Warning: This story doesn't exactly follow the suit of grimdark because of the way the story may develop. If you still enjoy what you are reading then go ahead.
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Chapter 6
Conflicting Chimes
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Reception of Endless Endeavor begins
Alphric opened his eyes as the atmosphere he was greeted to is far more outlandish and unimaginable than what he could hope for. Blood is flooded to his ankle and the wall reverberates as if it was a beating heart. No... On further observation, his battle is right inside a human's innard but scaled to the point that he is dwarfed like a clump of blood compared to its vast size.
He turned to his side and saw a PDF soldier nearby trying to grab his attention. That man is definitely not taking this well unlike Alfric and the only reason he doesn't immediately break down in fear is that he wasn't alone and is with Alphric. It must have been the soldier that Alphric chose to be his 1 squadmate and it is clear that it isn't just for the real battle.
Suddenly, something arose from the blood itself is monstrosity shaped like human innards. Usually, it would have scared someone but Alphric's fair share of horror made him unfazed by it. The PDF while shaking in his boots decided not to give in as he together with Alphric raised their guns at those monsters.
Drenched in blood as it still dripped from them. The monsters made their steps forward but for strange reasons, it is weirdly slow in comparison to what the two are used to fighting. Something is about to happen and they are not liking the suspense of what's following.
At the furthest back of the monster horde, a monster in the shape of a still-beating human heart suddenly beat faster to the point the atmosphere resonates along with it. The two visibly felt it and then instinctively makes one step back. While they are doing it, the rest of the organ monsters suddenly burst into strength and speed as if the moment before is nothing but a ploy to let their guards down.
Thankfully that they actually didn't because it would have been a death sentence otherwise for the Luminary when Alphric unleashes the Heavy Autorifle while the PDF just full-auto with his Autogun. The 12.7mm bullets puncture through them as the decent pacing of Alphric's gun firing quickly takes the closest ones apart. The PDF's 7.65mm Autogun while not as powerful still managed to dutifully serve its purpose even if it took down nothing at all.
The first one to bit Alphric's bullets was a monster in the shape of human lungs with the windpipes being its legs. The following one that the PDF managed to take down is in the shape of a liver after he hastily tossed a frag grenade at it then it took the full brunt with no resistance before completely falling apart.
Then the heart monster slows down its beating before the rest of the organs monster that the two haven't yet taken down also follows suit. Trying to take advantage of the docile states that they are in, Alphric and the PDF soldier tried to gun down the monster only to find what so easily take them down now suddenly doesn't even work anymore. 12.7mm while visibly damaging was too lacking for what it was supposed to do. The 7.65mm just bounces off harmlessly like nothing.
The two of them stop firing as they simply don't have the ammunition to carelessly waste. The moment they end up having to fight them barehanded is the moment they knew they failed this test miserably. As the two try to catch their moment proven by their heavy breathing, gambling wasn't their strong suit either as one mistake spells doom.
But as things have always proven. Go big or go home.
The heart monster starts to fasten its beatings once more as the organ monsters lunge toward the two once more.
Begin reception of Cherished Memory
Mika opened her eyes and saw herself in what looked like a rundown nursery. Everything around her is seemingly deteriorating as she could visibly feel what is truly occurring. But what truly got her eyes first is the human-sized bear plushy right in front of her. Which by old Terran's tongue or lexicon would be a teddy bear. It looks visibly weathered as she could tell by the torn fabrics and patches across the thing along with the discolor that scatters around its body.
Then she turned to the surroundings and realized that the roof is torn off long ago and the sky above her is dark and cloudy as if the sun has never shone upon her since long ago. The vast of derelict skyscrapers around reminds her once more of the particular Lower Hive Sector where she once lived as the majority of it is just ghost structures that are never finished properly to feed the greed of their constructors.
Out of nowhere suddenly, the old man that she selected as a squadmate of hers appeared in a flash of light as he is both surprised yet combat prepared at the same time. He was about to question what he himself is doing here but already knew that he won't get a proper answer just from a single gaze into her eyes.
The battle begins as the human-sized teddy bear made its first move against them. The old man quickly retaliated with his shotgun as he tries to get its attention toward himself. Despite being seemingly made out of cloth, the strength that it carries visibly felt as it bashes the buckshot away from its trajectory like nothing but plastic pellets thrown at it.
Mika sees the situation quickly and takes advantage of its sole focus as she fires a relentless stream of incendiary bullets with her Automagnums at full auto. Despite the magnum rounds clearly puncturing through its skin of cloth with puffs of cotton flying out in impact, its focus is still on the old man alone and only him. She knew that she is clearly missing something yet it is hiding from her in plain sight as if taunting her.
The bear is now at the old man's close quarter as it claws at him repeatedly. The might behind each of its swings is so tremendous that the old man felt like his gun will fly out of his hand if he was careless in blocking it.
Ember of Hope
"Get off him!" Mika yelled as she took out her combat knife as psykic power covered it in a raging fire.
She lunged at it and plunges the knife straight through its head. The fire blazes through its head was finally what's enough to get its attention off the old man as it now tries to claw at her instead. But with her position squarely right above its head, its arms have a rough time getting close enough without just tipping backward. Seeing the situation, the old man quickly tries to assist her as he rapid-fire his shotgun at the teddy bear with no hesitation.
However, it seems that it finally has enough as it took hold of Mika by her waist before throwing her toward the old man like a child being discontented with a toy that is given by their parents. The old man could barely dodge what was thrown at him before the bear seemingly stares at him with a gaze that is impossibly difficult to decipher what was behind.
His wisdom could tell that it felt long missed and now it attempts to do so with him. By the immense strength that he judged, if he allowed it to do so, it would spell a gruesome demise.
He aims down sight with his shotgun once more as he intends to not let it fulfill its twisted desire.
Begin reception of Helper Servitor
Kang opened his eyes once more as he found himself in the complete opposite of what his previous Enlightenment Protocol was. Everything around him was chrome white and pristinely clean, that's what it was supposed to be if it weren't for the copious amount of blood splatter that paints across the space like a visceral art piece that only the most deranged could muster.
Right behind his back is another PDF soldier that has the misfortune of being chosen by Kang. Armed with essentially a grenade launcher and some explosive packs with him. A demolitionist just in case the infestation was so bad that destruction must be done.
"Hey, you alright?" Kang said as he tries to make sure that the PDF that followed him here is on the same team as him.
"Yeah... I've seen worse unfortunately but I can still stand". The demoman said as his breathing can be heard through his mask.
Based on his observation, it seems that he is inside a kitchen or a laboratory, or anything that demands such cleanliness, to begin with. Shelves of various unlabeled containers scatter around as they were all stained by the bloody slaughter that happened here. However, all of the entrances and exits into this place were barricaded to prevent any attempt to enter or escape.
Something horrible is going to happen and he just simply knew it.
His premonition was answered immediately as something breached through the barricade effortlessly. It was a humanoid servitor much in the same design as the one that Kang fought before. But thankfully leans toward functionality rather than its purpose as a torture and penitence device based on its cleaner appearance. However, that doesn't justify the design of lobotomizing people for automation in the first place.
With fury, Kang pulled the hammer of the Autohammer once more as he blasts the servitor that is crawling toward him with focused buckshot. However, it is quickly proven by design that it is not the only one.
More of those Servitors crawl out of the barricades as they try to reach toward the two combatants who stood and remain on this canvas drawn with the blood of the misfortunate. All of them speak in a single monotone voice.
"Contamination Level Breached. Initiating cleaning mode"
Apparently, all of these were nothing but household servitors, made with the purpose of housework and the like. But the fact that this cleanliness is splattered with the blood of who-knows many tells of a story that is unseen.
One of the Servitors breaches through as it lunges toward Kang as razor blades sprung out of its body and lashes wildly toward him. Kang however remains unfazed by the horror as his disgust was so overwhelmed that it loops back to sheer determination. With both hatred and focus, Kang shot the Servitor with all prejudice he has.
