside the armor” as you said, so follow me. I will not ask any more questions about myself. Just please stop this dumb head of yours and your imaginative ideas of me.”

Shade starts running again: “Let’s finish them.”.

Roberion followed, already summoning the spear. Behind him, he could hear Percival do a little scream of happiness, the mouse from his head just running faster than even shade and encountering the undead. There is no time to dwell on that.

Reaching the spacious area, Roberion could see a group of undead that were just starting to go after Shade, the entrance terminal just at the end. In the walls, metallic tubes could be seen, all ending in the terminal and the entrance. It seemed like a newly erected construction, totally disconnected from the ancient architecture. It looked alien, like some type of technological cancer had started consuming the construction, transforming into a new thing.

Roberion was sure that the research station wasn’t made by the people he saw drawn to the murals of the temple or the people that drew them. The recent construction seemed much newer, and he doubts any sane person would mesh these two types of architecture. The thing looked ugly.

I can’t be sure, though; this whole place is weird. Roberion didn’t wait much before joining the brawl, already preparing his fireball, and Percival was already running ahead, rapier and shield in hand.

The automaton bat flew as Shade started the fight.

Looking at Shade, Roberion was mesmerized. If he could, he would just sit there and watch the battle. Shade speed was astronomical, like a fast-running car. Nearing the first creature, the giant took out a bone-white glaive from nowhere. Shade must have some sort of spatial item. It was the only reason Roberion could think of as he saw a glimpse of the indigo line, the same as he analyzed his bag.

People say that I shouldn’t know much about the lines in my current stage. I think what they meant was that I should discover them myself, maybe because perception changes something? If it’s just that I shouldn’t analyze everything magic I bump into, then I’m fucked.

The glaive cuts the undead in the middle cleanly, separating the body into two vertical slices. Even their viscous, dark purple blood couldn’t stop raining down. Before any single drop of the viscous substance could reach the metallic giant, Shade was already running to their next target like a wind of death. In a moment, the undead were intact. The next moment, his head is cut in two. A diagonal line shows up at his head; the upper half starts to slide down, falling to the ground with a meat thud.

I will just do the bare minimum to be useful. I need to see how powerful Shade is. Sorry, Percival, you will need to do the heavy lifting today. It doesn’t make sense for someone so powerful to need me.

Roberion spent the fight rarely fighting the undead, training a little with his spear, plunging them in their chests and heads. Although it was a little hard with Percival's enchantment draining some of his strength, he was already starting to get used to the undead way of fighting and his spear. If the attack didn’t work, just evade and use their low intellect and speed against them.

The number of undead and the massacre Shade was doing made the use of fireballs unnecessary. He just used his gloves to try to use their enchantments as an implement in his way of fighting. They weren’t very useful for damage, but they were amazing at hindering it.

Shade continued the one-person slaughtering of the undead; he and Percival were more like kids trying to help an adult. They killed some undead, but Shade was something else. The glaive cut through the undead without any resistance, their body parts dropping to the ground, their blood raining.

The whole mess seemed like a show; if the undead were near each other, the giant, in one move, ended all of them like a whirlwind, the armor immaculate, and with a swish to the side, the glaive returned to its bone white color, the dark purple blood just a memory on the floor.

The battle lasted for only five minutes. If Roberion was alone, he would spend probably one hour in a difficult battle against more than half a hundred undead. He was suspicious if Shade was monitoring him. He could see the giant stopping for a while looking at him. The automatons did the same, never joining the battle but only looking around.

Shade didn’t seem to have anything to say about his battle performance as he neared the entrance terminal. The metallic giant was already typing on it. Percival was just behind Roberion, the mouse already on his head.

“Can I be of any assistance?” Roberion asks, trying to be helpful or get any information out of Shade.

“No. Actually, the system is extremely easy to get into. I couldn’t get the master command of it, but I unlocked most of the useful functions, like mapping and control of these side gates. The complex seems enormous. If the fiznaults consider their place a village, this research station is a city.”

The automaton bat kept speaking after stopping for a couple of minutes. Roberion kept silent, trying not to disturb. “With the map, we can take a week to reach the first stop I need to go to. I will need to spend some time there, but the problem is that I don’t know how long it will take. The bigger problem, though, is that inside that place lies the true undead force. Inside, I can’t guarantee your safety. I can’t even guarantee mine. If there is any sign of one of them showing up, we will need to run. Lucky for us, we have the map. There are some places we can use for hiding.”

“But if a problem shows up, how can we tal—”, before Roberion could finish, a small white object was thrown at him.

“It’s an earbud. Put it in your ear and activate it," the bat automaton said.

Roberion did just that. Activating it, he felt a connection to Shade, as if he were in direct contact with the giant.

“Can you hear me?” Roberion listened from the earbud. The voice was the same as the bat.

"Yes, I can; I think it’s working.”

“Fine. I will use it from now on. Speak as quietly as possible. I will hear anyway. Also test if the earbud was fixed to your ear; later, if you want to remove it, just deactivate. The mana consumption is very low, and it’s only used when we communicate.”

“Yes, it’s fixed. What about the gate we need to close to help the fiznaults? Did you manage to send the undead far away?”

“Already done. It was really too easy when it shouldn’t be… Anyway, let’s go to the research station.”