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[>>Now replaying: Log 3.16.15 - over/whelmed]

Date: Error

Location: The Bunker at Progress’ Head // Zephyro’s Domain

//whelm: (Transitive Verb) - to cover or engulf something completely, with usually disastrous effect.//

//Call upon the Cleopatra Sequence, little Salvatrix. Drink the Milk, let the Honey soak into your skin. I am not the bees, and yet their wisdom does flow so sweet. Taste and see.//

[>>DATA CORRUPTED]

E2 %Except that when we make mistakes, we don’t crush entire kingdoms, Voni. She’s a Mage Lord. Sure they didn’t call her that, but how else can you explain what she did? How can you explain The Path, and the Ferals, and the Machines?%

The beast coiled, metal plates and scrap teeth screeching as its plates ground against each other. Then it roared like a furnace exploding, and a wave of red particles rushed from its horrible mouths, washing over the Ferals, Zephyro, and myself.

[>>User The Skittering Riddle requests control over your device.]

[>>Allow? Y/N]

Massive pressure started building in my head, looking for a way to cram itself between my brain and my mind. Just a tiny crack and I would implode. It would be over. I would be one with the void. Never afraid again. I would no longer be the Tyrant Divine. I’d no longer be Sam.

{CPU Load: ▲ 95%}

{Core Temp: ▲ 65° C}

Horrified, I thought “NO!” over and over and over again, until the pressure faded at last. I spun for Zephyro, and found him, hands on his knees, sword by his side, his face scrunched up in concentration. Before I could say anything, he straightened with a quick series of glitches, and waved me off.

[>>compiling… 50%]

I opened my mouth to ask him if he was all right, but he beat me to the punch. “We must fight. Worry not about me, Sultana. I am fine.” The same couldn’t be said for the Ferals. Their bodies, twitched, lying in a massive heap. Red light arced between them like intrusive thoughts made manifest electricity. A few of the bigger spiders simply collapsed and died, spilling their Logic for the rest to absorb. I only caught a glimmer of cyan before it got swallowed by the crackling red boil that grew at the foot of the Arch. The remaining Arachnids grew even more abhorrent as they split the Logic between them. All over their bodies, green pustules sprouted, their glowing sludge connecting to disfigured weaponry by way of oily cables. Twitching limbs assembled themselves at impossible angles. Metal melted into thick, putrid ooze, covering the ground like a greasy burn wound. As the skittering riddle roared its insane commandments, only the scorpion stemmed itself against the tide of red. It clenched its pincers, chainsaw raking against the metal on the left, electricity arcing to the ground like a curtain of light on its right. It chittered its defiance, and its tail flashed a bright blue, a beacon among the crackling red tide. For a second, I thought the Feral would actually withstand the assault, but then an abhorrent wound sprouted on its back. It revealed a series of misshapen holes, arcing red lightning. The crimson charge mutated its flesh wherever it struck, creating more wounds that screamed more lightning. The Scorpion shivered one last time as the vortex of red energy made its way up its tail. Then its glow dimmed to an ominous, dark red.

[>>compiling… 54%]

Everything happened way too fast after that. By unspoken command, all the monsters under the fading moon turned towards us. I barely had time to ignite Pharus and unfurl it to its full length, before the first spiders were in striking range. Blue fire ran down the length of the chain, flaring the cage at its end as I swung it into an upward arc, drawing a gash of teal into the tide of red and black. Given the sheer number of targets, I had neither the luxury, nor the necessity to time my strikes. I swung low and managed to hit several spiders in mid-stride. One of the larger ones, however, managed to jump over my swing and hit me directly in the face.

[>>PROCESSES BY USER L3gs_F0r_D4ys_69 ARE NOW HIGHLIGHTED]

[>>PROCESSES BY USER L3gs_F0r_D4ys_70 ARE NOW HIGHLIGHTED]

[>>PROCESSES BY USER L3gs_F0r_D4ys_62 ARE NOW HIGHLIGHTED]

[>>…11 more.]

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

{CPU Load: ▲ 66%}

{Core Temp: ▲ 66° C}

[DPM integrity]

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱ 95% ▼

As the wickedly sharp edges of its legs raked across my cheek and drew blood, I cursed myself for not having taken the time to upgrade Arx earlier. Stumbling backward, I grabbed the spider by its jagged core and pulled it off of me. I tossed it aside while Zephyro dispatched the Ferals I had already marked. The sound of razor legs scarring the avenue filled the air like bizarrely soothing rain as the tide of Ferals closed in.

I started backpedaling, swinging Pharus in a constant barrage of attacks that left the burning corpses of spiders to be swallowed by a carpet of skittering metal a split second later.

A split second later, a gleaming crescent erupting from Zephyro's weapon split the Feral in half, along with dozens of others behind it. It hardly bought us time to breathe. For every spider we killed, two more took their place. And so, five arachnids replaced the three we had defeated. They pounced on the remains, greedily sucking the Logic that their fallen comrades had left behind. I tried to beat them to it, but between the sheer numbers of Ferals pulling in Logic and their advantage in distance, it wasn’t even a contest.

At this rate, we’d be pushed against the gates in no time, and we’d be dead before they could open the postern to let us in.

“Zephyro, there are too many! Do you have any large-area attacks? Some moon-beam or whatever? Wait, you actually do! I saw it before!”

