Franco is dead. I try Healing Palm, Restoration Palm and a couple others. But they don't have any effect at all. My powers can't heal the dead, apparently.

Mercy and Quins watch as I try to heal him, but Quins turns Mercy away from the scene when it becomes apparent that it's already over. She's currently crying and curled into a ball.

Jose is on overwatch atop the computer bank and Quins offers to swap with him. They do so and Jose puts a hand on my shoulder as I stare into a face that was burned beyond recognition. “Jun,” is all he says.

I should be sad. I should be angry. But instead, I'm calm. One of my sub-minds is just angry and the other is working through the stages of grief. But me, I'm calm. I'm rational. I grab Franco's remains, lift them up a little, and then the body goes into my inventory.

“No man left behind,” I say solemnly.

“Yeah.” Jose's hand squeezes my shoulder.

“How?” I ask.

“Monsters made of radiation,” Jose tells me. “Tall humanoid in a hazmat suit. Shoots rad beams. I think our radiation pills are working but the beam itself is pure heat.”

I was asleep for 5 hours. I pop out a radiation pill and swallow it right away. “How many?”

Quins glances at the big world map to his right. “Looks like at least 50 or so left, boss.”

I glance up and figure that each light represents one radioactive man. And looking at the locations of the lights, I'd guess each one represents one nuclear power plant.

Quins looses an arrow, a half second later there's an explosion in the distance, and one of the green lights turns red.

“Fifty one left,” I say, standing. “Anything I need to know tactics wise?”

Jose looks me in the eye and says, “don't go alone.”

“I've just gotten upgrades. I'll be fine. Give me enemy behaviors and floor layout.”

Jose shakes his head. “No, calm down first.”

“I am calm.”

He grabs me by the collar. “The fuck you are!”

My hand grabs his and I barely squeeze it. Jose's face wrenches in pain. I don't have to apply much of my 70 Strength to cause pain. He lets go, then I let go. I immediately look away guiltily, and use Healing Palm on his own bruised palm. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, me too,” he says, rubbing his hand.

“Jose, I'm moving forward,” I say seriously. “I'm going to fight to protect people. Right now that means you guys.”

Jose looks me in the eye and holds my gaze. “Okay,” he finally says. I guess he believes me.

Quins drops down off the computer as a green ray blasts over our heads. “Right-O, good for you chaps, but do you mind getting back in the fight, yeah?”

Jose snaps back into soldier mode and I'm with him. He says, “hazmat suits with living radiation inside. They take reduced physical damage, ignore heat. Move slowly. They fire beams when they open their visors but it takes three seconds to charge and they don't move while charging. The bad part, the thing that got Franco, is that they don't bleed, they fire lasers from any holes in their suits we make.”

Five wakizashi fly in a circle at my back. “Got it. Quins, watch Mercy for me.” Then I run out into the open to face the oncoming swarm of...

Radioactive Guy. Tier 4. You already know everything there is to know from your friend Jose. Except that they love ice cream, but can't eat it because it melts if they get within 5 feet of it. These guys lead tragic lives, really.

Possible Loot: Glow Sticks, Night Light, Hazmat Suit, Donut with pink icing and sprinkles.

My blades fly forward to a hallway that's filled with a dozen radioactive guys. From the blades I fire an Obsidian Sphere at the first one. The massive black orb rips apart the yellow suit and green lasers shoot in all directions from the gap. This lasts just a split second before the monster is ripped apart and devoured by void.

I don't know what's most effective against these things yet. Now seems like a great time to try some of my new spells.

Zap Shot, Stone Shot, Whirlwind Slash, Water Cutter and Yellow Beam all fire off at once from my wakizashis. A beach ball of electricity slams into a monster, seeming to be repelled by the suit's black rubber gloves. A rock the size and shape of a football files forward and clocks a radio man and knocks it over. Stone Shot carries mass behind it, good to know. A slash of wind encircles one of the blades, but is too far away from the suits to deal damage. Okay, Whirlwind Slash is a short range area attack. Water Cutter is a sharp, very narrow beam of water that cuts right through a suit and causes the light inside to dim, rather than shoot out like a laser. Wow, nice. Yellow Beam is a legit laser beam, but doesn't seem effective on these guys. Doesn't even breach their suit.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

I look down at my belt to my other five wakizashis. Before they were just backup. Now with sub-minds? “Let's go,” I say as ten wakizashis circle the entry to the monster hall, and I dash through their center.

Water Cutter

Advanced

Have you ever seen one of those machines that cut steel with a high pressure water jet? This isn't that strong, but you get the general idea.