Violence + Chained Wrath
One shot was enough to splatter the Servitors into indiscernible parts. Before it completely turns dead, it "speaks" one last time.
Critical Damage Sustained, self-destruct acti-
Kang didn't even bother letting it speak its last words as he blasts its head to smithereens with his Autohammer.
"Who the fuck install self-destruct device into cleaning Servitors!?" Kang muttered as the sheer asinine and pointless cruelty on display made him question reality for what it holds.
But its last words were enough for Kang to remember that one suppressed memory of his. Of a bloody war that its perpetrators went unpunished.
Back at Alphric
The two breathes tiredly as they are surrounded by organ monsters from all side. With only their backs to each other covering their potential flanks, they knew that their combat must sync together or else. The heart monster at the furthest back starts to beat rapidly once more as the rest of the cohorts lunge at them like beasts starved of food.
The PDF soldier takes out a flashbang within his belt as he pulled the pin and yelled to warn his compatriot.
"Flashbang out!" The PDF yelled as he tosses it right at his below.
The two prepared for the oncoming as they held their ears and close their eyes. Then they jumped to the bloody floor as they slides away from the original point. As the flashbang detonates, it overwhelmed the sound of them falling and deceived the organ monsters to keep charging at their original location. Despite having no visible eyes, they must have been able to detect Alphric and his other squadmate somehow thus they must have at least a sense to locate. The flashbang did its work as the monsters collided with one another before they fell toward the ground.
The two while still sliding on the blood-flooded floor unleash their armaments toward the collided organ monsters. With some focus and commitment, their aims stay true as the Heavy Stubber rounds and Autogun cartridges tore them apart in their relentless fervor. Torn chunks of organs mixed with each other in the carnage as soon enough, not even they could tell which once belong to which.
When they finally stop, they tried to pull themselves up and they came to realize that not all of them take the bait. But if it weren't for the fact that the heart monster ceases its tumulous pace then they would be without doubt in big trouble.
"Take the heart monster out! Don't let it beat again!" Alphric yelled as his sheer amount of weapons on him made it more of a struggle for him than otherwise.
The other PDF soldier made his charge toward it ignoring everything else on the way. However, something took hold of him by the neck as it drags and strangles him back. From the source point of the attack, was a monster made of intestines. And as he is dragged toward it, other monsters that didn't take the previous bait start gang up upon him as they swing their tendrils at him.
Then to make it worse, the heart monster starts to beat faster once more. And this time to compensate the slain monsters up to this point, its beating fastens to such a degree that even the atmosphere reverberates to its beats like a haywire metronome.
"NO!" Alphric yells as he attempts to pull himself up but by that point, it was too late.
He could hear the scream of agony from the poor PDF through the loud beatings that got caught as he was mauled alive by those organ monsters. Chunks of flesh threw and torn from him as his organ spews out like a teddy bear whose content spilled out. By the time his death throe was silenced, the heart slows down its beating again and what's left of him is indiscernible apart from this place.
They stare at him as if to say that he will be next. They really intend to make this life lesson stick no matter what.
He really wished that he took up the apothecary lessons from Mika while he could.
Back at Mika
It was bad... really bad.
To say that Mika really underestimated the lethality that particular toy bear could do really made her question what her mind is conjuring.
In Twilight, nobody and their mother know what is a bear at all. The only reason anyone even knows what it was is that everyone keeps calling this manufactured toy a teddy bear and that name sticks despite what it is based on extinct long ago. This thing is what keeps comfort, keep memory despite the horror and grim darkness that Vespera has become.
And to see it being her nightmare is literally what she wanted last in her life.
"Stay away from her!" The old man yelled as he fires the last shotgun shell in his reserve.
The buckshot blasts against the towering and torn teddy bear as it refuses to know when to back down. Whatever keeps it moving, they simply must try to take it down at the source.
The bear swings its claw at the old man which he barely dodges before it clawed through the concrete wall like paper. It may have been degraded by time and weather but to claw it like makes it clear how horrifically powerful this bear is made out of cotton and cloth.
"Get away from him!" Mika also yelled as she fires both the Automagnums in both of her hands.
How much she has loathed anything that has taken what mattered to her. First was her parents then her previous life. And now she won't allow her shortcoming to take away the old man too. She can't allow her display of kindness to be only seen as a convenient tool when needed. A lie that is mere of happenstance.
Just what would others think if she let them die trying to resolve someone else's mental problem?
The old man swings his shotgun like a club at the teddy bear in an attempt to deter it. But the bear simply bashed it back away from him as it flew from his hand by sheer force. An old saying in Terra once said that a bear could kill you by its nudge alone. That's just how powerful they are.
Seeing how his shotgun couldn't do its work anymore, he took out the sidearm and fired at it repeatedly as it approaches him closer and closer. Mika realized the imminent danger as she tries her most damn to get it away from the old man. Taking the scalpel from her medicare bag, she channeled her psykic power with all she has as.
Ember of Hope + Burning Heart
The tiny blade erupts into a blazing sword as it cleaves directly into the back of the bear's neck. And despite the overwhelming flame that is unleashed upon them, the bear seemingly refuses to budge until her blade slid through and cleaves a chasm across. By then, it finally acknowledge its true target.
The old man's sidearm clicks empty as the bear turns toward her now with a seemingly menacing glare. As if staring at her, Mika couldn't even make out what it is thinking for its eyes are merely shirt buttons that carry nothing to be seen. Then it opened its embrace as if to hug her but Mika felt no such love behind. All the nostalgic feelings that are supposed to be carried with an item of childhood, all completely reversed into something opposite. Something dreadful, fear and horror that Mika simply doesn't have enough lexicon in her books to describe.
She should have moved, and yet self-doubt clouded her mind when a decision should have been made. Right before it clamps down on her, someone shoved her away before being made the sacrifice themselves.
Mika's mind finally processed itself as she the bear is hugging the old man tightly. So tight that it seems to keep increasing until it becomes crushing instead. With each second, she could see the old man's life leaving him bit by bit. His breathing became impossible as the sickening crack of his spine renders him completely half-dead. Then the worst comes to pass as the crushing becomes so much that the old man literally snapped in half as blood splatters across the body of the bear.
The upper remain of his corpse shows that he died before the fatality did upon him. That is his only saving grace for anymore would have been suffering untold.
Mika stood there in horror as she slowly realizes the magnitude of her mistake.
Back at Kang
Mountain of servitor corpses, thousands of cuts slew across what was once pristine yet bloody into a smoldering ruin where the line between construct and destruct is but blurred without any way to recognize. The two have fought bitterly but the weariness starts to spread deep as servitors are nothing but persistent.
Kang reloads the Autohammer as he detaches the box magazine and replaces it with a new one. The demoman who is covering his flank is reloading his revolver grenade launcher one by one. However, fear is visibly worn upon him as his ammunition reserve is not going to last anymore longer. Meanwhile, Kang is already on his tenth box and he doesn't give any more shit about it than his next breathing.
"So what am I supposed to learn here?!" Kang yelled as this is probably the hundred Cleaning Servitors that he destroyed.
He is thankful that he has a heavy firearm man that helps deal with mass enemies. But seeing the situation right now, it is definitely not going in their favor.
"Another wave is coming!" The heavy-duty PDF said as he prepares the remote controller for explosives.
This time, another group of Servitors ravingly breaches the perimeter as they climb the pile of corpses of their vanguard. With a single flip of the PDF's switch, the majority blew up in a smoldering smoke, the rest was dispatched by Kang who is already rather in a foul mood from being in extended contact with Servitors.
"That's the last of ours explosive. Better pray that there will be no more because we'll be overwhelmed at this rate". The PDF said to Kang as the man himself is still deep in his thought.
Kang's mind drift to that particular fateful event back when he was still a Ganger in Lower Hive. A certain rebellion broke out in a Lower Hive manufactorium as its workers were in critical discontent with the working condition that the Tech-Priests themselves allow. It was a result of many desperate pleas for help that went unanswered and when the water overflows, it was obvious what would follow. Many Gangers saw this opportunity as a means to secure more technologies to swell their power and Kang was one of the participants that joined the war.
