Chapter 33: Metallic Chaos

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“Chaos Control!”

Christeané and Wilkas jumped for the AI core as the beast froze in place. They had barely righted the device and picked it up before Kievkenalis lost control and the infected monster whipped around to face them – just as Rebehka froze it in place with ice.

“It won’t last long! Get going!” she hurriedly waved the two Introtechnics forward. They quickly moved past her and into the hallway, followed closely by Kaoné, Kevérin, and Vélunis. Kievkenalis backed up as well, but paused when he noticed Davídrius, Rebehka, and Siyuakén standing their ground.

“Guys–?”

“Someone’s gotta hold it back!” Davídrius exclaimed, brandishing his single blade as he glanced over at the girls, “And I figure it might as well be me. Make up for being such an asshole lately. But the two of you should get back as well!”

Rebehka moved to object but the beast broke free of its ice prison before she could. It spun around and leaped toward the room’s exit but Davídrius intercepted it mid-air, knocking it to the side with a powerful kick. The moment he landed he spun on his heel and launched himself at the creature, blade forward – only for the beast to snap its tail through the air, smacking Davídrius on his hand, knocking his sword away and throwing him completely off balance before jumping forwards itself, its maw wide open – only to be blown back by a block of ice. The moment it recoiled Siyuakén issued it a massive electric shock and Rebehka immediately followed by freezing it again.

“I told y’all to stay back!” the Introtechnic snapped.

“As if you could take on that thing by yourself,” Siyuakén retorted, “Just stop complaining and help us hold it off until the elevator comes back!”

“I don’t think the elevator is all that safe–!” Kievkenalis exclaimed, but was interrupted as the infected creature broke out of its frozen state and spun around toward Davídrius – and then dashed over to his sword, grabbing it with its mouth and swallowing it whole.

“What the–!” the Introtechnic scowled but was forced to immediately dive out of the way as two blades suddenly grew out of the beast’s shoulders and launched themselves his way. He quickly spun around and grabbed the weapons, continuing through his spin before jumping toward the beast and shoving the blades through its neck just as Kievkenalis hit it with Chaos Impact, forcing the blades all the way through. But the injury was non-fatal – the creature responded by whipping its tail around to whack Davídrius away, and was stopped only by the sudden appearance of several sheets of ice. Rebehka attempted to encase the beast in ice again but it leaped away too quickly; the moment it landed again it lunged toward the Cryotechnic, but was suddenly forced aside as Siyuakén snagged its shoulder with one of her grappling hooks and yanked hard. The creature remained fazed only momentarily – then, faster than Siyuakén could respond, it spun around, snapping the grappling line taught and yanking the Electrotechnic through the air. Davídrius quickly jumped forwards and ripped the grappling hook out of the beast’s shoulder before slamming his foot down on its head, allowing Siyuakén to sail over the two and into Rebehka unharmed.

“Chaos Armor! Chaos Impact!” Kievkenalis jumped forwards, blowing the beast away before it could attempt to decapitate Davídrius. The Introtechnic back-flipped away just in time to evade several more blade projectiles but landed unevenly and collapsed to the floor. The infected creature immediately pounced on his location, but he quickly rolled out of the way and leaped back to his feet as Siyuakén blasted it with electricity, stunning it momentarily. It then snapped its tail across the room, swiping Davídrius, Kievkenalis, and Siyuakén off of their feet before spinning around itself and slamming its front paws into the ground, creating enough of a shockwave to further stun the three Chaotics. Rebehka quickly responded by forming two ice lances and diving toward the creature, freezing its paws to the ground right as she drove her lances into its face – and was subsequently thrown to the side as the animal began writhing in pain. It let off a tremendous roar before leaping at the Cryotechnic – and then getting crushed as the ceiling suddenly collapsed in, followed by tons of dirt and metal debris.

“What the–?” Davídrius muttered as he and the other Chaotics backed away from the debris cloud uneasily. He snapped his attention to the ceiling as the entire room began to rumble and the ceiling began to give way further. “What–?!”

“Ha! I’m here!” Christeané exclaimed as he leaped out of the wreckage, his armor’s shields flickering from heavy damage absorbance.

