Juliana teleported them to the top of a large ruined structure surrounded by more devastated buildings made of the usual magical concrete. The air had a slightly burnt and smokey smell. The sun was starting to settle; in a few hours, it would be dark. This was less ideal as they struggled more with darkness than the Automata did, so they would want to act before that happened or delay their attack.
The Zephyr silently approached and started to land on the roof they were on. Even from up close, the stealthrim armor made the Vtol hard to spot, while the craft made only a humming sound from up close. Alistair stepped to the side to give Jessica space to land. The Zephyr's landing gears extended out of the hull as it landed softly on the concrete building. The side doors opened, and James and Simon were the first to jump out, followed by Melissa and Jessica, who shut down the Zephyr before stepping out and storing the craft in its cube in a flash of light and smoke.
"Why did it take you guys doing some shady dealings before we did this?" Simon complained, approaching the group through the quickly vanishing smoke cloud.
They had been ready to strike for a while but decided to grind out more secondary objectives and levels before destroying the headquarters.
"Because the priorities changed. Things won't always go as planned; at least this time, it's to our benefit. That will probably change after the system stops babying us," Alistair explained.
Simon grinned and embraced Alistair in their usual greeting. It had become a bit more awkward as Alistair had to bend down a bit.
"Free labor and materials do sound good," Simon remarked as he stepped back.
"Well, not free. I hope these Demons, like Aknis and Riseth, are easy to work with." James commented.
"Am I not easy to work with?" Nessyra interjected.
"Of course you are," James responded, slightly flustered.
"Uh-huh," Nessyra responded, a smile tugging at her lips.
James often treated Nessyra as if she were his new boss, given her role and assertive nature. She had made some overtures to have him warm up and treat her less professionally and more like part of the family, but it was slow going.
"Don't tease my man too much. That's my job," Jessica chimed in from behind James, resting her hands on top of his head as she towered over him. James's face became indignant. He was still adjusting to the size difference, and he and his girlfriend had joined Alistair and Desily in trying to figure out the polymorph skill. The Reduce and Enlarge Person spell proved relatively straightforward but mana-intensive and primarily geared toward combat rather than everyday use. Transmutation magic turned out to be quite difficult, especially without a proper teacher; since Riseth used the magic more intuitively as a racial skill, she could only describe sensations and rough outlines of the magical process.
James checked a tablet in his hands. "It looks like they have not found any of the charges we placed. We can blow most of the guard detail and turrets to high heaven,"
"Did we figure out what their hidden ace is?" Alistair inquired.
"No," James replied, "the data is inconclusive. We only know that they bought something from the Synth Alliance and deployed it at the beginning of the war." He paused, considering. "It might have been a one-off thing."
"I doubt that. The system usually does not leave clues without reason, and the data has clearly been curated and censored," Jessica remarked, glancing down at his tablet.
"We should make use of the daylight we have left. Let's get in position," Nessyra urged.
"Alright, everyone, stay on the link, and let us know when you reach your position," Alistair declared as everyone flew or teleported off the structure.
It didn't take long for everyone to check-in. Retrieving a pair of binoculars crafted by his brother, he scanned the area. These binoculars weren't ordinary; they provided extreme zoom capabilities and offered perspectives from other binoculars and drones in the vicinity. He double-checked the guard positioning before addressing the team through the Akashic Link.
"The Guard position and patrol routes have not changed. We have a green light from the east," Alistair announced through the link.
"We have a green light from the south as well," Riseth called out.
Similar confirmations echoed in from each cardinal direction until James took charge. "Alright, everyone, prepare yourselves. Countdown to the blast in five, four, three, two, one, fire in the hole!"
BOOOM! Massive explosions resonated, shaking the earth fiercely. Plumes of smoke and debris erupted from the compound as the explosions obliterated all the bunkers and barracks scattered throughout. Dust engulfed the entire compound, obscuring visibility. Alistair and the others wasted no time, rushing in to capitalize on the chaos.
"You know, 'fire in the hole' means something quite different on Neshan," Riseth remarked.
"Do I even want to know?" James asked hesitantly.
"Probably not," she quipped back.
He chuckled. " Alright, don't lose track of our mission. We got to take out their Overseer," James reminded her.
Alistair had a different target. He was to attack a storage facility containing some of the most elite and experimental unit's equipment. They had not blown up that particular guard detail as they did not wish to damage the equipment stored within.
Riseth and James hurried toward the central building; like most of the uninspired concrete blocks, it had a large gate and multiple smaller metal doors to access it. Riseth kicked open the metal door of the central structure and was greeted by an unusual sight. Cables and pipes draped all over the walls, and there was a deep hole in the center of the structure housing what looked to be a massive reactor.
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"What the hell is this?" Riseth asked as she scanned the room for threats.
"A reactor, from the looks of it. What worries me more is that the energy seems to flow below ground and to the top of the building." James observed.
"I figured, but why in both directions? I'd understand if it were drawing from an underground source, but if there's something down there, why have the reactor so close to the surface?" Riseth questioned.