It was amongst the bloodiest that Kang could retell as billions of lives were engulfed and drown in blood and carnages as the original reasoning was soon lost in blind hatred. But he could never forget what the Tech-Priests did to suppress the rebellion, to begin with. Each death invoked by them means a body to join their rank, soon numbers become a detriment instead as the rebels soon found themselves cornered by their own previous allies now lobotomized into combat Servitors for the Tech-Priests.
To them, any perjury or crime against the Tech-Priesthoods is of utmost that their only way to penitence is to be forever lobotomized into mindless drones for them. As Kang looks further into it, he starts to see how much the scale is tipped for them. They could have easily improved people's condition but they chose to deliberately kill them because there is too much incentive to kill innocents.
His Gang knew when to quit and thus they escaped from the sight of the Arbites and Tech-Priests undetected. But it wasn't the end of it.
One of the Gang members bought a Helper Servitors thinking that it would do their jobs of manual labor so that they could spend more time on different things. It worked well at first until someone spilled something on the floor while a lot of people were present. They used the voice command "Clean" to make it clean the obvious spill but suddenly, something inside its protocol made it goes haywire as it suddenly murders everyone around at a blistering speed that is unseen. All while screaming one word. Clean.
Kang was the sole survivor and the only that destroyed said "Helper" Servitor that murdered the entire gang. His investigations turn up that a certain Tech-Priest was having too many Servitors at his disposal that he decided that he'll refurbish some combat Servitors from the rebellion before into Civilian type to sell them dirt-cheap that even a Lower Hive Ganger could buy.
That point, he made it personal, and that Tech-Priest was never to be seen again. Kang then went on his own journey and soon found himself reaching for the Middle Hive to start anew.
But even as an ex-Ganger, he finds the Tech-Priests utterly deplorable. To deliberately divorce themselves from humanity in their pursuit of twisted perfectionism makes him disgusted so much that he will never treat anyone of them as human. They chose to make themselves inhuman thus he shall regard them as such.
Suddenly, a mechanical stepping noise broke him off his train of thought as he sees only one Servitor steps out of the killing ground that enabled their survival this far. However, this one felt distinctively different in comparison to many others that he fought before and something tells him that there was more to this than first sight.
He prepares his Autohammer and intends to just blast it to hell and beyond.
Violence + Chained Wrath
It felt like he fired something more powerful as he was visibly taken aback by it at the first trigger pull. And as he watches it collides with the Servitor only to see that... It didn't do much at all. A dent is visible in the direct hit point but that was it.
"Charging" The voice came out of this distinct Servitor as if it couldn't be any more dissonance in the tone and its appearance.
It didn't stop Kang as he continues to attack it without any respite. As his Autohammer clicks empty once more he realizes that he was too rashly in his judgment just now.
"Charging complete, initiate Cleaning mode"
Kang wished he never had to hear cleaning in that context ever again. But for some strange reason, his trauma was ingrained in that Emperor-damned word and he froze up once more when he was supposed to be making his way away from it. He wished that he could have done it himself but by the time he did, it was all too late for anything otherwise.
The demoman pulled him by his sleeve right when the Cleaning Servitor lunges at him like a prowling predator, as Kang fell to the floor thus evading its path only for its target to become the man who saved him in the first place. Kang simply couldn't allow himself to be in debt to anyone, whether in monetary or karma. And now he couldn't pay for it with any of them.
As his back fell to the floor, his face was then splattered with that too awfully familiar fluid that has visibly stained so much of his memory. The blood of many, all innocents, all allies, all enemies that he came across to this very point. And he wished that he has never gotten used to it for the distinction he has between life and death is blurred the moment he is unfazed by it.
Another debt of karma again that he didn't ask for.
Back at Alphric
How many deaths of those close to him has he seen thus far? Friends that are never to be seen again, coworkers whose solidarity shared is ultimately broken by twisted fate. The way that he lived is ultimately against the very foundation that Imperium is built upon, copious sacrifice regardless of meaning or lack thereof.
Now he is utterly shaken by his own teammate's death because of his own decision. He has called upon him to do it and now the consequence smashes itself upon him. And there is no time to sit pitying for the battle against self's worst is unrelenting.
With the poor victim mauled to pieces by them, the organ monsters now stare at him like the final appetizer before the banquet's end. As the heart picks up its pace once more, Alphric now must formulate his next move and now he is alone against all odds.
The Heavy Autorifle did good work, excellent even but it is not enough. What he is needing right now is sheer raw firepower and not even his Psykic Passive might outlast the onslaught against them head-on. As those filthy abominations lurch toward him, he turns to the absolute last resort in his capability. Firing the 12.7mm Heavy Stubber in a non-prone position.
Holding the heavy machine gun's carrying handle in one hand while the other is on the grip and trigger. With general foresight that he obtained by experience, his shot aimed true even if it was a wild guess at best. A single 12.7mm round puncture through one of them as Alphric was sent back by the recoil. However, he soon realized he has his way of fighting utterly wrong.
He shouldn't try to fight back against opposing forces. Instead, he must use it to his own advantage.
As the heart is now at its fastest beating pace yet seen so far, the monsters are now in utter overdrive as they charge at him in utter disregard. Alphric soon responded with the only thing that universally understood, violence and force of will. He then pulled the trigger of the 12.7mm Heavy Stubber which fires full-auto at the charging horde.
The recoil also sends him back as he slides across the blood-flooded floor while his distance between is maintained by his fire rate. The monsters that keep charging stride into the hail of anti-material bullets as it tearing them apart piece by piece as they are in a full-assault state with no reservation unlike their dormant state like before. What was supposed to be their greatest strength ended up being their execution.
Something latches onto his leg but Alphric didn't stop, he just keeps firing as he drags the horde of abominations into a joyride with him as he also drags whatever tried to drag him toward. This revealed the intestine monster that attempted and Alphric spares no mercy in obliterating it in a hail of fire from him. For the one soldier that he met only 15 minutes yet impacted him like no other.
The monster in their blind chase toward him has revealed one major important thing. They are so primal in their behavior that they didn't even realize they have been chasing in a circle. Thus closing this loop of attrition that ultimately reveals who really is the winner all this long. As the last organ monster fell to the bloody floor, Alphric also obliterates its cadaver so that it doesn't magically resurrect to strike him down when unnoticed.
With only the heart monster remaining, Alphric expects it to do something as he finally stood in front of it and aims the Anti-material Heavy Stubber at it. But all it really does is beating really fast to accelerate its cohort. Now that it is alone, its beating does nothing at all to make Alphric consider any mercy. Or at all with what they have done to his one squadmate.
Alphric looks at it and wonders just what is he supposed to learn from this. What is the lesson that he must derive? Because if this was simply a fight then he wouldn't have to suffer or care as much at all. But he must find this answer by himself and only for himself.
It beats regardless of the battle that has already been won for Alphric. It keeps beating despite it is now alone with nothing left to support it. Then a flash of insight appears in Alphric's mind as he realized what it reminded him of.
It was how he have made it this far. How regardless of the bleakness of everything that was presented to him, he chose to fight back against the grim darkness. His track record shows how much of an accomplished person really was to the Eventide Merchant Guild. And how to his friends, he is a man that they can rely on knowing that things will be fine if they stood by his side.
In reality, Alphric was constantly questioning if he could do it or not. Questioning his own accomplishment and achievement wondering if he could make it to the next day. He may stand as a man who is full of confidence and know that he got what it takes to back it. But it goes deeper than that as there really is one thing that he truly fears.
Fears of failure.
Like a heart that goes on beating even when everything else has failed. Because it could not perceive any otherwise.
Alphric took a deep breath as he confronts the flaw of who he truly was. Vespera is ruthless and a single mistake is deemed as a weakness to exploit. But life lessons have proved that without failure, no one could learn why and how to not commit again. Without mistake, nothing prospers. Only in a cycle of ignorance that solace can be found in perfection.