Range: 25 feet

Cost:1 Arcana Point per second

Proficiency: 1%

I start firing off Water Cutter from blade tips. Jets pierce suits and cool the internals of these monsters. Jets of water crisscross the hall with the high pitched fsst of high pressure water. Each Cutter jet doesn't do much damage on its own so I should probably focus fire.

5 seconds into my assault the monsters focus fire on me and six visors get raised in my direction. The green glow from inside brightens to almost white and I make sure to dodge to the left, drawing their fire away from Jose and the others.

My speed lets me easily dash behind the wall to my left but something spurs me to keep running. Maybe it was Franco being so utterly ripped apart. Maybe it's my ever growing combat sense. My fear or instincts prove right as the wood paneled wall bursts and green lasers streak through. Shards of wood, drywall, dust and copper wiring crash onto the white tile floor. If I'd stopped to take cover, I might be just as demolished.

A cascade of beams fires after me, chasing me to the far left of the large room. Each beam that shoots at me widens as it travels from its origin point. At 40 feet out where I am, each beam is about 4 feet wide. A wall is eaten away behind me, revealing a conference room behind it. Leather chairs and stacks of papers are blown apart by green beams of heat and force. I reach the corner of the room and realize that it's do or die time.

My sub-minds can't see the targets but I know where the beams are coming from. My blades fire constant water streams which sweep across the hall, hopefully dealing enough damage to halt the attack. I pour 1 AP per second into 10 separate blades and my AP dwindles to nothing after just a few seconds. I hit zero AP and keep firing. Pauldrons made of water surround my shoulders, round and almost bubble like Chimerablood is such a cool subclass.

The beams from the monsters let up and I shout, “Jose, water conducts-” I don't have to finish the sentence. Jose unleashes his largest bolt yet, this one at least three feet wide and when it impacts the entire hall is lit yellow with electric energy. The remaining five suits fall to the ground and all of them begin to lose their glow.

I can tell where Franco died. Everything in his inventory dropped at the hall entrance when he died. Several bags of bullets, some coins, one of those non-radioactive glowing rocks, the rifle I'd lent him. This is better, somehow. His stuff being right next to the fight means he died quickly. Hopefully he didn't feel much.

I wait a few seconds to confirm the enemy deaths before I go back to Mercy. She's still crying. I crouch down next to her, and put my arms around her shoulders. She hugs me back, wrapping steel plated mecha armored arms around me. I let her stay like that for several minutes as Jose and Quins keep watch.

After a while Alicia finally shows up. “Where's Franco?” she asks. Jose just shakes his head and she gets it.

I hear Quins whisper, “boss took the body inta inventery.”

We all stay quiet for a while longer. There's the sound of data tapes reeling back and forth. It sounds like air-conditioning is being piped through the room. The blasted apart wall crumbles to the ground. And every minute or so there's a beep from one of the computers.

Finally, after around half an hour Mercy lets me go.

Conversation Log 0023

Hyperion: Exactly how does this AI take our orders?

Saturn's 2nd Ring: It doesn't, directly. The priorities we and I gave it drive its actions.

Spear Saint: Oh that survey you had us fill out was legit? I thought you were just probing to find out who we are.

Skull Master Flash: I think that if anyone here *doesn't* know everyone else's identity already, then they're not smart enough to be here.

Fortuna: A convoluted way of saying we all know who each other are already.

Saturn's 2nd Ring: Anyways, yes, those surveys were for priorities for the AI to have.

Hyperion: I want to know the top ones.

Spear Saint: Me too!

Saturn's 2nd Ring: 1. Kill as many people as possible, but give each person a somewhat fair chance. 2. Generate loot and items long lost or previously impossible. 3. Guide the players with as little help as possible. 4. Allow excellence to be rewarded. 5. Create a power system capable of leading a few humans to Godhood. 6. Extend sites to every part of the world so that the balance of power doesn't shift too much too fast.

Hyperion: A good list.

Saturn's 2nd Ring: After those top priorities comes more mundane expectations for dungeons, ruins, castles and arenas, to make everything run smoothly.

Fortuna: I wish rule 6 was higher.

Skull Master Flash: It doesn't interfere with the higher ones so it'll work regardless of its order. That's just how programming works.

Fortuna: I see. And we're good with number 1 being 1st?

Spear Saint: The twisted version of Asimov's three laws of robotics? Ha, yeah, it's important. The more who die the easier everything else gets for us.

Hyperion: A sad reality, but one we must acknowledge.

Skull Master Flash: Spoken like a true CEO.

Fortuna: DO NOT REVEAL ANY INFORMATION HERE OR ANYWHERE ELSE.

Saturn's 2nd Ring: These logs auto delete, it's fine.