Without an overpowered Saracen warrior to keep them in check, the Ferals had time to redouble their assault. While the smaller brood kept me distracted, the bigger and bigger spiders joined them in their attack. I pirouetted out of the first one’s attack path, immediately dodged to my right, slapped another that flew over my shoulder as a result with a quick marking strike, then fell into a roll that made a third one pass inches over my head. I heard electric mandibles crackling inches from my head and smelled ozone. For a split second, I felt invincible. It made me wonder why Stax ever worried so much.
But this was as far as my instincts could carry me, and not a moment later, more spiders sank their fangs into my back.
Arx vibrated under their attacks but held.
Barely.
And it did not save me from razor-sharp spider hair ripping the skin on my lower arms to shreds.
{CPU Load: ▲ 87%}
{Core Temp: ▲ 74° C}
[DPM integrity]
▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱ 82% ▼
[>>compiling… 62%]
I screamed, clutching my arms to my chest and rolling in whichever direction I thought was ‘away’.
I wasn’t safe.
No matter how many brittle lies I told myself.
I would die here, devoured by monstrosities that I brought about.
I was—
My anger roared, demanding I use it, pushing me to act, to fight, to drive the fear back into its holes. It was so huge, so overpowering, it would consume me whole, make me hate everyone and everything and destroy until there was nothing left.
Nothing, Sam. Not even you.
My composure pulled monofilament-thin.
To be devoured by spiders or by myself?
I screamed again, my voice breaking with fear.
Who do you want to be, Sam?
I didn’t care. I just wanted to be safe.
I coughed, and another attack landed on my cheek.
Just safe. I just want to be safe.
I screamed again, and felt Logic rushing out of my mouth like dry-ice-smoke.
Alarum bells rang, brazen and terrified, shrieking their terror over the plaza.
{CONSUMED LOGIC - 90 LB}
{AVAILABLE LOGIC - 365 LB}
{[Arx, Saint’s Embrace] v. 0.5.8 - Network Security System
IS NOW
[Arx, Saint’s Embrace] v. 0.9.9 - Network Security System}
{CONSUMED LOGIC - 300 LB}
{AVAILABLE LOGIC - 65 LB}
{[Arx, Saint’s Embrace] v. 0.9.9 - Network Security System
IS NOW
[Arx, A Saint’s Terrified Embrace] v. 1.1.2 - Network Security System}
{[Arx, Saint’s Terrified Embrace] v. 1.1.2 - 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. 15% at current CPU quality.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Required RAM: 15 LKB}
{Memory: 40/40 LKB RAM}
The pain dulled, and my panic receded just enough for me to gather my thoughts. Every instinct I had was telling me I was nearing my absolute limit, that this could not continue. But there was no way but forward. No way forward to the next horrific situation, the next arena where forces larger than me would juggle my life like a number like an HR department. I couldn’t go on like this. I mustn’t.
My anger was right there, warm and inviting…
“Zephyro!” I yelled as loud as I could to make myself heard over the bells frantically tolling all around me. “Do it!”
He did not reply. For a second I thought he was dead and I was alone, and next.
Then the world turned white.
The ground shook.
A massive roar built and settled into a tinitus pitch.
The temperature dropped as sudden as a desert night.
The attacks ceased.
I rose, and beheld Zephyro.
He stood in the exact middle of the plaza, both hands raised, blue-and-white energy pouring from his hands up and directly into a brilliant, pure white moon that hovered over us like an elder god sitting judgment.
It radiated a chill that went from refreshing to freezing in the span of heartbeats.
The Feral’s movement slowed. The smallest spiders stopped in place entirely.
More heartbeats, slower now.
I urged myself to move, to fight, settled around that fire my anger offered me, and vented it into the cold night sky. Pharus flared, scything through the ranks of the Ferals, leaving trails of fire and clouds of Logic.