That is at the end of the day. He can only strive to be a better person than before. That he shall not let failure be what deter him but rather what makes him push forward. To live and learn. When you jump off a cliff, you won't always find a safety net below.
He closed his eyes as if he has a moment of revelation. They opened once more as a glint of determination could be gazed into.
Alphric pulls the trigger and the heart bursts into pieces and chunks as they scatter across the surrounding. Alphric stood through the tide of blood that erupted as he holds the same expression from before.
The entire surroundings soon dissipated into luminescence particles as they flew upward. Alphric looks at peace for once as he knew he managed to overcome another of his flaw. The road to true spiritual clarity is still long and arduous. But he knew he'll be there for he shall rise above the self-proclaimed zenith that humanity made itself.
Back at Mika
Mika stood there still in shock at what happened to the old man. That in the end, people always sacrifice themselves for her.
The bloodstained toy bear seemingly looks at her as if to see what she will do. As if taunting her for her failure to make a difference. As if trying to gauge a reaction from her.
Perhaps... She really has known already but she utterly refuses to accept it. Her mistake is glaring as its evidence is as plain and clear as day. That Mika always failed to protect what matters to her.
Then... she slowly pieces together what she is supposed to do here... She came here to understand her flaw and came to rectify it. So what is it that a murderous toy bear means to her? Perhaps by understanding her flaw, she will be able to find a way to overcome this ordeal she placed herself in.
What does it mean to her?
Both she and the bear look at each other with neither side trying to make a move. Thus despite her just keeping herself in her own mind trying to scrounge any memory that she has, the bear for some reason decided to not attack her when she is completely open either.
Thus her deep dive into the furthest recess of her mind, her childhood in Lower Hive. A place full of sin, full of debauchery unnamed that human minds could muster or not. Even then, her parents were probably the few diamonds in literal trash yards as far as her eyes could have seen. They attempted, and they did the best with all they could to give her a proper upbringing. As if they knew... that it was supposed to be how a child should be given yet the Lower Hive makes the worst out of all.
When a chance of a proper upbringing for their child was given, they took it without hesitation thus their enlistment to the Imperial Guards. This was when she was 14 and could take care of herself. Before they truly depart to the stars above, they gave her one last gift with what they have. A teddy bear that by now she lost long ago.
To say that she missed them is understating. That the privileges of Middle Hive couldn't ever replace their presence. If only she ever understood fully at that moment, perhaps she could have said her final goodbye so that she could finally depart from that feeling once and for all.
An epiphany plays out in a white mindscape of her. Flashbacks of cherished memory of both good and bad play out like a screen reel.
Words of Emperor: For this part - play Final Duet - Omori
Mika had siblings, many of them in fact which was the norm of Lower Hives despite their incapability to raise so many together. But they didn't know better back then and only took solace in each other's presence. When one of them cried, the rest would all try to console the said person. Many cherished memories even when the environment they grew up in was far from ideal for any human.
Then, it all ceases.
A massive strike soon turned bloody war rages across the Hive Sector that Mika and her siblings were living in. As the tide of mass protesters marches toward the manufactorums for their mistreatment toward them, Mika and her siblings were forcefully swept in by the tides as she desperately held them close when they were simply doing chores. In desperation, Mika tried to tell her siblings to hold on to each other as she believes that they will make it out.
When the chaos dies down as Mika left the premise, she soon found out that all she has in her hand is one of the siblings' gloves and all of them were swept with the riot and forever lost to her. That no matter how hard she tried, what mattered to her is lost in this heartless world. Like a symphony whose core components suddenly disappear mid-performance.
The loss of Mika's siblings was a waking call to Mika's parents as the illusion of happiness in Lower Hive finally shatters irreparably. That as long as they live in this deplorable hell hole that is made by the greed of men, any instance of goodness is inevitably drowned in this cesspit. Because of it, Mika's parents made their final solution. To find any way possible to send Mika to a better place, more deserving of her than this hell.
Then their last moment together before departure as the symphony that played in her mind suddenly lost everything but one last instrument and now only she remains trying to compensate with it but failing. She took all of it in as she reaches out for the seemingly distant answer in front of her.
It was always there. Many don't have the chance to resolve their life issues until too late. And Mika would have been one of them had she not been forced to confront it.
Mika opened her eyes once more and she sees the bear also standing motionless in front of her much like before. Now she finally realizes what she truly felt all along.
Fear of abandonment.
Her kindness is her instinctual attempt to fill the void left behind by the departure of her parents. Much like what Alphric said before, she has so much kindness that she instinctively gives even if knowing she won't be returned or even exploited. That sincerity of hers is real regardless of what may have been seen. It is just that source of kindness came from a much more tragic place than perceived.
She knew clearly what to do now. And with her power, even if things may end in tragedy, the upper hand still belongs to her even if it is unseen.
The Automagnums in her hands dropped to the ground as she extends her arm in embrace toward the bear that murdered her closest confidant. The bear seemingly responded to her attempt as it did the same thing as her. Without any hesitation, she jumped towards it and hugs it tightly as she could. The bear also hugged her tightly as it increasingly becomes tighter until it becomes crushing just like before. But this time, Mika doesn't even attempt at fighting back but just keeps hugging until the void inside her soul gave out.
How much she could have smelled the longing within its decaying fur.
And when it finally becomes so much that her spine literally snapped. It was the moment her trump card sprung into action. An ability amongst her Psykic Passive that never found its use until now.
Rise from the Ashes
Mika explodes into a massive fire with such tremendous force that it literally ripped the so-called indestructible toy bear that she struggled against up to now. And at such close proximity, it is like taking a literal nuclear missile point-blank. Its arms were ripped apart in sheer force, its body set ablaze as its fur was now indiscernibly charred. Hardly anyone could tell that it was a teddy bear anymore but more a black lump of coal that anyone would discard into an incinerator.
From the center of the explosion where Mika died and rebirth in the blink of an eye. The fire that covered her died down revealing her nearly naked body with her private parts covered in soot and char. Her eyes gazed at it as if mocking it for making her resort to this. But she has clearly won this reception even if she wasn't looking too good doing so.
She picked up her dropped Automagnums as she then aims both of them at the charred toy bear intending to finish it off. Closing the chapter of longing after a much longer time. Even then, she'll never stop being kind for it is what she truly wishes to be. For what mattered is that her sincerity will be true and that she'll always be there for everyone's sake.
The bear looks as if it felt more hurt by her betrayal. That she really intended in cutting away what makes Mika herself. Mika won't lie though, she felt really satisfied within that nostalgic embrace of the old days. But the past is the past and what's bygone is to remain bygone. No matter what she does, her parents won't miraculously come back to dote on her.
Do not cry because it was over, smile because it happened.
"Goodbye". Mika finally said what she bottled so much ever since that fateful day. Perhaps as forgiveness or penitence for her ignorance back then.
With her last trigger pulls, Mika silenced the bear herself thus closing this character arc of her. The atmosphere turned white as luminescence particles flew and scatter across the wind. She closes her eyes as she let herself flow like the light across this plane of emptiness. For the first time in a long time, she felt genuine relief.
Back at Kang
He drags himself up heavily as the Cleaning Servitor flays his only ally alive. As he tried to find another box of ammo to reload his Autohammer, he soon realized that he has depleted the last one in the arsenal. With bitter contempt, he drops the gun to the floor as he took out the power maul in his possession. How much of his chance does he have to win over a construct made to kill people?
The Helper Servitor stares up at him when it practically butchered its victim into an archipelago of blood as if it is seeking its new target. He wonders just what exactly is going on behind its cogitation units to link the word "Clean" with killing in the first place. The parallels between his past story and this reception start to show.
He has to change his way of combat, and his way of thinking entirely, or else. Brute forces may have carried him far but a life lesson can't be learned by hammering it literally with a hammer.
Time slows down as his mind went into overdrive. A sensation of adrenaline overflows that he has long so used to for many percentages of his life is on the line. As the Helper Servitor approaches, its flaying razor blades swung out at him in multiple directions but he noticed that it is convergence toward him at a point.