“What– did you just smash your way down from the top?!” Rebehka exclaimed, looking up at the ceiling.

“Yep!”

“But… we’re on the eighth sub-basement!”

“I know.”

“How’re we supposed to get back up?” Siyuakén questioned, but was interrupted as the infected beast began to move again.

“Still not done?” Christeané turned back toward the wreckage and cracked his knuckles. “Ha, well let’s fix that!”

“What’re you doing, we need to–“ Davídrius stopped abruptly when he noticed a broken satchel fixed haphazardly to Christeané’s armor. “Wait, you’re using the Ayas–?!”

The Superstrength Introtechnic ignored him and instead dove forward, slamming his fist into the beast’s maw just as it turned toward him. He followed with an uppercut before summoning a glaive from nowhere and thrusting it forward, piercing the creature in its chest. He then dismissed the weapon and summoned it again, stabbing the creature once more before dismissing the weapon and summoning it again. He repeated this several times before finally slamming his fist down over the creature’s head.

“There. See?” Christeané turned back to everyone else, the creature’s mangled corpse lying motionless behind him. “Not that hard.”

“Except that you probably just sped up the release of the bugs!” Siyuakén scolded the Introtechnic, “Do you even know what you’re doing?!”

“Uh. Stopping the… infected monster thing?”

“Is everyone alright?!”

Everyone turned to face Kaoné as she landed from falling through the hole Christeané had created. She didn’t even wait for a response before rapidly lifting the ground beneath her and the other Chaotics to ground level and then completely sealing the hole with steel.

“Give me that,” Davídrius scowled, flash-stepping over to Christeané and snatching away the satchel before he could react. The Superspeed Introtechnic then tossed the satchel to Kievkenalis.

“Oh… whoa…” Christeané suddenly held a hand to his forehead, “…guess I got a little carried away.”

“A ‘little’?” Siyuakén snorted.

“I told you guys,” Kievkenalis crossed his arms, “The Dark Ayas are called as much for a reason.”

“And now we need to get out of here,” Siyuakén began speed-walking down the trashed hallway, “It’s only a matter of time before we have to deal with the swarm.”

“What about the AI core?” Rebehka glanced toward Christeané and Kaoné, “Did you take care of it?”

“That Wilkas guy is carrying it to a waiting shuttle,” Christeané replied, “The core should be fine. Most of the RPF have pulled out; I think it’s just us here, now.”

“They sure are fast about it,” Siyuakén remarked as they began moving through the hallways toward the nearest exit, “It looks like they’ve even rounded up all of the SFC resistance.”

“The RPF has had plenty of experience doing this kind of thing,” Kievkenalis replied, “That is, being in and out before you even know they’re coming.”

“You ever have that problem?” Christeané elbowed Davídrius cheekily.

The Tresédian stared at him blankly. “What problem?”

“No problem,” Rebehka rolled her eyes, “It’s just Christeané being Christeané.”

“Huh?” Davídrius frowned, “Wait, what? …Was there a joke there? That was a joke, wasn’t it–?”

“Sshh!”

“Eh?” the Introtechnic glared at Siyuakén, “What’re you–“

“No, seriously, shut up,” she repeated, her attention directed behind the Chaotics. They all silenced and glanced between each other uneasily, unsure of what the Electrotechnic was trying to do.

“Do you guys feel that?” she asked quietly.

“Feel what…?” Kaoné replied warily.

Siyuakén didn’t respond. Instead she froze for a couple moments before whipping around and power walking down the hallway. “We need to get out of here, now.”

“Excuse me, then,” Kaoné parted the ceiling and all the floors above until sunlight leaked in. She then rapidly raised the ground below the Chaotics until they were level with the compound roof, high enough to spot an open shuttle circling the compound.

“Looks like that’s our ride,” Christeané commented as he began twirling his hammer, prepared to launch himself into the vehicle.

“Wait–!”

“Huh?” the Introtechnic glanced over at Siyuakén inquisitively just as the rooftop several meters away exploded upwards, a four-winged creature appearing – the infected beast that had attacked down in the AI chamber.

“Of course it’d come back,” Davídrius scowled, “Of course it would.”

