“He’s gone berserk!!”
As soon as the words left Kievkenalis’s mouth, Davídrius dashed forward
with amazing speed. Christeané reacted instantly and managed to intercept the
berserker, smashing him to the ground with one of his battlehammers. He then
whirled around and attempted to body-slam the Superspeed Introtechnic, but
Davídrius whipped his foot around, slamming it into Christeané and sending him
flying into a nearby tree. Immediately afterward the berserker leaped back to his feet and sped off into the
forest.
“Christeané! Rebehka! Kievkenalis! Stop him!” Kevérin shouted as he
began running toward the cave entrance. “Kaoné, Siyuakén, you’re with me! We
need to get the Ayas!”
“We’ve got it!” Christeané shouted back at the Transfer Captain before
turning his attention to the surrounding forest as he began twirling his
hammer. “…Well, this is great. How are we supposed to find him?”
“If we could catch up to him, I could at least slow him down…” Rebehka
mused, glancing around warily.
“Berserkers are drawn to Chaos Energy,” Kievkenalis explained, “and, luckily for us, I happen to
be a Chaostechnic. Chaos Assist! Chaos Fortified
Armor!” As his limbs and chest
became covered in hardened Chaos Energy, Kievkenalis turned toward the forest
and braced himself. “Cha… os…!”
Davídrius suddenly leaped down from above, his trajectory set to land
him on top of the Chaostechnic. Christeané immediately released his hammer and
slammed into the berserker mid-air, sending the both of them tumbling. The
Superspeed Introtechnic recovered faster, though, and was on top of Christeané
in under a second.
“Control!”
Davídrius froze in place, his berserker claws mere centimeters from
Christeané’s throat. The Superstrength Introtechnic quickly threw him to the
side before jumping to his feet and lunging at the berserker – just in time for
him to recover and dash off as Kievkenalis suddenly dropped to his knees.
Rebehka quickly covered the entire clearing with ice and rushed over to
the Chaostechnic as Christeané intercepted Davídrius as he dashed back into the
clearing once more.
“Are you okay?” she questioned hurriedly.
“I… I think I’m fine…” Kievkenalis muttered.
“What was that about? I thought you weren’t a Sabotage-type…”
“So did I…” the Chaostechnic looked down at his hands and then back up
at the two battling Introtechnics. “…But there’s no time to question this now.
Siphon and Negation will be extremely useful here… but we have to get Hastryth
off of him first! The Ayas will just keep feeding the Chaos Energy dependency of the Berserk State!” He
jumped back to his feet. “C’mon!”
“On it!” Rebehka replied, raising a massive ice wall around the entire
clearing just before the berserker could dash out again. She and Kievkenalis
then dashed toward the fight, intent on stopping the berserk Introtechnic.
*
* *
“I knew it… I fucking knew it…”
“I... I don’t think you’re being fair to Davídrius…” Kaoné commented
quietly.
“Did you not see what he did to those Black Suns
soldiers?” Kevérin countered irately, “There’s not really any leeway to give
him.”
“But, you heard Kevken. It was the Ayas…”
“Much as I hate to say it, I’m with Davídrius on this
one,” Kevérin scowled, “This light versus dark thing is fiction.”
“I don’t know,” Siyuakén interjected, “In hindsight, he’s been a lot
more aggressive and dismissive lately. I never would have pegged him for murderous until…
well, until today.”
“He’s a Tresédian who’s spent his whole life killing people. We
should’ve seen this coming.”
Kaoné and Siyuakén exchanged uneasy glances.
“I’m not sure I appreciate your thinly veiled racism,” Siyuakén
responded, “And you don’t know what Davídrius’s life has been like. As wrong as
he was for getting so angry he went berserk, he wasn’t wrong about what he said;
none of us really know anything about him.”
Kevérin glanced back at her, his eyes narrowed in irritation. He then
looked forward again and continued walking through the caves, lighting up the
area with a ball of fire in his palm. “...There had better be an Ayas down
here.”
“Could it… could it have been on one of the…?” Kaoné questioned softly.
“I doubt it,” Kevérin replied, “If any of them had the Ayas on them,
then it would’ve reinforced their Chaos Armor enough to prevent Davídrius from
slaughtering them. As it stands, the only reason I can see that he was able to
pierce Chaos Shielding was because he himself had an Ayas.”
Kaoné shuddered. “…This is another off-world disaster, huh.”
Kevérin sighed irately. “No, not… not quite. I’ll make sure
to kick Davídrius’s ass real hard for completely ignoring my orders, but… the
Black Suns did attack first. The SFC did attack
first. Everything he’s done is technically
defensible.”
“But he killed everyone!”
“I think you’re misunderstanding the situation,” Siyuakén cut in,
“Davídrius is in the wrong because of how he killed them, not
quite because he did so.”