Violence + Chained Wrath
He swung his power maul in a way that deflected all of them, and the Helper Servitor also got bashed away by mere proximity as his channeled power is like taking a wrecking ball in directly.
With what he did, the Helper Servitor crashed into one of the supporting pillars and rubbles fell on top thus burying it. But since nothing is happening, it is merely not dead but immobilized.
But that is enough for Kang to rethink what he is supposed to derive here.
The Lower Hive is a place of bloodshed and incessant brutality made by both survival necessity and greed. It is not uncommon for gang violence and collateral damage to kill so many people within just a single day alone. And the only thing that drives its functionality of it is manpower in both industry and the military. And people who are adept at combat are not only sought after but recruited for the clashing ideals and thoughts of billions amongst each other.
Kang was no different. He was merely a man who fought to do his best and all he has for he truly wanted is to be able to live with no fear of suddenly losing his own livelihood. Through hell and back on his own, he carved out a small place for himself amidst this seemingly chaotic world he resided.
Seemingly, he could have finally had it all. A proper retirement after all the painstaking efforts to reach it.
But even then, Kang was never able to truly rest. He'll never be able to... for his existence has been so ingrained with bloodshed that he sees it in his sleep. Every waking moment is violent fighting to keep what mattered, every moment of sleeping is of nightmarish loss that came back to haunt him. He wasn't like many other Gangers in Vespera, or even think like them at all. What he yearned is a stable livelihood but the way that Vespera built made such a thing as fragile as a house whose foundation was made out of thin paper.
Thus he had a dream, he dreamed to reach out of the Lower Hive to reach for the land above it. As far as many have attempted, only those who are commended by the Noble Houses above may enter. Even if the paradise above isn't what it made out to be, he would rather be able to live without worrying about being arbitrarily killed for no reason beyond petty greed.
Even the many Gangs he built were merely bricks to the next path. And when he finally did so after so many sacrifices of both good allies and people who believed in him. He can't rest in solace or clear conscience. Soon those peaceful dreams of his were tainted with so much blood that... he couldn't see himself retiring peacefully. Only the image of him dying amidst corpses around like a nameless amidst war.
Live by the sword. Die by the sword.
He realized the parallel between him and the Helper Servitor. After the said Servitor was repurposed into its menial duty, its functionality as combat Servitors still remained within and a mere trigger is enough to invoke the carnage of that fateful event. Like a traumatized veteran unable to live normally as even a common household activity triggers the darkest part of their lives.
Like its cleaning protocol ends up activating killing instinct instead.
Fears of unreturning.
That life can visibly change so much from external effects that they can't return to what they desired. That "they" of today is incompatible with the environment of yesterday.
They said that the journey matters more than the destination. Perhaps Kang lived as the testament to that although in a much more negative way than what it ascribed to.
Words of Emperor: For this part, play Unfounded Revenge - Mother 3/Smash Ultimate
The Helper Servitor burrowed out of the rubble like an undead out of its grave. Kang has also finished his epiphany and thus the moment he opened his eyes again, a glint of determination sparks from the furthest recess of his soul. He clenches his fist once more as he now also resorts to that one ability that he found unfortunately too little use until now.
With unseen sleight of hands, Kang tossed a smoke grenade at it when it tried to scan its surrounding for targets. Robbed of its vision and thus it tried to switch to thermal sense, but it soon found out that its thermal vision was removed during its repurpose into a menial Servitor.
Violence + Chained Wrath + Metallic Crush
A kick to its temple sends it flying out of the rubble as Kang intends to have no mercy with it.
As it tries to find a standing position once more, it was followed by another kick as Kang swung his leg around toward its head with a vertical roundhouse kick then follows up with another one as he spun at a rapid pace before he positions himself on his hand as he followed with another straight kick with no gap for error or waiting.
And before he even landed on the ground, his other leg made another downward roundhouse kick through sheer force of will and determination alone as each kick disrupts its cogitation process and scan thus it was stuck in a spiral of confusion as it couldn't tell or detect exactly what's hammering it with crushing blows.
Metallic Crush allows Kang's melee attack to deal increased and irreparable damage toward all metal constructs and armors thus for once, its power is undeniably effective in fighting against the Helper Servitor. What his Autohammer failed to do, his kick did above and beyond the aforementioned's attempts in one single decisive strike.
Before it could even recover, what Kang did next utterly damaged it beyond repair. His one swift forward kick at such an unseen speed that most denizens of Vespera will never pull in any lifetime. The kick lands right at the visual auspex of the Helper Servitor rendering it completely blind as the only thing it could take in is utter darkness. The one that followed it up no less lethal is an upward axe kick right below its jaw as the impact ruptures the spine that connects the cogitation units with the rest of its body.
And to add insult to injury, the upward kick also severely damages its cogitation units thus its flaying blade is now only for show as it could even barely move its own limbs.
Using the momentum to his advantage, Kang drags the Helper Servitor to his back by his feet alone as the Servitor slams on the floor before bouncing back temporarily in the last burst of energy. It attempted to lunge at him once more but Kang has utterly read its movement by now as he sidesteps it effortlessly right before he follows up with a finishing blow, a sideway kick with all he has into the head.
The head of the Helper Servitor fractures as the foot shatters into the brain itself. The sustained damage at the neck area is now completely beyond repair as the head flew away from its body from the impact of Kang's kick. The head rolls for a bit as its main body completely collapses into useless trash. Kang steps forward, not in satisfaction or anything similar. But only a sense of duty that he must see this through.
He looks at the head now the voice came through it is corrupted and full of static. He has only looked for a moment before he raises his foot up and crushes the head with one single stomp. As brain matter and scrap splatter across the floor, Kang felt that he is truly released from this massive weight on his shoulder.
He'll never find peace in his life. That's fine. He'll never be released from his bloodstained past. That's fine too.
Because at the end of the day, he chose to be no one else...but himself.
The ruined place round turns white as he could see those particles of light scatter around. His vision slowly engulfs by the release of this very landscape as all soon returned to emptiness.
Alphric Alpheus
Spiritual Resolution Ranked Up!
Residual Touch =====} Awakened Psyker
Emotion Level Limit Raised!
New Psykic Passives Unlocked
-Endless Endeavor
-Heart of Aspiration: Increase maximum health and endurance. Movement and reaction speed are increased considerably when activated.
-Pulsating Beat: Strength increases the longer combat extends (hard-capped at 12 hours maximum). This ability resets when the Emotion Level is reset from long rest.
-Fervid Emotions: Gain a short burst of strength, speed, defense, and indomitability when activated. May cause heart attacks if overused in rapid succession.
Mika Apocrypha
Spiritual Resolution Ranked Up!
Residual Touch =====} Awakened Psyker
Emotion Level Limit Raised!
New Psykic Passives Unlocked
-Cherished Memories
-Nostalgic Embrace of Old Days: All melee attacks can cause shockwaves even if fail to connect. Chance of happening increases with repetition and succession.
-Cherished Memories: Combat fatigue effect is reduced, and the most tiring combat technique known and used becomes less tiring the more usage of it is increased. Reset at long rest.
-Display of Affections: When engaging in direct combat or duel, attack potency is increased significantly. Otherwise, attacks become less in power. (Can be toggled at will)
Kang Jeremy
Spiritual Resolution Ranked Up!
Residual Touch =====} Awakened Psyker
Emotion Level Limit Raised!
New Psykic Passives Unlocked
-Helper Servitor
-Overdrive: At combat start or well-rested, gain a massive increase in speed and attack deals significantly increased damage in comparison to potency during effect.
-Recognition: When attacks succeed against enemies' attacks multiple times in a row, the next following attack has minimal fatigue.
-Momentum: The higher Kang's speed in comparison to the clashing opponent, the higher the attacking potency against the said opponent.
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Second Recollection
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The cryo pods opened themselves as the three awake from their enlightenment. They have come out changed once more but their fundamental remains reinforced and endured. To say that they have felt a great sense of relief wasn't a lie as they do not want to imagine the further enlightenment trials that await. They have come through great struggles just to stay ahead and succeed and more of what awaits them to overcome is better standby for now until they become stronger. But now is the moment of truth to see what they learned.