“It’s got two tails and wings now, so watch out,” Kievkenalis warned, “Chaos Assist. Wait– that second tail…”

He paused and jumped out of the way as the infected creature swooped down at the Chaotics, launching several metallic blades created from its very skin. Davídrius attempted to grab two of them but his armor’s shielding flared, indicating that the blades were somehow corrosive. He discarded the blades and turned back to the creature just in time for its two tails to whip by.

“That’s the Ayas!” he exclaimed, “That’s– that’s Hastryth! It’s attached to its tail?!”

“It’s got the Ayas,” Kievkenalis scowled, “We can’t leave without it!”

“Oh, but I think we can…!” Christeané replied warningly, his attention directed elsewhere. The rest of Hero Machina turned to look where he was and were surprised to find four torn bodies climbing haphazardly up onto the roof.

“Wait, they’re… RPF soldiers…” Kievkenalis muttered, “What’re they–?”

He was interrupted as one of them suddenly lunged for Kaoné, who reflexively stumbled backwards – and into the waiting maw of the infected creature. Davídrius immediately dashed forward and dealt a fierce kick to the beast’s neck, knocking it away before it could chomp down on the Materiatechnic.

“Watch it!” he shouted just as he ducked to evade a tail swipe from the creature. He then turned back to the RPF soldiers just in time to knock back two of them as they charged forwards, each wielding dangerous metal scrap. “What’s up with them?!”

“They look infected–?” Rebehka started, but was interrupted as Siyuakén stepped forward… and then issued forth a massive electric shock, frying all four of the bodies and sending them flying off the rooftop.

“They were infected,” the Electrotechnic scowled, “Irreversibly… for a person to become infected so quickly…!” She paused apprehensively and glanced over at the infected creature. “…We need to get out of here! Now!”

“But–!” Kievkenalis exclaimed, pausing to shout “Chaos Deflection” to knock away the bladed projectiles directed at Hero Machina. Christeané jumped forward and smacked the beast with his hammer as it dove by again, sending it flying away and allowing the Chaostechnic to finish his thought. “We can’t leave that Ayas here!”

“It’s only a matter of time before we’re attacked by swarms of bugs!” Siyuakén shot back, “We need! To! Leave!”

“I’m with her on this one,” Davídrius commented wearily, “Got a bad feeling about this. Given everything we’ve seen here that we haven’t seen before, I don’t know if we can expect to escape the swarm like we did on Sunova!”

“Then let’s go!” Christeané exclaimed as he began twirling his hammer, allowing Rebehka to erect an ice shield to deflect the next few attacks from the infected creature. Without waiting for a response from Kievkenalis, the Introtechnic launched himself toward the circling shuttle, followed by Davídrius leaping after him.

“Sorry, Kevken, but this is it,” Kaoné commented as she lifted the ground underneath her and the Chaostechnic. Rebehka and Siyuakén jumped onto the platform just as Kaoné whisked them all over to the shuttle – just as the abandoned rooftop suddenly become engulfed in metallic bugs.

“You were right… again,” Rebehka glanced at her friend curiously, “This isn’t the first time today you’ve predicted a move from the infected creatures.”

“I got lucky,” Siyuakén replied flatly as the platform arrived next to the open shuttle. The four Chaotics jumped inside as it changed its trajectory to escape the atmosphere. Kevérin – who had been aboard the shuttle the whole time – and Kievkenalis offered a few more pot shots at the infected beast before the shuttle’s hatches closed, at which point the Chaotics finally took seats and fastened themselves to the safety harnesses.

“Tch,” Davídrius scowled, “Another ‘successful’ mission from the members of Hero Machina.”

“Shut it. Your little stunts at the beginning of the raid didn’t help at all,” Kevérin snapped, “So what happened? Do you guys have the Ayas?”

“I have the black one…” Kaoné held out the Ayas, “But the dark blue one…”

“…So we really did lose an Ayas?” Kevérin sighed irately, and then turned to Davídrius. “Do you have any idea–?!”

“Yes, I do,” the Introtechnic responded bitingly, “I know I screwed up. I know that. But I’m not arguing about it here.”

“Did we at least get the AI core?” Rebehka questioned, intent on driving the conversation away from conflict.

