{INCOMING LOGIC - 135 LB}
{AVAILABLE LOGIC - 175 LB}
{INCOMING LOGIC - 135 LB}
{AVAILABLE LOGIC - 300 LB}
As I got up and my adrenaline ebbed, realization dawned on two things.
One, I had been incredibly lucky to not hit any bystander with Pharus. Hell, it was a morningstar now; I needed to be careful to not hit myself.
Two, I was still thinking clearly… or at least so I believed. I had just killed two Ferals without dipping into my anger. The thought made me feel… terrified.
Even with a gun to my head, I would have felt less fear, and still wouldn’t have been able to say why.
See? It works…
I had no idea why Patti’s dying words chose that moment to haunt me yet again, either.
I needed to think of something else, so I shook my head to clear it and looked at the crowd. Every single one of them stared back.
I swallowed, pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. No one moved.
“What?” I asked, chewing the inside of my cheek. Then the first of them started cheering, and I immediately cut them off. “No. No, you need to go, now! Stop wasting your time.”
Stop wasting your praise on a tyrant.
They looked at me for a second longer, then the moment passed, like a disciplinary hearing coming to an end.
Loud voices began to rise above the din, getting the flow of people sorted into somewhat orderly lines, even though hunched shoulders and erratic glances still spoke of a fear merely repelled, not conquered.
Before I could think about that for too long, I headed back toward where Zephyro had been waiting. This time, the crowd parted around me, and though the sudden shift in behavior still filled me with unease, I managed to ignore the feeling by focusing on what lay ahead.
First, I had to help Zephyro, then we’d have to guard the last of the refugees heading into the palace, and then…
I cursed as I reached the edge of the crowd, then broke into a sprint.
Unlike what I had wanted to believe, the fog hyena hadn’t been dealt with at all. Perhaps it had been blown away by the explosion of Logic from earlier. Perhaps it had teamed up with the rats, letting them take the brunt of the damage in their mad dash towards the citizens, while it hid. Perhaps it had employed guerilla tactics, using its gaseous form to hide while it took potshots at prey far tastier than workers and couriers.
Tastier prey like Zephyro, with his massive amount of Logic.
The Feral had engulfed him in a dense cloud of toxic fog, eroding his armor, so it definitely seemed like it wouldn’t have to wait for long.
The vizier didn’t seem to notice, focused as he was on saving his people. He strained to lift another large chunk of rubble, barely managing to lift it up to his hips as he rose into a deadlift. I imagined I could hear tiny voices, afraid and pleading, coming out from under the debris, and he yelled something at one of the women trying to help. She knelt down and slid under the gigantic plate he was barely managing to keep above the ground.
It was the perfect moment for the beast to strike. I had imagined it would wrap itself tighter around Zephyro, but it loosened its toxic embrace as it shifted back into its coyote-like shape. It still looked like it was nothing more than air as it set its haunches, but when it sprung, it slammed into Zephyro with all the mass you would expect of a canine bigger than a horse. The vizier yelled in pain and confusion but even though the Feral tired crushing him between its deadly body and the stone he held, he didn’t let go. He had squeezed his eyes shut, and it looked like he was praying. From under the debris, a small group of children emerged running for the safety of the palace. A perfect Amuse Gueule for a discerning beast such as the hyena.
Its head snapped in their direction. I was still several hundred meters away. No way I would reach it in time. I imagined the moment when it caught them. How Zephyro would look. How it would feel to not have done enough. I tried reaching for my anger, but there was nothing there, just exhaustion.
As the Feral tensed, preparing to sprint after its fleeing prey, a whole other instinct answered, taking me by surprise.
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{CONSUMED LOGIC - 300 LB}
{AVAILABLE LOGIC - 0 LB}
{[Ardor, Visionary Ambition] - v. 1.0 - Interface Driver Solution
IS NOW
[Ardor, Visionary Ambition] - v. 1.1 - Interface Driver Solution}
{[Ardor, Visionary Ambition] - v. 1.1 - Interface Driver Solution}
{A suite of subroutines designed to gather information from devices directly connected to or remotely interfacing with the local system, as well as render them in virtual-metaphoric realities
Features:
.6 - calculates an estimate of targeted systems’ overall capabilities.
1.1 - After a period of scanning, provides a more detailed estimation of the target system’s capabilities. Causes [LOW-HIGH] CPU load, depending on the complexity of the target system.
Required CPU load: 2% at current CPU quality.
Required RAM: 5 LKB}
The bell tolling over the Plaza sounded equally different. It started as a comforting hum deep in my soul and spread from my chest like ripples in warm water. It washed over the debris and the crowd and the Ferals with the sort of unyielding fervor only available to those who believe in helping. That did not mean it was any less powerful. No, this was a gentle, soothing power, not made to crush mountains, but move them instead.
The pebbles around my feet shifted, loose stones finding their place in the family of their mosaic. When the ripple reached Zephyro, he found the strength to lift the slab over his head, and he turned to rest it on his back as the remaining victims trapped underneath fled.
Overhead, in the endlessly dark night sky, the moon, still bathing the square in white and red, pulsed warmly. Within a second, the red glow that had been creeping to cover it entirely had been banished almost back to its starting edge.
The hyena, its gaseous form shifting under the power of my wish like smoke in a hurricane, turned from Zephyro to me as it braced itself against the torrent. Strands of acrid green spread far behind it, billowing as they hit the ornamented wall of a house at the side of the square. The stone went brittle under the smoke’s deadly touch, cracked, then dissolved. As more and more of the creature’s body was peeled away, its skull peeled free of its body, streaming green smoke. I itched to rush forward and use this chance, but even with Pharus’ newly added range, I wouldn’t have been able to reach the hyena before the bell’s note faded.
Then, Ardor surprised me with a readout.
[F0G-Eat3r]
[Bronze Ran///
>>ERROR]
[F0G-Eat3r]
[Level 12 Fog Bea///
>>ERROR]
[F0G-Eat3r]
[DPM filesize: XX LKB]
[>>Calculate exact filesize?]
I blinked, half surprised, half wincing at the headache, and apparently the program took that as a command and pounded more words into my consciousness.
{CPU Load: ▲ 99%}
{Core Temp: ▲ 75° C}
[>>Calculating…]
[>>Done.]
[F0G-Eat3r]
[DPM filesize: 12 LKB]
While I had no baseline to compare it with beyond my own terabytes, and a quick glance at my own hands provided no similar readout to check, my gut told me that this thing was no pushover. I was tempted to look at Zephyro, but there was no time.
The beast’s form reassembled as the sound waned. When it died down fully, the fully reformed Feral snarled. It sounded hungry and even though it had no tongue I could see, I got the impression it was licking its jowls. Then, using all its pent-up gluttony, it put on a surprising burst of speed, clearing half the distance between us in the blink of an eye.
Despite my better judgment, I rushed forward to meet it, sidestepped to dodge as it came into range, saw it pounce, flicked my Morningstar, and slammed its spiked head against the monster’s temple at the apex of its trajectory. I had feared my attack would just pass straight through its gaseous mass, even though that offered the small hope that I’d be able to get a lucky hit in and crack its skull immediately.
Instead, Pharus did neither. The Torch’s head sank into the hyena’s form the same way the flat side of a spoon sinks into jelly. Bright green paste congealed at the impact point, spattering across the floor. The blow changed its trajectory, sending it several meters off course, and for a second I dared to believe I had actually done significant damage.
The wound re-sealed before the beast even hit the ground.