But most importantly, another limit on their Emotion Level is lifted. If Level 2 enabled them to link each other's Psykic Passive together then just what is level 3 for them?
"By the way, I think we should apologize to them for inadvertently leading them to their deaths... Again..." Mika said as she remembers her companion's sacrifices so that a victory could be reached.
However, she didn't expect to see Kang and Alphric freeze up when she said it thus the three learned in the most awkward possible way that they got their asses saved by their companions and only made it after said sacrifices.
"Let us just get this done. I ain't keeping another karma debt again". Kang said as he head towards the Barrack first.
Alphric and Mika looks at each other once more before they followed Kang inside.
They didn't expect the room to change once more. Before it was a claustrophobic room with only cryo pods lined up like arrays, now the cryopods are still the same but now stood in front of them is a central one that seemingly harbors no one currently at all. However, their holo-watches flash as the three that followed them to battle and died have also come back again.
Guess that they really do need to personally apologize after all.
Kang and Alphric stood at the cryo pods that currently have the name of their chosen followers. They watched it open as the two PDF soldiers awake and sits up as if they were just taking a nap.
"Uhm, sorry that I accidentally send you to your death..." Alphric said as he can't believe that he is saying these words unironically.
"Sorry that I got you caught up with me. You shouldn't have made a sacrifice to save my life, to begin with". Kang said as he tries to find the right way with words, something that he found himself unable to claim victory over easily like many others.
"Nah, you don't have to be so polite with me. I'm fully aware that I'm bad enough to see myself meeting my death in this line of work. The fact that I get to come back once more is honestly something that I thought only possible in Upper Hive". The PDF soldier said as he tries to downplay himself.
"Believe me when I say that is probably one of the least gruesome deaths that could happen in Lower Hive. Being a PDF soldier is probably a step away from the hostile anarchy it is". The demoman said as he seems to be too calm at the premise of his own death.
They seem strangely too used to the scenery of death that has been made the new normal since long ago. How the Lower Hive even has any form of functionality is beyond them and Kang seriously questions just how he made out of there at all or live long enough to see an escape.
"Huh, I wonder what's Mika doing right now?" Alphric said as he turns around and see something that he would rather sort not say out loud.
Mika is basically kneeling down on the ground as she cries and apologies at the same time. Both Kang and Alphric were too fixated on their own that they didn't hear what Mika is doing to apologize and now that they are seeing it, it seems that she is already taking it too far and that the old man is already not like the awkwardness of the situation.
"Please don't keep kneeling and bowing at me like that. I have already accepted your apology. I'm too old to deal with any form of courtesy already.". The old man said as he still sits in his cryo pod's chamber as he seriously questioning if he should have just stayed inside instead of dealing with Mika's excessive attempt at apology.
Alphric decides that maybe she should just quit while the old man doesn't care much about his own death. He held her by the waist as the two of them proceeds to drag her out of the Barrack much to Mika's protest. But by the time she completes a sentence, the Luminary has already left the room thus the door closes upon them as the three chosen allies were put to rest again.
"Let me go!" Mika said as she tries to break free of Alphric's restraint.
"Mika, calm down, please. I know that you are being emotional right now and I won't blame you for it. But if you keep feeling sorry for every death you see then your guilt and sorrow will completely consume you. That expression of perpetual sorrow has already told me much about how you perceive life around you. And I completely understand you for it". Alphric tries to use the best of his rather limited lexicon to persuade her.
As Mika couldn't hold back the tears from flowing, all Alphric really could do is just hug her tightly and pat her head. Simple people only need simple gestures to truly get at them. And that Alphric couldn't be more glad that Mika can't be any more true to herself than any woman on Vespera.
She slowly calms herself down as she could only bother herself with his presence. Mika wonders just where her life would go if she never meet him at all.
"Warfare isn't an exact science or a game of fairness. Casualties and deaths are unavoidable the moment this crusade of ours moves into larger battlefields. We could try to avoid as much collateral or deaths at our side but we couldn't circumvent them all. Perfection is only a dream of delusional and the only way we could do is simply be better than the system that is used to rule over us". Alphric said as he ponders the future that they are heading. His foresight told him of a journey filled with so much bloodshed and the deaths of billions in his attempt to do things better than the Imperium.
Hope, dreams, where do they go? All meaningless in the eyes of the Imperial for the only thing that matters is the material worth you bring.
"Hey, don't you think we have the Inquisitorial folks out there waiting for long enough?" Kang said as his head is already turned toward Alphric while his hand places on the Light beacon.
Alphric broke out of his thought before responding. "Yeah...". Alphric said as he approaches the Light beacon along with the rest of the Luminary before
The three then return back to the surface.
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Mechanical Rhythm
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Alphric's vision was blinding white as his consciousness is flowing in a flux state. Then it slowly returns to normal as the damp and dark atmosphere of Underhive hits him as it contrasts greatly with the sterile and clean state that is their safe haven. With his Heavy Autorifle on standby, he stood vigilant once more as the threat of Underhive ever presenting and will not hesitate the moment his weakness is exposed.
Mika pulled the Automagnums' slides individually to make sure they are primed with ammunition. Kang also has personally slotted a flashbang shell into his Autohammer which thankfully can be inserted through the receiver.
What followed was the sound of an immediate explosion from a distance reverbing through the Underhive. While it might not be too uncommon, the Luminaries know that only a few carry such an excessive amount of them in the first place, the Inquisitorial retinue.
"They're in danger, let us move now". Alphric said as his visual HUD reveals the built-in minimap that scans the surroundings.
Both Mika and Kang nod before they promptly follow him. They are not so much disagree with him either as Alphric knew clearly and is decisive enough to make his choice in a blink of an eye. That is crucial in a world where mere moments of chaos are enough to flip the board.
Paths took, and turns are chosen. They made their way as the sound of fierce combat starts to become clearer and more visible. However, what truly struck them is just how eerily empty everything else was. Normally there would be Gangers or vermins of the like scurrying the nook and cranny of this polluted hellhole but there were no traces of life here to be seen at all.
It shudders them to see the bottom-fed disappear like bacteria on a sterilized scalpel.
Soon, they came to hear the sound of mechanical movements close by. As the moment of battle draws near, the Luminaries prepared both their ranged and melee in unison as their Peak physical capabilities drive their combat effectiveness to their maximum. Eventually, they found their targets and they are as disgusting as ever to be seen.
"Servitors in sight, take them down!" Alphric yelled as he jumps into the fray with his gun in sight.
Taking the initiative first, Alphric fired his Heavy Autorifle as 12.7mm rounds tore into the unsuspecting Servitors as their objectives suddenly have to change toward the new threats within their vicinity. The Armed Servitors fired back at him with their automatic shotgun only to meet one unexpected variable that was never trained for them. That is Alphric blocking all of them unharmed by merely crossing his arm into guarding stance as he still rushes forward unstopping toward them.
Most people die within one buckshot at them. Alphric tanked 35 of them which are aimed near point-blank. While their focus lies solely on Alphric, Mika and Kang flanked them almost unsuspectingly as their firepower is about to devastate their formation in real-time.
Burning Heart + Ember of Hope
With a twirl of her fingers, the Automagnums in both of her hands spun wildly as she effortlessly time her firing that the fiery ballistics unleash into their heads point-blank with near-unseen precision. And since the brain is still being used as the primary cogitation of the Servitors, the headshot tactic still works immensely well against them. As if a dance of death is occurring, their formation shatters as their hyperfocus ended up being their downfall.
Kang took advantage of this situation as he fires the flashbang round into the air and the dark atmosphere worked against them as their visions were disrupted in a moment that is more than enough for Mika to move toward more aggressive tactics.
Her twin Automagnums clicked empty in both of her hands as she then quickly puts them back into holsters. With her Peak sleight of hands, she takes out her scalpel at blazing speed right when she puts her Automagnums back. As it turns white hot when her psykic power channels through, she swings them at such speed that it could be seen like a flash of lightning in Lower Hive's dark sky.