“…We did,” Kevérin replied, “It’s damaged… but we have it. Hopefully,” he glanced at Davídrius irately, “It’ll make up for losing an Ayas.”

“We did get another one,” Kaoné pointed out.

“Yeah… but it’s still not good enough,” the Transfer Captain frowned, “We’ve lost an Ayas, and we lost the planet… I can’t be the only one to see the trend in our mission reports.”

“…Are you implying something?” Christeané crossed his arms.

“I won’t imply it, I’ll state it outright,” Kevérin sighed, “If we don’t get better soon… Hero Machina is as good as disbanded.”

*               *               *               *               *

==================== End of Chapter 33 ====================

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Data Entry: {null}

Chapter 32: Retrieval

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“Chaos Deflection!”

Davídrius was suddenly flung to the left just before his claws could reach the Chaostechnic. The berserker tumbled across the ground before smashing into the ice wall, where he quickly recovered and dived out of the way just as Christeané slammed into the wall with both of his hammers. The Superstrength Introtechnic immediately yanked one of the hammers back into his hand, spinning around on his heel and launching it at the berserker – who simply punched it away. He then crouched down and attempted to leap at Christeané but slipped on the ice, instead sending himself into an uncontrolled slide.

Rebehka quickly took advantage of the slower action to actually get in a blow, and within the next few moments Davídrius was flipping through the air, flung upward by a sudden pillar of ice. Christeané immediately began twirling one of his hammers before launching himself into the air toward the falling berserker, the second hammer in hand and prepared to come crashing down on the Superspeed Introtechnic. Just as the hammer made contact with Davídrius’s backside, though, the berserker whipped around mid-air and slammed his leg into Christeané’s stomach, sending both Introtechnics flying downward and away from each other. They both slammed into the ground and then went tumbling until crashing into ice walls at opposite sides of the clearing.

“That would’ve killed anyone else…” Christeané grumbled as he jumped back to his feet, just as the Davídrius did the same. The Superstrength Introtechnic then began twirling both of his hammers just as the berserker let out another shockwave, trashing half of the ice floor before suddenly dashing forward at the same moment Christeané released his hammers. The two Introtechnics flew toward each other, Christeané’s hammers on track to slam into Davídrius’s shoulders – until the berserker suddenly threw himself to the side just as the hammers shot past. Christeané was barely able to register the motion before the berserker had jumped back in line and smashed both of his clawed fists into the Superstrength Introtechnic’s chin. The Chaos Armor prevented any bodily injury, but the force from the blow still managed to stop Christeané in his tracks and knock him out cold, flipping him onto his back. Davídrius paused for a moment and then turned toward Kievkenalis and Rebehka – just in time for Christeané’s hammers to come flying back and nail the berserker in the head before finally reeling into the hammer slots on Christeané’s armor. The berserker crumpled under the blow, collapsing to the ground just beside Christeané.

Rebehka immediately took advantage of the opening to ensnare Davídrius in a massive mound of ice, allowing only his head to be exposed to the air.

“They finally knocked each other out,” she observed amusedly.

“Good thing they’re both Introtechnics, or they’d both be dead…” Kievkenalis sighed, and began approaching Davídrius. “At least now I can do this properly. Chaos Siphon!”

Rebehka glanced between Davídrius, who was still cloaked in Chaos Energy, and Kievkenalis, who had his hand outstretched toward the berserker. “Nothing’s happening?...”

“I’m siphoning away the extra energy. You can’t see it,” the Chaostechnic exclaimed, “…though I need to be careful, or I’ll end up going berserk…” he paused for a moment, withdrawing his hand and turning to the side before thrusting both hands upward, palms out. “Chaos Beam!”

Rebehka drew back in shock as a pillar of energy exploded from Kievkenalis’s hands before slowly dissipating a few seconds later. The Chaostechnic turned his attention back to Davídrius and stretched his hand out again, muttering, “Chaos Siphon.” He then glanced over at the Cryotechnic, noticing her stunned expression. “What?”

“What was– what was that about?!”

“Well, I have to discharge the siphoned energy somehow. Beam is the most efficient way to do it.”

