Filtering through the scanner return I try and get a better look at what is approaching, and how many. Other than the fact that it’s several thousand individual Antithesis that is. Which on the surface sounds super scary but, being that they are mostly Model Ones, and Two’s, I’m not worried about them as much as the Model Elevens scattered through the formation. In moments I decipher the information, the majority of the Elevens are clustered around the middle of the formation in a ball.
The ball is super dense though, and with all the flapping wings and moving bodies, it’s a challenge to figure out exact numbers of anything. I am also starting to suspect they have some sort of ECM field going on, being that my sensor systems are class II, I should be able to see more than this.
Kind of, I’m limited to your sensors and the satellites above. I’m seeing forty-two of them with a margin of error of 15% or so.
It is, indeed, I’m curious as to why they are here. Normally flying units are accompanied by portals, spawning ground units in a populated area.
Yes, but the Antithesis have this nasty habit of evolving and adapting new strategies and models. For your information, I am not as old as you think I am! I am one of the newer generations of AI, I am only four hundred thousand years old, give or take a few.
You know, I can see you rolling your eyes, I am not that old!
You know what, hush you!
Ignoring any more comments from the peanut gallery, I focus in on the ship’s weapons. I dive into the targeting matrix for the chain lightning system, building the complex pathways needed to connect the electrons to each other to make the cascade needed to create the plasma. This time I am prepared for the mental load that comes with using the weapon. What also is helping is the additional computing power of the Witch Craft giving me an entire ships worth of additional computing power. I am also only focusing on the Model Elevens; the smaller models are not worth the energy required to target them.
Instead, once the lightning arcs are planned, I’m going to use the fireball launchers to saturate the area in fiery death! While doing this I am also managing the ships speed, maintaining the same relative speed and distance compared to the location of the swarm.
After a what feels like a few minutes I’m finally happy with the pathways for the lightning emitters. I give the final mental command to begin the energy cascade. The effect is immediate!
CRACCKK-THWOOOM!!
Lightning bursts out of the ship's emitters sending a lightning storm of death and destruction into the swarm’s heart. The craft's windows briefly darken to protect my eyes from the blinding plasma. In the few seconds the lightning exists it lights up the darkness the swarm was creating with its volume. It creates dark shadows and chaos like some sort of apocalyptic storm sweeping the horizon.
Holy Stars, I don’t think it will ever be boring watching this weapon work.
Large masses of the formation begin to fall out of the sky like meteors.
Your strike was successful 100% of the Model Elevens were eliminated in some way or another. As well as 18% of the lower Model Ones and Twos. Impressive first strike!
With the primary targets down, I gun the engines at the swarm. I bring up the targeting system for the fireballs and unleash indiscriminate fiery doom on them!
With mental commands I start maneuvering the craft around the swarm maintaining a healthy distance. My ship may be tough, but I don’t want to overstress it by flying into the swarm.
I fire off fireballs into the large groupings of the flying models. Huge swaths of them incinerate, ignite, burn, or otherwise combust in some way. A wicked smile crosses my lips as the carnage escalates rapidly, I may have even let out a cackle of joy as the swarm size begins to shrink.
Just when I thought I was getting this swarm down to size, my good friend Murphy reared his ugly head.
The center of the swarm opened up. The giant mass that I could not get through parts itself, exposing the heart of it.
A massive green tentacle covered sphere emerges out from it. It’s roughly a hundred feet across, and I literally I cannot see past the carpet of massive tentacle’s covering every inch of its surface. That is until it opens its massive maw that bisects the sphere down the middle, revealing jagged spears that the creature probably would call teeth, each one at least twenty feet tall.
You know, that’s a good question and, perhaps we should find out?
“Hey, Missy! I’ve been watching and figured you were doing well and reckoned I’d let you do your business. Merlin says you wanted to talk though, yeh?” Hank said over the line.
“Yes, do you see this thing that just popped out of the swarm? Any idea what it is?” I asked, concern and worry edging into my voice.
“Nope, can’t say that I do, but you know it ain't much surprise that we see something new. The Antithesis I think have been using Vegas as sort of a proof of concept for new models.” He said with his drawl.
Thankfully I’ve been keeping my distance from the Cthulhu like creature, while continuing my barrage of fireballs.
While we are talking the monster opens its giant mouth exposing its massive teeth and tongue, it spits it at me, easily breaking the sound barrier, as it forms a concussive vapor cone. I quickly jerk my ship out of the way managing to avoid the tongue harpoon by maybe twenty feet, that may sound like a lot, but at these speeds it’s a near hit!
Frick, that thing is long and fast! I was keeping a healthy distance of about a mile from the center!
“That looks like a handful, Mori. Do you need some help?” Hank asks, sounding like a worried parent.
“I think—" I grunt, while dodging another tongue lashing. “That I’m okay”. I say between maneuvers.
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I focus my emitters on the creature and route multiple lightning strikes through its body, arcing into lower models surrounding it and back in.
Not spending much time on it, I send the cascade. Bright flashes of lightning pulse out of the ship emitters, striking the creature. It does not seem to be having too much effect on it, just burning through tentacles, and passing through it.
I set up multiple strikes on it, over and over. Lightning fills the sky like an angry tempest. Barely dodging another tongue strike, I also set up my fireballs and unleash a salvo into the creatures’ sides. The explosions rock the sky incinerating huge swaths of its tentacles.
I wait, holding my breath as the smoke clears, to see if I got it. Out of the smoke comes a strike from its tongue! It rams into the side of the Witch Craft puncturing right through the point defense shielding and into the hull. Sheering off the left side of my ship.