Kevérin chuckled ironically. “Suddenly it sounds like we’re siding with
him.”
“But…” Kaoné frowned, “this isn’t right.”
“Ethically? No. Technically? You can bet your ass it is,” Kevérin
responded, “I… really hate to keep siding with Davídrius, but
this is what being a soldier is about, you know.”
“…It’s not fair. I never wanted this.”
“Maybe you should’ve come to that conclusion before moving
to Nimaliaka, hmm?”
Kaoné froze in her tracks and stared after Siyuakén dumbfoundedly
before finally moving to catch up. “But that, I, that was– …that was over ten
years ago, I couldn’t…”
“Man, aren’t we a close little troupe here,” Kevérin snorted, “I’d be
glad that we at least lasted two months before everything went to shit, but I’m
too irritated that everything’s going to shit.”
“Hey, whoa,” Siyuakén countered, “Now that’s a little
extreme. Things aren’t that bad.”
“Explain Davídrius going berserk, Kievkenalis insisting on this
Riveranian Chaos Theory crap, and your little comment to Kaoné a few seconds
ago, and then maybe I’ll believe you,” Kevérin drawled, “And even then, I
almost wonder if we aren’t too diverse a group. What was Nikéyin even thinking,
trying to pull a Chaotic from every nation…”
“Well,” Siyuakén huffed, “Typical that the Tekdecénian looks down on
other nations.”
“Ha, and you accused me of racism.”
“Guys, there’s no need to argue…” Kaoné whimpered.
Kevérin and Siyuakén both glanced at the Materiatechnic and then to
each other.
“She’s right,” the Pyrotechnic turned back down the caves, “We have an
Ayas to find, especially before some ‘menace’ comes and claims it. Heh.”
*
* *
“Chaos
Siphon!”
Davídrius reeled back, momentarily stunned as Kievkenalis began pulling
Chaos Energy away. The berserker immediately switched targets to the
Chaostechnic, digging his aura claws into the ice and using them to blast off
toward the Riveranian. Kievkenalis immediately crossed his arms in front of him
just in time to block the charge but he was still thrown backwards as the
Introtechnic flipped away, whirling his foot around mid-air to smash down on
Christeané right as he came flying by. The Superstrength Introtechnic tumbled
to the ground as Davídrius landed on all fours – after which Rebehka
immediately froze his hands and feet to the ground. She then created two swords
out of ice and dashed forward, aiming to cut off the satchel containing the
Ayas Hastryth – but the berserker broke his bounds with a shockwave, sending
the Cryotechnic tumbling. He instatly dashed over to her but she managed to
whack him away with one of her ice swords, sending him careening across the ice
and into the clearing’s ice wall.
Immediately Christeané spun his hammer around once or twice to gain
momentum before letting it smash into the ice floor two meters away. The force
cracked the entire clearing floor and flipped a large chunk, sending Davídrius
flying through the air. Rebehka quickly froze the cracks over and then
intercepted the berserker mid-air with a mound of ice, snagging him by his
torso. Before she could attempt to freeze the rest of his body, though, he
smashed his feet into the mound, shattering it and freeing him.
“And here I thought Introtechnics weren’t supposed to be annoying,”
Rebehka grumbled.
“We’re more persistent than you’d think!” Christeané remarked, right as
he intercepted Davídrius with a powerful uppercut. The berserker wasn’t
completely stunned, however; as he was flipping backwards through the air he
lashed out with both feet and nailed Christeané in his stomach, sending him
flying through the nearby ice wall.
“Chaos
Impact!” Kievkenalis flung
Davídrius away as Christeané jumped back into the ice arena and Rebehka rapidly
repaired the ice wall.
“Can’t you make the wall sturdier?” Christeané glanced at Rebehka.
“Ice is ice. It can only withstand so much force–!” the Cryotechnic was
interrupted when Davídrius suddenly appeared and head-butted her in the chest.
Kievkenalis immediately flung the berserker away with another Chaos Impact as
Christeané lunged after him, using both of his armor’s battlehammers to fling
himself forwards.
“…I’ve had enough of this,” Rebehka sighed irately before shouting,
“Christeané! Get back!”
The Superstrength Introtechnic barely had time to hear and process her
command before the air all around Davídrius suddenly took a dive in
temperature. Within seconds the two Introtechnics were half-trapped in an ice
cube – Davídrius from his torso up, and the other way around for Christeané.
“What the–?!” the Superstrength Introtechnic quickly slammed his
hammers into the ice around him, shattering it and freeing himself. He jumped
out just in time for the berserker to achieve the same with his powerful legs –
but before he could eject himself Christeané had slammed both hammers into him
from below, sending him flying upwards. Rebehka then smashed several ice blocks
into him for good measure, sending him higher still.