“If you say so,” Rebehka sighed wearily, just as Kievkenalis turned away to initiate another Chaos Beam. She watched him turn back to Davídrius and re-initiate Chaos Siphon before crossing her arms impatiently. “…Just how much excess Chaos Energy is there?”

“More than usual… I should be almost done after the second Siphon,” Kievkenalis frowned, narrowing his eyes at the thick aura still surrounding the unconscious Introtechnic. “It must’ve been the Ayas. I’ve never seen an Ayas-fueled berserk state before; I’m glad it wasn’t someone with broader powers…”

“You’ve seen someone go berserk before?”

“A few times, yeah. Uh, one sec – Chaos Beam! …Right. Uh, it comes with being a Chaostechnic in the RPF. It’s usually not too bad; just find a way to trap the berserker and throw ‘em in a CENT field. If you’re lucky, get a Sabotage-type Chaostechic to use Siphon. Oh, speaking of which – Chaos Siphon.”

“Speaking of that,” Rebehka glanced over at Kievkenalis, “Since when could you use Sabotage-type abilities?”

“Since today. I never could before,” the Chaostechnic frowned, “…This is really weird. Uh, Chaos Beam! Chaos Siphon. Anyways, right, there’s no precedent for a Chaostechnic suddenly gaining access to another type. Especially if they already have three! I don’t even think four-type Chaostechnics exist…”

“Well, this is a good thing, right?”

“I hope so…” Kievkenalis muttered before turning his attention back to Davídrius as the Chaos Energy cloak finally began to thin. “Oh, here we go!”

A moment later all off the Chaos Energy had disappeared. Rebehka removed the ice mound as Kievkenalis turned away again to release all of the Chaos Energy he had absorbed. By the time he turned back to the Introtechnic, Davídrius was coming to.

“Ooooh… fuck…” he groaned, slowly pulling himself up to a sitting position. “…What happened…?”

“You went berserk,” Rebehka stated candidly.

“What? Damn– wait–!” He perked up and rapidly began scanning the area, his gaze quickly coming to rest on Hastryth, still frozen in a small pillar of ice.

“Wait, Davídrius–!” Kievkenalis exclaimed, but the Introtechnic had already leaped to his feet and dashed off. He arrived at the pillar within a second and, without slowing down, smashed his foot into the pillar, shattering it and breaking Hastryth out. Davídrius grabbed the Ayas for a moment before tossing it into the air, letting it fall a short distance… and then punting it so hard it smashed through the ice wall around the clearing and instantly disappeared from sight. The Introtechnic then collapsed again, his breathing strained and hard.

“D-Davídrius…?” Rebehka and Kievkenalis quickly ran over to the Introtechnic, “What are–?”

“Fuck! Fucking… fuck!” Davídrius suddenly slammed his fist into the ice, “I did it– I did it again! Fuck! I don’t– fuck!”

Kievkenalis and Rebehka exchanged uneasy glances. “Uh…” Rebehka spoke up timidly, “Um, why did you just–“

“It’s not worth it!” Davídrius exclaimed angrily, “That, that goddamned Ayas, it– shit, I can’t, I didn’t, I didn’t mean to… fuck, I didn’t mean to do all that shit I did, I just– fuckin’ hell, I lost control, damnit!”

“It was just the Dark Ayas, Davídrius,” Kievkenalis commented lightly, “The situation’s fine now. You’ll be fine.”

“Like hell I’ll be fine…” the Introtechnic scowled, “This– this is– argh, damnit!”

“What the– what happened here?”

Kievkenalis and Rebehka turned around to find Kevérin and Siyuakén approaching; Kaoné was kneeling some distance behind them, apparently attempting to wake up Christeané.

“We negated Davídrius,” Kievkenalis answered simply.

“No, actually,” the Transfer Captain gestured around at the massive ice walls, the several cracks and indentations in said ice walls, the shattered flooring, and Christeané’s unconscious body. “What the hell happened?”

“Apparently, this is what happens when you have an Ayas-fueled berserk state,” Rebehka shrugged.

“Sorry…” Davídrius muttered.

“But enough about this, did you guys find the Ayas?” Kievkenalis questioned.   

“Kaoné has it,” Kevérin gestured behind himself, “It’s the black one.”