Rending asunder steel apart like a literal hot knife through butter, she chose to not stop her rampage as her knifework carves a relentless path through as the smell of molten slag scatters with each blazing ring she made with her swings.
Kang also joined the fight as he loads in the slug shell box as it was unfortunately clear that buckshot will have minimal effect during that reception with his old nemesis. Nonetheless, it is still brutally powerful at such close range as the cacophony of chaos utterly drowns out anything else the Servitors hear. By the time they even managed to recover, they are practically destroyed beyond recovery as Kang and Mika in their combined assault trample over everything left against them.
Some tried to retreat so that they can learn from what transpired here but for some reason, Alphric is already standing at their escape path as he blasts them down with his Heavy Autorifle. Kang and Mika have already side-stepped as the near-overkill cartridges size blast a fist-sized hole into their bodies and heads. As the last few of them fall to the floor and collapse into Lights by the Luminaries' presence, the three breathed their sighs of relief because they are now not so powerless anymore. Peak strength is useful but it is the Psykic Passive that is the true game changer for them.
But this fight was merely the beginning of a much more grueling battle for them and the Inquisitorial retinue. If they want to make it anywhere meaningful, their survival will be the final determinant.
Emotion Level: 1.22
More of them again, the sounds of mechanical clicking drive Kang mad as his long-term exposure to them didn't consist of anything remotely good at all. Too much bloodshed, too much suffering, and too many traumatic reminders for what are supposed to be the best minds that keep the technology of Imperium alive. And these filthy Servitors are reminding him way too much of what he wanted to ditch away.
Metallic Crush + Chained Wrath + Violence
One impossibly powerful kick beyond human capability smashes the Servitors in front of him into chunks of scrap completely unrecognizable from before. Both Mika and Alphric swore that if Kang actually kicked a Leman Russ tank, he would actually somehow smash through it with the said kick. He was that mad to the point he didn't even bother to use his Autohammer to release his frustration. Only the raw violence of melee combat would unshackle that burden from him.
"How long have we left them to wait? It couldn't possibly have been long since such a fierce assault on them like this would leave very little time of survival or even a last stand against". Mika said as she is genuinely worried about the well-being of the retinue.
Alphric reads the minimap on his tooltip and the number of enemies' presence worries him immensely. While it may not be impossible to plow through all of these somehow, their real enemy here is time because reuniting with the retinue may not be possible like this anymore.
Kang looks at the minimap much like Alphric but instead of worry, there is but a smirk on his face. That his product finally now has a use. He then closes his eye briefly before raising one hand into the above with his palm spreads open. Suddenly, an aura of light surrounds him in a circle beneath his feet as if he is calling toward something.
"Heed my call, Scrap Knight!"
Kang yelled with a determination almost never seen after so long ago. Kang fought hard but this time, it genuinely felt like this is the true prowess that they never get any chance to see after so long. Then as if the earth ruptured as shining light burst forth in front of them. The colossal and towering figure cast a shadow in this already dark realm but this time. It shall be their deliverance.
Its pilot cockpit split open as Kang made his climb acrobatically toward it from the ground up. The moment he situated himself, the Knight stood into its position as if it now has a new Lord to faithfully serve. The cockpit door shut itself as Mika and Alphric both left their mouth open in astonishment at what they see. This is another ability from the power of Light itself to near-perfectly replicate technology that they reclaimed or destroyed or fought against if properly analyzed.
The Imperium has one rule: " if I can't have it, no one shall have it." Destruction of prizeless artifacts or schematics is often seen as the final solution when so many vie for the said thing or just for the mere sake of destruction itself. It is easy to see where it came from but the answer they have taken should have been avoided long, to begin with.
With heavy motion yet unbelievably fast speed, the Scrap Knight made its way forward to the battlefield that beckons its presence. Each step carries a tremendous weight that shatters the path it is on like a footstep on thin ice. Alphric and Mika followed as they intends to see the might it truly carried. The massive chainsword on its left arm could seemingly bisect even the toughest mechanical walkers or even Imperial Knights of the same size. The right arm is a repurposed twin-linked Autocannons that he has liberally taken from the Luminaries' previous encounter with Penitent Engine.
At least that desperate battle didn't come without a reward. Because Kang will now simply unleashes all of it against his sworn enemies.
The Scrap Knight with impossible mobility burst through wreckage despite its entire mechanism being pure physical with minimal wirings for no purpose other than power. And as that hulking presence came into the field, the Servitors that were seemingly rushing toward somewhere were completely caught attention by the unexpected adversary. With little reservation, Kang held the trigger.
The Autocannon fires a stream of relentless heavy ballistics that are overkill for the target that it is made for. As the 14.5mm rounds pulverize the Servitors caught within its line of fire, the other more fitting foes start to take action. Namely, 5 Penitent Engines that are about to dogpile him and shred him to pieces with their arm buzzsaws. But Kang didn't come alone and those who prepare to fight titans often met their demise with ants. And said ants are now Alphric and Mika as they lunge into the raging war between giants.
Ember of Hope + Burning Heart
Mika's scalpel scalds with power as the swing it unleashes tears apart the Servitors in her path as she approaches one of the Penitent Engines. One managed to notice her thus they swing their buzzsaw at her only to-
Scar of Sorrow + Stagnant Blood
Alphric rushes forward at such speed that it is like an afterimage that followed behind. Using himself as a shield, he held the buzzsaw back the moment it came into collision with him. As his Psykic Passive came into effect, what should have torn him apart reduced to stand still as it barely managed to cut into his flesh. Mika quickly assisted as she jump on the halted buzzsaw before following up with a descending slash with her molten scalpel which cleaved through its arm.
Violence + Chained Wrath + Metalic Crush
The Scrap Knight made its headlong sprints as its gigantic chainsword shredded into the Penitent Engine with minimal resistance. As sparks and fire flew from the destruction he inflicted, what was left of it fell into disrepair before one final explosion that turns it into a literal trash fire. The first Penitent Engine that they fought literally made them fight for their lives. But now, it is more of an obstacle that stood in their way.
Within the raging crossfire that has become. Mika struck down as many Servitors as she could with her twin Automagnums, the moment it clicks empty is when she quickly extracts the empty magazines and holster them back. As she replaces them with filled mags once more in their holsters, she instantly takes them out and uses the gun slides of both Automagnum to rack each other by pushing the rear sight against them together.
Reloading one gun in hand is simple as it took only a few seconds at worst. Reloading two guns on both hands, however, is much more difficult and required some degree of creativity as reloading both hands took far worse than just one gun twice. If not careful then the blunder that occurs could cost one's life altogether hence why even most special forces only have one side arm at a time. Only a self-proclaiming fool could try and fail. But Mika managed to make claim against it as her Peak physiology enabled such skill and maneuver that hardly the apex of Imperial baseline human could do.
Mika however noticed that some Servitors are still following somewhere and realized that the sound of combat was distinct enough from what they are doing that Mika connected the two together and realized the whole picture.
"Alphric! The retinue is to your right!" Mika yelled as she places her two fingers on the temple to simulate the personal voxcaster through their Luminary psykic link.
Alphric heard what Mika spoke in his mind as he quickly follow her commands. He jumped two-meter high which is already pushing it for baseline human before he landed on top of a Servitor. Then he immediately dashes toward as his footsteps precisely land right on the heads of Servitors on his path. They obviously tried to stop him but with how much Alphric exceeds 99.999% of the Imperium's population in physical ability, that chance looks as abysmal as anyone's attempt to break away from them unnoticed.
The sounds of metallic clash rang across the distance as Alphric ran like warp across the horde of Servitors atop of them toward the one choke point that they also heading toward like him. If what Mika said is correct then the retinue might just be ahead of him. With one final push, he focused his strength toward his foot as the force of his final jump pushed that misfortunate Servitor into a blood-squished metal plate.