“Ack! It hits hard, Hank, maybe some help is needed.” I gasp trying to get control over my ship as it loses altitude from the hit. I rapidly re-distribute the remaining nanites to cover the sections that were destroyed, shrinking the overall size of the craft to compensate.
I pull out of the dive a mile over the ground, I look out in time to dodge another attack from the sphere.
“Hang in there, Mori, I’m sending help!” Hank practically shouts.
“Sooner is better, Hank! I don’t know if I can take any more hits like that!” I said in a panic.
“Don’t worry Little Witch, I’m sending someone who specializes in quick rescue work. You’re in good hands, just hold on for a few more minutes.” He says calmly. He is definitely trying to reassure me and calm me down. “You’re doing good work, just keep dodging them attacks and try and get some distance.”
Ack, duh! I turn the Witch Craft away and hit the throttle to max speed. I zip off over the mountains at 1500MPH.
Mori, watch out! Merlin shouts into my head.
Too late! The creatures mouth opened even wider and, within, a glowing blue energy orb expands up and out of its maw then explodes!
A pulse of energy sweeps out from it like a nuclear bomb, the wave overtakes me and the ship goes suddenly dark. All the systems fail, and the nanites lose cohesion, separating into a fine dust.
Thankfully, the ship seems to have protected my body-armor from the pulse and it hasn’t fallen off me. That’s good, considering that I’m now falling over an empty expanse of desert mountains!
Yes, you should survive the fall, although it will be unpleasant, as you might expect.
Clever, Mori, is clever!
Ignoring his snark, I set up a portal and launched myself vertically into the air. Once I hit the apex of 'falling up' I activate a new portal at ground level horizontally and popped out on the ground at a walking pace.
Nice, now focus! The giant Antithesis monster is almost over-head and it is looking for you.
Looking up I see the flying swarm drifting over my position, blotting out the sun. Not good! In a panic I reach into my armor and grab out the teleport puck that Hank gave me and activate it.
Nothing happens. Well not nothing, Cthulhu and his buddies are swarming over me like a tentacle tornado of clashing teeth and horror.
“Hank, you still there?” I asked on the line.
My voice is met with silence.
It seems there is some strong residual electronic interference that is blocking everything. The big hentai tentacle monster appears to have some intense ECM abilities that rivals Class III or IV equipment, rather impressive really.
I just happen to have consumed all of earth's media ever created, and that is currently being created, it’s not my fault if an alarmingly large portion of it is tentacle porn…
If you say so.
With nothing better to do, since my staff and wand were both on the Witch Craft, so who knows where they went, I set up and jump through a portal several hundred feet towards the town. The range seems a bit more limited than normal, but using line of sight I can still summon a portal. I’m guessing that,because it cuts through dimensions, it is less affected by the ECM.
After your assault on the swarm you are sitting at, six thousand one hundred and seventy-four, and seven tokens.
While I would hardly call it a god, we do have some options that might do the trick. Fire seemed to be able to do some damage, we could try rapidly circulating the air, and introducing a fiery element into it, that will compound in its intensity through rapid spinning and extreme oxygen consumption.
Precisely!
While we were conversing small squadrons of Model Ones and Twos start pelting my location via suicide bombing. I make short hops with my portals to dodge the incoming missiles.
Well simple really, there is a, well, it’s a staff now, that will adjust the local temperature in both hot and cold extremes, forcing the air into a controlled vortex that is based on your position. We will then introduce a combustible gas into the mixture and ignite it. The resulting fire will intensify the winds and exponentially increase, the fire’s temperature, vortex size, and wind speed.
Before I could ask more about this new, potentially overly destructive, toy, I see a golden streak of fire come arcing from what looks like the upper atmosphere. Like a small meteor, aimed right at the hentai monster. Fricken Merlin! Now my thoughts are even calling it that; the Cthulhu monster!
So, what new fresh heck are the Antithesis dropping on me now, one demi-god creature isn’t enough?
Instead of speeding up like physics suggests it should, it starts to slow down as it approaches the monster. Cthulhu takes notice of it too, and fires it’s tongue harpoon at it. The thing takes a direct hit, or it appears to.
Either the tongue pierced the object, or the object grabbed the tongue, but both head back towards Cthulhu and rocket back into the things mouth.
I would say that Hank’s help has arrived, or that is one crazy meteor.
Moments later several of its teeth get pushed out of its mouth through its skin with quite a bit of velocity. Massive slits appear all over its body, tentacles drop off like giant vine ropes.
One of those lumps bursts out spewing ichor and gore several hundred feet out into the desert, along with it comes a human sized flying fireball. With the explosion of gore and whatnot, my sensor suite kicks on and picks up what the object is clearly.
It’s a person in armor, and the fire spewing out the back upon better inspection are actually wings of white and gold! In one hand they are carrying a massive flaming greatsword, the blade is almost six feet long, no normal human could probably even lift it. They swing around and face off against Cthulhu again.
But instead of coming in to fight again, Cthulhu actually turns and starts to run away with the rest of its swarm. My angel winged savior starts to give chase but instead they pull out some sort of gun and fire it at Cthulhu before retreating back towards me on the ground. In a spectacular display of grace and control they gently set down In front of me barely even disturbing the dirt at their feet.
Before me stands the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.
Standing seven-foot-tall rippling with muscle, she looks Samoan with her caramel mocha skin, broad hips, deep black hair, with soulful hazel eyes, and a stunning figure that would drive anyone mad. She’s cladded in white and gold armor, fire red wings sprouting from her back, in one hand the greatsword, and on her back some sort of rifle.
“G’day, lass! I heard that there was a damsel in distress! I am the Samurai Valkyrie and I am here to help.” She said, with a thick Old Zealand accent and a heart-stoppingly beautiful smile.