“Oh, the Dark Ayas Aldrace…” Kievkenalis muttered

“W-what? Another Dark Ayas–?!” Davídrius impulsively drew back.

“Yes, another Dark Ayas,” Kevérin eyed the Introtechnic irately, “You won’t be the only one around here with an Ayas anymore. …Wait a minute. Where’s your satchel? Where’s the Ayas?”

“O-oh, well, uh, funny story,” Davídrius smiled uneasily, “So, right after I came to after the whole berserk thing, I saw the Ayas sitting in an ice pillar, and I, um, I kinda punted it. Really hard. …It went really far.”

“…How far?” Kevérin deadpanned.

“Uh… I’m-the-only-one-who-can-get-it-in-a-reasonable-amount-of-time far?”

“Damnit, Davídrius, that was a Chaos Ayas!” Kevérin exploded, “Do you know how valuable these things are?!”

“No! Yes! No, they’re shitty!” Davídrius shot back, “The Dark Ayas isn’t worth it! I ain’t touchin’ it! None of ‘em!”

“…That’s… very different from what you were saying before you went berserk,” Kevérin responded confusedly.

“Why don’t you traipse around with the damn stone and we’ll see how you feel after it fucks with your head!”

“Guys, we don’t have time for this!” Siyuakén stepped in between them, “We’re about to have a repeat of Sunova! We need to get out of here!”

“A repeat?...” Rebehka questioned.

“There’s a monster down in the caves with all of the same signs of critical metallic infection that the Sunova and Hazard Island creatures had!” the Electrotechnic replied, “Kaoné sealed the caves, but it won’t stop the eventual swarm of bugs, and who knows how long it’ll be before they show up!”

“…What?” Kievkenalis scratched his head in confusion.

“No, she’s right,” Kevérin responded, “We need to get back to the compound and warn the RPF commander – it’s not safe here anymore. Now let’s get going!”

*             *             *

“A repeat of Sunova?”

“You know what happened, right?” Kevérin questioned.

“General Rantéin only forced all of the senior officers to read that mission report,” the RPF Colonel rolled his eyes, “I’m also familiar with the metallic infection, though I can’t say I’ve ever dealt with infection situations directly.”

“Then you know what happened on Sunova, and how fast it happened,” the Transfer Captain pressed, “We have the Ayas. …Well,” he glanced over at Davídrius irately, “Due to… extrenuous circumstances, we may have lost the Ayas we came here with… but we can reclaim that as we’re leaving.”

“Overwhelmed by the Dark Ayas? I am not surprised. Hastryth was never patient, and his traits unfortunately hold also for his Ayas…”

“The AI again?” Kaoné questioned.

“It was actually very helpful during the raid,” the Colonel replied, “I’m still suspicious of a full AI, but thanks to it we’ve put down all SFC resistance. We hold the compound.”

“The RPF are far more reasonable, helpful, and formidable than the SFC. I believe I have made the correct choice.”

“And it’s a shame that we’ll never get to investigate this thing further,” the Colonel sighed as he turned back to Kevérin. “I agree with you – better safe than sorry. There doesn’t seem to be anything of interest here anyways, aside from the computer.”

“Wait, you mean to leave me behind?”

“We’re not equipped to deal with an AI,” the Colonel responded, “In any other situation I’d order a dedicated tech team, but if we’re dealing with a critical infection then we don’t have the time.”

“Taking me with you will be of no great difficulty! You need only disengage my core form the compound network and then take it with you.”

“And how long will that take?”

“Not long at all. I shall instruct the Quakeborn appropriately.”

“This again?” Kevérin sighed.

“It’s attached to you,” the Colonel glanced back at Hero Machina, “you’re the only ones it’s referred to specifically.”

“And not without reason. Furthermore, leaving me here will be detrimental to the galactic condition. You must bring me with you.”

“It would figure that the first AI I meet would be a self-entitled brat,” Kevérin sighed again.

“It can’t hurt to at least investigate its core,” the Colonel mused, “Given normal extraction times… I suppose we can afford this.”

“So, we’re going to go get its core?” Kievkenalis questioned.

“Yes, and I’ll send two of our techs with you,” the Colonel responded.