I felt my attacks growing slower and slower, and struggled to push through the cold. At some point, the smallest spiders simply died as they froze solid, and Logic left them like morning mist. I pulled it into me as fast as I could, but the bigger spiders were able to fight Zephyro’s attack as well, and matched my strength. In the distance, I saw the scorpion approach, each step shattering ice that formed on its metal limbs.
Despite the cold, I felt my core temperature rising, and my exhaustion mingled with the chill to slow down my movement even further.
{CPU Load: ▲ 99%}
{Core Temp: ▲ 79° C}
[DPM integrity]
▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱ 74% ▼
[>>compiling… 69%]
Then the moment broke, and the moon went from pure-white to three parts red in the span of a second.
Zephyro’s shoulders heaved, and as the cold faded, I pushed toward him, wading through frozen spiders and pulling on their Logic in a tug-of-war with the surviving Ferals. My anger helped. I was still terrified, but there was no other option, like being assigned to work directly under a CEO with a reputation for casual violence. She might crush you in an instant, but if you pulled it off, your career was on the fast track for life.
With a grunt forced through gritted teeth, I yanked the Logic away from the spiders, and into me.
{INCOMING LOGIC - 120 LB}
{AVAILABLE LOGIC - 185 LB}
I did a quick count and found about 6 spiders still alive, with the possessed spider-mind shambling close behind them, spewing out more. For whatever reason, be it that it had learned, or that it plainly couldn’t, it wasn’t trying to swarm us with smaller broodlings anymore, just regular sized ones.
[T3h-Sk!zzler]
[DPM filesize: XX LKB]
[>>Calculate exact filesize?]
Something about that cracked me up as I fell in back-to-back with Zephyro.
“Ah, I am glad you are amused, Sultana, especially on such a dreary day.”
“I just noticed that I think of spiders as large as these bouncy balls people in startups sit on as “regular-sized”.” I didn’t know why that was so funny, but for a second I wasn’t afraid or angry, and I’d take it.
Zephyro laughed. “What an image! If you permit the joke, Sultana, I would humbly ask you to kick these balls with me.”
That made me laugh in turn, and then the battle was on again.
I waited for the spiders to attack, marking them as they came, and Zephyro cleaned them up. Without the swarm of tiny knives, it was almost laughably easy, even with me missing several swings. Perhaps I should have listened to Stax, because even though between my upgraded armor (I still hadn’t had the time to look at) and weapon we had little to be worried about in the short term, every missed attack cost us valuable seconds that brought the darkness, and the Ferals and their masters, closer. I doubled down, keeping close to that fire of my anger without stepping inside.
Zephyro’s saber rose and fell, gleaming moonlight, offering salvation. I kept marking the spiders as they came, and we pushed forwards. For the next minute or so, further thought eluded me. I had reached that almost blissful stage where only the next step, next attack, and next dodge mattered.
Staying low, I swept Pharus across the enemy, trailing fire. As before, something about the teal fire made these spiders back off. I didn’t even feel thankful or relieved. No time. Only action.
[>>compiling… 75%]
Unhealed cuts dripped blood from my forearms and face, soaking my combat gloves and my chest. In those ephemeral moments of battle, a stray thought— such as being grateful that my gloves had extra grip and didn’t let Pharus slip from my blood-soaked fingers— didn’t even strike me as odd.
I whirled the flaming globe over my head, then brought it down on a spider just as it got ready to pounce. The additional momentum behind my swing made the censer pass straight through the Feral’s metallic carapace. Facing no noteworthy resistance, Pharus crashed into the ground below, leaving a burning hole in the middle of the enemy and a charred crater in the once-beautiful mosaic. The Feral erupted in cyan, but this time, I didn’t have a chance to draw the Logic into me, despite trying. The combined pull of so many Ferals this close together was too strong, and left me with a pittance.
{INCOMING LOGIC - 40 LB}
{AVAILABLE LOGIC - 225 LB}
{CPU Load: ▲ 84%}
{Core Temp: ▲ 81° C}
[>>compiling… 79%]
Just a little bit more time…
…but I was falling behind.