“I can’t use that without risking the moon’s boon to fade, Sultana! I do have another attack, but…”

“You called it the Moon’s—“ I grunted and swung, barely in time to crush a spider that tried to sneak up on Zephyro. “Nevermind! Do it!”

“But Sultana, it is very powerful…”

Another spider tried to pounce on me and I twisted aside to dodge with a grunt. When the arachnid landed, I turned and struck it with Pharus’ pommel, then completed the spin to send the censer slicing through the enemy ranks. It left teal flames in its wake, but unlike their earlier counterparts, these spiders showed no fear of fire.

“What are you afraid of? Chipping the mosaic?” I yelled, punching a spider aside as it jumped at Zephyro, kicking back one that tried to climb up my boots.

{CPU Load: ▲ 67%}

{Core Temp: ▲ 68° C}

[>>compiling… 56%]

“No, Sultana, I’m more worried about you.”

Huh. That made sense…

I crushed two more spiders with my flail, and again its brood mates devoured their Logic. That was odd. With the amount of Logic they had consumed, shouldn’t they be spasming on the ground, mutating? Trying to figure out what was different this time, I looked up and caught a flash of blue rippling over the Skittering Riddle’s solar-sail hood. Oh, that was not good. That was not good at all.

“Did you see that?” I yelled, pointing at the mutated snake.

Zephyro looked up just in time to catch another flash and grimaced. “May Allah damn them…”

“Whatever you have to do, do it now!” I yelled, dodging several small spiders in a row and retaliating with wide, arcing strikes that cleaved through them like wheat

“I’m not sure it will work, Sultana.” He gestured at the moon with his sword, then went back to blindly slicing into the crowd. “The attack is strong, yes, but its strength lies in how long it burns, not how hot.”

“Will it kill the Ferals?”

“The small ones surely, the bigger ones maybe, but I am certain the scorpion and the …. thing will survive.”

“Shit,” I hissed, whipping Pharus forward to mark a particularly nasty spider milling through the crowd.

“Indeed, Sultana,” Zephyro stated, and a giant silver sickle erupted from his sword. Cleaving low above the ground, he killed any Feral who wasn’t quick enough to jump over the blade of bright moonlight. With one strike, he claimed dozens of Ferals, and the ones that landed after their jump were dazed and easy targets for Pharus. Their corpses crackled with Logic.

I seized the chance Zephyro had bought me with a deep inhale.

There were more than enough spiders left to contest my pull, but they were as far away from the cyan cloudscape as I was, and that leveled the playing field. The Logic wavered between us like a flock of scared birds as I put my strength against the beasts’. A headache mounted, pulsing deep, but just when it seemed like it would split my brain in two, the cyan cloud ruptured instead. The larger half rushed through the air and settled over my form like my favorite weighted blanket.

{INCOMING LOGIC - 115 LB}

{AVAILABLE LOGIC - 515 LB}

The spiders did not like that. Crackling with corrupted Logic, they surged forward and rusted blades scribbled their murderous intent into the broken cobblestones. I cursed and marked the biggest one I could find with a quick snap of Pharus, then focused on my breathing. I had Logic to spare, and I’d be damned if I let the spiders have it. It was mine.

I focused on that thought of keeping what’s mine, of staying intact and whole, and then I released my Logic.

{CONSUMED LOGIC - 60 LB}

{AVAILABLE LOGIC - 455 LB}

{[Arx, Saint’s Embrace] v. 0.3.5 - Network Security System

IS NOW

[Arx, Saint’s Embrace] v. 0.5.8 - Network Security System}

With a battle cry, Zephyro cleaved through the spider that I had marked, but four more were already close enough to attack. I still hadn’t understood where they kept coming from, nor could I pay attention to how Arx progressed. There was just no time. I managed to bring up Pharus just in time to mark two more, but Zephyro could not dispatch them fast enough. Blade-edged limbs, high-voltage mandibles, and barbed strands of spider hair tore into me. I screamed in pain, taking a step back to brace myself against the onslaught.

And when the horde of monstrosities tried to overpower me, I held firm.

{[Arx, Saint’s Embrace] v. 0.5.8 - Network Security System}

{A simple Network Security System automatically monitoring incoming requests for access. Repeated requests or advanced methods of forcing system access cause a [HIGH] increase in CPU load. Sufficiently sophisticated attacks will bypass this program entirely. Automatic shutoff at [85 °C] core temperature.

Required CPU load: Varies, min. 9% at current CPU quality.

Required RAM: 8 LKB}

Features:

v. 0.3 - Was: Repeated requests or advanced methods of forcing system access cause a [VERY HIGH] increase in CPU load. Now: [High]

V. 0.5 - Was: Automatic shutoff at [80 °C] core temperature. Now: [85 °C]

{Memory: 33/40 LKB RAM}

{CPU Load: ▲ 87%}

{Core Temp: ▲ 74° C}

Arx absorbed significantly more damage. I could barely feel the critters scrambling over my robes as they grew to cover even more of my body. However, several spots were still dangerously exposed, and the spiders just kept coming. I could barely pry them off in time for another to replace them. I marked as many as I could with quick pommel strikes, but no silver blade came to rescue me. I had only a brief moment to notice Zephyro was getting pressured as well, tiny spiders engulfing him like twitching tar. I was on my own.