“You think we aren’t smart enough to handle an AI?” Kevérin bristled.

“Yes, I do,” the Colonel glanced over at the Transfer Captain, “As much as I’d trust Captain Yumach and a Tekdecénian with technology, none of us know what we’re dealing with here. More hands are always welcome. In the meantime I’ll start the evacuation and send a team to the east to look for that Ayas you lost. Don’t spend any longer than half an hour investigating the core.”

“You’re being very understandable about all this…” Kaoné replied uneasily.

“It’s always best to keep a calm head in these kinds of situations. But don’t get me wrong – once we’re clear of Kotak, I severely hope, for your own sakes, that there’s a damn good reason you left behind an Ayas.”

“Y-yeah…” Davídrius muttered.

“Mm hmm,” the Colonel raised an eyebrow, and then turned toward a group of RPF officers working at the far side of the room. “Húnon! Icard! Get over here!”

Two of the male officers turned around and then casually approached. “Huh? What is it?”

“Oh, Vélunis! Wilkas!” Kievkenalis perked up, “Long time no see!”

“So you know each other, then?” the Colonel glanced between the Chaostechnic and the two officers.

“Wooow, this is where you went?” one of the officers replied, his arms crossed, “You think you can just ditch us and then be all friendly like that?”

“Ha, sorry, you know how it is,” Kievkenalis grinned sheepishly.

“Man, Wilkas, you’re makin’ us both look ridiculous,” the second officer – Vélunis – sighed and rolled his eyes. He then turned his attention to the Colonel. “What’re we doing?”

“The AI here wants us to take its core with us. You two are going to accompany Hero Machina and see if we can actually do that.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Vélunis replied.

“Good, because you’d still be doing it if you thought otherwise,” the Colonel smirked, “Now get going. We don’t have time for dawdling!”

*             *             *

“Wait, this is your core?”

“It is not what you expected?”

“It– …well, actually, I don’t even know what I expected…” Kevérin frowned as he looked up at a steel blue cylindrical metal device fastened to the topside of a large mechanical console in the middle of a large, re-purposed reactor room. The device was half the height of Davídrius and almost twice as wide, and was otherwise sleek and featureless.

“Doesn’t look too bad,” Vélunis mused, “Should be able to carry it out. Doesn’t look too heavy.”

“My core’s mass lies on the upper end of one thousand kilograms.”

“Welp nevermind.”

“We first have to disconnect it from the compound’s systems…” Kevérin approached an interface console on the nearest side of the device, “We can worry about carrying it then.”

“…I’m gonna have to do all the work, aren’t I,” Christeané deadpanned.

“You are the resident Superstrength Introtechnic,” Rebehka replied.

“So am I,” Wilkas threw in, “Between the two of us it should be a piece of cake.”

“I must caution you, dropping or otherwise damaging my core could have disastrous side effects.”

“We won’t drop it, you’ll be fine,” Wilkas replied nonchalantly.

“Shouldn’t you two be, I don’t know, helping me?” Kevérin glanced irately at the two RPF technicians.

“Nah, I’m sure you’ve got it,” Vélunis waved him off, “It’s just SFC tech, I’m sure you can crack it.”

“Some great friends you have here, Kevken,” Kaoné muttered.

“I know, we’re the best friends he has~” Wilkas smirked.

“C’mon, guys,” Kievkenalis urged, “The Colonel did send you to help.”

“You aren’t helping, either.”

“Well… touché.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter anyways, since they’re right,” Kevérin grumbled, “I just cracked the system. Disengaging the core… now.”

The entire construct hissed loudly as the cylinder lifted up slightly, a piston under the device raising it just high enough for hands to fit under its lower edges.

“Alright,” the Transfer Captain turned back to the rest of the Chaotics, “Christeané, uh…”

“Wilkas.”

“Right, Wilkas. C’mon, let’s get this thing upstairs and outside.”

“I really hope that freight elevator is up to snuff,” Christeané grumbled as he approached the device, standing opposite it from Wilkas. The two Superstrength Introtechnics proceeded to work out the best way to grip the device and then hoisted it into the air.