"Let's focus on taking out that Overseer first. We can investigate the data afterward to shed some light on it," James suggested.
The situation did not sit well with Riseth; her intuition told her something was off.
"I don't like this. Let me call in some reinforcement just in case." Riseth said as they ran for the stairs just as troopers ran down and opened fire.
"Alright, I trust your instincts," James said as he lifted his arms, and his suit rapidly fired multiple streams of plasma bolts at the troopers, which were cut to shreds.
While Riseth called for reinforcements as a precautionary measure, James took the lead, confident in his suit's ability to shield him from any potential threats posed by the automata. Over the past few months, he had extensively upgraded his suit, notably integrating hover technology that complemented the thrusters he had adapted from Akni's mechsuit. This enhancement granted him remarkable agility, allowing him to effortlessly navigate the stairwell while conserving energy. With Riseth close behind, he swiftly ascended to the top floor.
Unlike the previous buildings, the Overseer's chamber appeared heavily fortified, with thick steel gates barring entry. Red emergency lights flashed, casting an eerie glow in the dimly lit room. James, too impatient to hack the console next to the door, instead opted to utilize one of the rocket launcher pods mounted on his shoulders to blast open the gate.
"Watch out, I'm going to blow out that gate," James called out.
Just after launching the missile, he conjured a barrier enhanced through his suit. The missile impacted in a loud explosion, which bent and blackened the gate but wasn't enough to break through. Undeterred, he proceeded to fire more missiles until the gate finally breached. As soon as it did, something crawled out of it. Riseth noticed it first as long metallic arms emerged from the holes, their hands transforming into blades, while the eerie glow of two red eyes stared at them.
The numerous arms pressed against the gate, exerting immense force to bend the metal and create space for the massive [Nugan Nexus - lvl 90] to crawl out of its chambers. The scraping and creaking of metal were the only sounds heard before James opened fire on the Nexus while Riseth shot a series of explosive arcane bolts to slow down the machine. Suddenly, Riseth sensed a surge of bloodlust emanating from below, a sensation she had never encountered during the automata trial.
"We've got incoming! We need everyone here!" Riseth yelled over the link, her voice urgent, as she turned ethereal, dodging the attacker breaking through the concrete floor below her. She only caught a glint of metal crashing through the roof above them. James was hurled to the side, catching himself just shy of the nexus's reach.
Alistair sensed the bloodlust before Riseth requested reinforcement and immediately headed toward the center as his intuition screamed that there was danger. The dust had settled quite a bit, but whatever had burst through the central building had just displaced all the air, giving him a clear vision of what looked like a shrunk-down Gundam. [Shaxes - lvl ?]
Combat Trial
Type: [Boss Fight] [Group] [Bloodline]
Scenario:
The Ryser Clan assaulted the Nugan headquarters, forcing the Nexus in charge of the faction to release its strongest asset.
Shaxes, former leader of the Nugan Stuquit, has rejected the weakness of the flesh and embraced the certainty of steel. Undergoing the transformation to become a fully-fledged Synth Lord, a powerful variant of the highly diverse cyberkin of the Synth Alliance.
Shaxes has been supercharged with energy and temporarily breached the threshold to grade 8. Defeat her or survive the encounter to end this trial.
Victory Condition:
Defeat the supercharged Leader of the Shaxes faction.
Rating:
Victory or survival will add to the overall rating of the Clan War Trial.
Alistair could sense the energy streaming out of the Shaxes and knew they would need to outlast the Synth Lord to increase their chances. A massive stream of shards of obsidian shot at the Synth lord as she raised her hands, and a barrier appeared, blocking Simons's attack dead in its tracks.
"I got another level 90 Nexus here, Mom; Melissa, help me with this one, Jessy. Get the big guns and shoot that fucking thing out of the sky. The rest of you try and hold off that Synth Lord," James exclaimed over the link.
Alistair spotted the Synth Lord in the air. It was adorned in black with yellow Nugan force decals and stood slightly taller than Alistair, its imposing metal wings adding to its stature. Its metallic form shone in the light without detracting from its humanoid, organic design. Moving with an unnaturally fluid grace, it bore a sleek, refined construction similar to a humanoid Gundam, reminiscent of the power armor worn by James and Jessica but with a more intimate design.
Alistair teleported beside the Synth Lord and swung his poleaxe with the hammer end, channeling all his strength into the blow. The Synth Lord intercepted Alistair's swing, raising its arm and conjuring a miniature barrier, much closer to Shaxes's armored skin, which effectively blocked the attack. Despite the crackling energy, the barrier showed no signs of faltering. In response, Shaxes delivered a rapid, powerful kick to Alistair, and four fully charged kinetic spheres shot out from within him after tanking the incredible force that far exceeded the [KE] his ribs could hold. Alistair's expression shifted to one of shock as, even with his boosting skills activated, he had barely managed to block the attack with his shield and realized he couldn't react in time to dodge. Shaxes raised her arm with incredible speed, wielding an unusually large plasma rifle that materialized in her hands, aiming it squarely at him.