“Oh, wait, this is it!” Christeané exclaimed, and quickly began
twirling one of his battlehammers. After a couple seconds he released it
upwards, flinging himself into the air with enough speed that both he and
Davídrius almost appeared to be but specks in the sky.
“…What is he…?” Rebehka squinted, attempting to make out what was
happening in the air. Almost as soon as she did, though, Davídrius came
smashing down into the ground, Christeané following shortly afterwards.
“I’ve got it!” the Superstrength Introtechnic shouted, jumping out of
the ice crater he created and holding up a broken satchel. He reached inside
and pulled out the Ayas Hastryth, which he tossed to Rebehka – who then tossed
it backwards and promptly incased it in a pillar of ice.
“Now that’s done,” Christeané wiped his hands, “It’s just a matter of
time now.”
“We still can’t let our guard down,” Kievkenalis insisted, “We still
have to negate him before he does significant damage to himself. That cloak of
Chaos Energy is dangerous enough.” Shortly after he spoke another shockwave
exploded from the berserker’s location, blowing away all of the ice within five
meters and cracking the rest of the arena. “Here we go. Chaos Siphon!”
*
* *
“For a cave, this is awfully linear…”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Kevérin glanced back at Siyuakén,
“It’s… really odd.”
“At least we won’t get lost,” Kaoné pointed out.
“Or we could be walking into a trap,” the Transfer Captain countered
bitterly.
“I’d really appreciate it if that weren’t the case,” Siyuakén sighed,
“I don’t want to do Sunova over again.”
“You keep saying that,” Kevérin replied, “It won’t happen. The Sunova
incident was a one-off thing; the Earthians had barely been there for a few
years. But as I understand it the SFC has had an outpost here for much longer.
There’s no way they’d let something like the Sunova metallic infection get as
far as it did, not in a cave two kilometers away from the
main… compound…”
The trio stopped after rounding a corner, confronted with the sight of
a small room. In the center of the room stood a simple steel pedestal, void of
any significant markings. And sitting on top of the pedestal… was the Black
Chaos Ayas.
“It would figure we’d find another Dark Ayas,” Kevérin sighed.
“I thought you didn’t believe the ‘Dark versus Light’ thing.”
“…Shut it,” the Transfer Captain shot Siyuakén a quick glare, “Anyways,
at least that AI was telling the truth. Now let’s get back outside to help with
Davídrius…”
“Whoa, wait–!” Kaoné exclaimed, but Kevérin only paused the moment after
he had grabbed the Ayas and removed it from the pedestal.
“What?” he stared at the Materiatechnic cluelessly.
“What if the Ayas was there for a reason?”
Kevérin sighed irately. “Again with the ‘Ayas have a
purpose’ thing–“
He was interrupted by a loud, muffled growling sound. He froze before
slowly turning to face the cave wall behind him – just in time for the entire
cave to shudder under the force of a massive impact, causing the three Chaotics
to tumble to the ground as much of the nearby stone to collapsed…
…and revealed a large, metal-laced beast staring at them from the other
side of the stone!
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Kevérin deadpanned.
“I told you!” Siyuakén exclaimed, immediately jumping
back to her feet, “We need to get out of here! Kaoné, seal the caves behind
us!” The Electrotechnic quickly dashed back through the caves, Kaoné and
Kevérin hard on her heels. “Let’s go!!”
* * * * *
==================== End of Chapter 31 ====================
* * * * *
Data Entry: Nimalian Date System
Like every other galactic civilization, the calendar and time-scale for the entirety of the Nimalian Territories is dictated by the Homeworld of Nimalia. And, like every other one of the galaxy’s home planets, Nimalia has (roughly) 24 hour days, and a 360-day year. No one knows why every Homeworld have such similar calendars, though each planet has a different way of divvying up the days.
On Nimalia, the year is split into ten months, each consisting of 36 days. In order, the months are: Maliath, Nimath, Winth, Beauth, Solith, Skydiath, Aldredath, Colyath, Ranth, and Monoth. The fact that every month has the same number of days means that every season takes almost exactly two and a half months; Spring begins on Nimath 1, Summer on Beauth 19, Fall on Aldredath 1, and Winter on Ranth 19. The solstices and equinoxes occur exactly a week after the beginning of the respective season.
Each month is further split into four weeks; one week on Nimalia is nine days long, with six workdays and a three-day weekend. The weekdays are, in order: Sundia, Mondia, Grudia, Watedia, Windia, and Skydia. The weekend days follow as Isdia, Firdia, and Ligdia. Because of the even spread of the days per month, each day can only occur on one of four dates – e.g. a Sundia can only be the 1st, 10th, 19th, or 28th of the month.
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