“Wait…” Siyuakén frowned as she began glancing around the room uneasily, “Something doesn’t feel right…”

“Siyuakén?...” Rebehka questioned, but the Electrotechnic didn’t seem to hear her. She instead stepped forward and paused for a moment… and then dashed toward Christeané.

“Get back!!” she shouted, diving into him and knocking him away, causing Wilkas to drop the device and stumble backwards, the device beginning to roll away itself–

–just as a large, clawed paw exploded from the ground below, sending bits of metal flooring flying and the device on a crash course for Siyuakén. Christeané quickly jumped back to his feet and stopped the device before it could crush either of them, but then froze as a large, four-legged beast pulled itself out of the ground.

“It’s… the monster from the caves…” Siyuakén muttered, spotting the silver rashes all over the animal’s body.

“This is– …fuck,” Kevérin scowled, “So much for time! Christeané, Wilkas, grab the core! Everyone – run!”

*               *               *               *               *

==================== End of Chapter 32 ====================

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Data Entry: Riveranian PMCs

                The Nimalian nation of Riverana possesses only a token military – the majority of its might comes through the contracting of various Nimalian Private Military Contractors (PMCs). The nation has had several different military partners over the past millennia, and has even at times contracted with more than one PMC at once, but over the course of the past several centuries the PMCs have banded together to more easily pool their resources and deal with the vastness of space. This process continued until there existed only two big-name PMCs in Riverana – the Riveranian Protection Force (RPF), and the Stealth and Force Corps (SFC).

                The RPF is the current partner of the Riveranian government, and have been for the past couple centuries. It could be said that, while the RPF is a PMC and technically independent of the Riveranian government, they are now effectively Riverana’s national military. The RPF receives resources and funding from and acts on the authority of the Riveranian government, empowering it to do things that many other non-government affiliated organizations are unable to – such as fielding a significant space navy. The RPF navy still pales in comparison to the Tekdecénian fleets, and it is but a speck in the face of the CSA military might, but it is powerful and diverse enough on its own to claim and protect outposts on the outer fringes of the Nimalian Territories.

                The RPF is based in Riverana and commanded by General Sulan Rantéin, friend of the Riveranian Archoné, Pallan Culana (it is not uncommon for the Riveranian Archoné and the RPF Commander to be friends before their appointments, or become friends afterward). The RPF possesses a similar command structure to that of the other nations’ militaries and also participates in the same Chaotic grooming – that is, fast-tracking Chaotics to a Chaotic-oriented education at age 10, inducting them into a military training program at age 15, and fully conscripting them at age 19. The RPF is most notable for its espionage capabilities and Chaotic squads – much like the Black Suns, the RPF focuses on training soldiers instead of navies, especially on the many Chaotics it receives from Riverana, shaping them into dangerous combatants or crafty operatives. The RPF also tries its best to remain toe-to-toe with the Tekdecénian military itself as far as information technology; as a result, the Tekdecénians often come to the RPF for information.

                In terms of stealth and espionage, however, the RPF has nothing on the SFC. The Stealth and Force Corps are the second largest Riveranian PMC and are based out of northern Riverana. They have a small space navy and hold a handful of extrasolar outposts, most of them outside the protection of the Nimalian Territories due to the SFC not having proper authority to found colonies within the Territories. As the SFC is not the official military partner of Riverana, it does not receive the many bonuses that the RPF does, and has to make due with targeted recruitment and subtle activities. As a result, the SFC is generally better at focusing as an organization than the RPF is, and is very capable of completing individual projects faster than the RPF could. Over the course of the past century, however, the resource-deprivation of the SFC has starved it enough that the “Force” term in its title has been effectively deprecated; the SFC now focuses almost entirely on stealth, using its small size and efficiency to spy on other organizations and work on other projects under the radar. It is not a fully antagonistic organization, and will occasionally open some of its previously-classified projects to the public, but its activities are dubious at best and disastrous to Nimalian galactic image at worst. As a result, the RPF has begun monitoring the SFC in recent years, which itself has led to a sort of espionage arms-race between the two PMCs.

Chapter 31: Breakdown

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“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!!”

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==================== End of Chapter 31 ====================

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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 1^st, 10^th, 19^th, or 28^th of the month.