After that long jump, Alphric quickly turned around as he digs his heel into the ground to halt his movement. His feet still skid across the fragmented pavement into the choke point where he soon found the remaining retinue making their stand against this seemingly endless foe. He could see their guns trained at him along with anti-tank guns staring at him so intently like an executioner awaiting the order to kill.
He raised both hands up in order to signify that he is not a threat which thankfully one of them noticed before any of them fired.
"It's you! I thought you were dead in the last few hours before when you diverted that filthy bipedal walker!" The familiar voice of the PDF that saved him from before with that rocket launcher.
Alphric wished he could respond but the overwhelming tide of mechanical man-made monstrosity is also rushing toward them relentlessly. With nothing else he could do, he simply reaches for the Anti-material Heavy Stubber as he then wields it toward the horde. That alone is already significant enough as an order to mobilize for combat.
Metallic masses came like a tidal wave as most of these Servitors despite carrying the appearance of man extruded only of monstrosity that sickens and struck fear into the heart of people. But Alphric has seen too much and too many to even be deterred by them at this point and with a single gesture of his hand, he reaches for the trigger and he pulls it as he remains in the standing position.
12.7mm anti-material was no laughing matter. The recoil of it alone sends him back with each fire but his Peak strength enabled him to stand stalwartly even as it pushes him back with every shot. The other end that his gun aims toward shatters them as the retinue in both desperation and hope unleashes everything they have at their disposal. Anti-tank rockets, krak grenade rounds, anything that could in hope of beating back against such tremendous force.
In mere minutes, it became an earth-shattered warzone. But the retinue managed to withstand instead of immediately slaughtered to the last man thanks to just Alphric's presence. The fact that to them, a mere man managed to take down such a monstrosity even if not necessarily by himself is a massive boost to morale and they soon came to idolize what he stood for at that moment. For they find the leadership of a man who commits to his action far more impressive than the Inquisitor that merely boasted of what he could do.
The Anti-material Heavy Stubber's barrel turned white-hot from the sheer sustained fire he did. By mere miracles that they have never seen, they actually managed to outlast the horde itself against such a hopeless scenario that was pitted against them.
Alphric breathed tiredly as he felt the full recoil of firing over 2,400 anti-material rounds in this mere minutes conflict. The retinue itself doesn't fare much better than him as some didn't come out unscathed from this fight. Alphric looked down for a brief moment in tiredness and soon realized a shadow that cast over him. None of the retinue personnels was in a fine state of mind to warn him just how close it is either thus by the time Alphric looked up, the Penitent Engine is already about to swing its buzzsaw hand toward him. Why it didn't even use its autocannons to just kill everyone instead of getting this close baffled him but all Alphric could mutter is.
"Mother of Emperor..." Alphric spoke beneath his breathing as the sheer audacity of it makes him question reality as it is.
So focused on what was in front of it that the Penitent Engine didn't even notice the sound of whirling getting louder. As the chainsword burst through, sparks and fire roared as that abominable walker was torn in half from the bottom up as the gigantic chain blade effortlessly cut through. The remains of it fell to the ground before it explodes into a trash fire.
An ominous and towering figure stood over them all but Alphric didn't even bother to budge since he most likely knew what it is. However, he retinue is literally scared for their very lives as if it was their reckoning approaching them. The dust died down revealing who it truly was as their frights slowly dissipate along with the dust.
It was the Scrap Knight and it managed to rescue them in a timely manner. Not too soon or too late, just in time. It looks different than the horrendous creations made mundane and thus for once, they could breathe their sight of relief.
Mika steps out of the dust cloud enveloped looking not any worse for wear than before. The moment she saw Alphric however, she instantly jumped into his embrace as the speed and force of it alone nearly tipped Alphric off his balance. Alphric turned himself around multiple times just to tame turbulence before he managed to steady his footing again.
"Is anyone of you alright?" A near-robotic voice spoke through the voxcaster of the Scrap Knight.
"Where did you get a Knight from!?" One of the PDFs spoke in exclamation as he didn't expect so much change in mere hours alone. Even if it looks rudimentary and probably welded together by tons of scrap, heavy weaponry is no doubt of great importance when fighting massed enemies or larger-than-life foes.
"A rather long story that I, unfortunately, don't have the time to explain. Because I'm seeing another massed horde of Servitors inbound!". Alphric responded with his back turned to them as the dying dust cloud revealed a large contingent of enemies on their assault toward them.
The Scrap Knight turned quickly. Too quickly in fact for what was perceived as a large and clunky war machine. With agility that is unseen nor believed to be, the large chainsword that is the Scrap Knight's arm swung in a large arc as it reaps the vast bound of them like a scythe cutting through crops on an Agri World. As torn scraps flew apart in that first blow, everyone else joined the fray as the enemies' total fire are now completely directed at the Scrap Knight. As ballistics and fire sent back in drove against one another, the Scrap Knight endured regardless of what is being done to it.
Emotion Level: 1.76
A single warpath of destruction was plowed by the Scrap Knight and the people who followed behind to do what they could to the tip scale for them. Alphric wonders why whoever is behind these massed monstrosities doesn't just arm every one of them with guns much like how it was back at the first few encounters. Why did the Penitent Engine instead of just obliterating everyone with the Twinlink Autocannon decided to just be up close with its buzzsaw?
His thought didn't take long to realize the connections. Of course, obliterated corpses don't make good Servitors, that's why it basically has hordes of mechanical slaves to take anyone alive to bolster its numbers. Such a horrible fate awaits with only death being the final release. He turned toward Mika temporarily to see whose eyes speak of the same thought of his.
She knew too. And because of it, she intends to let none of this stand.
Alphric also wonders how despite having only 14 people, the retinue somehow managed to fire such an uncountable amount of explosive ordinances that it felt like a full Imperial Guard regiment just appeared out of nowhere to join the fight. The battle tension messes with their senses and he is no exception. And much like him, even the retinue themselves probably lost track of them already for there is only one thing that drives them this far. Survival.
"Alphric, I see something approaching from a distance!" Mika said as she noticed something that stood out amongst the relentless tide of Servitors.
As the dust scatters from their combat, their vision was soon obscured as the battle rages once more with another horde approaching. The last time they fought to Emotion Level 2 was 16 hours of grueling combat with thousands of deaths totaled. This time was only in a mere single hour, the way combat is escalating is definitely not giving Mika the best of time.
However, she can't shake off that feeling when she first gazes at that thing. It looks somewhat similar to the Penitent Engine but... something about it is too distinct for her own good. Unable to stay silent any longer, Mika yelled to the Scrap Knight that Kang is piloting.
"Hey, watch out for-" Before Mika could complete her sentence, something burst through the fog of war between them.
Kang could barely maneuver himself to evade whatever came for him. If it weren't for Mika's warning, that would have been a dead-center shot that most likely would have finished Kang right where he stood. The Scrap Knight is powerful but it is still a rudimentary recreation at best with the majority of necessary additions and equipment still missing. The Scrap Knight is simply a bridging gap and now they are about to face their possibly worst foe yet.
Something explode in the distance away as it whizzed past all of the retinue personnels when it missed. That alone is already a sign of a bad time approaching.
The fog of war cleared as it reveals their aggressors. An Imperial Knight with the proper armory now stood in opposition against them. Its autocannon turret on its hull body is already prepared to aim at the people Kang is supposed to shield against but its arsenal is the true menace to fight against. An artillery cannon for its left arm uses 180mm armor-piercer shells which will annihilate nearly all armored vehicles in its path. And Kang's Scrap Knight will not even last one shot against.
The Inquisitorial retinue quite nearly pissed for their lives as they nearly about to run away from the Scrap Knight's protection. A burst of the Imperial Knight's Autocannon turret was merely a warning. A physical warning that nearly cost them everything they have left as its intended victim recoiled back in fear when nearly struck by them. Even the grazing alone could have torn their skin apart.
Seeing the situation going haywire, Kang charged the Scrap Knight he is piloting toward the Imperial Knight as its gigantic chainsword revved in seeming rage and predation. The Imperial Knight also prepped its own chainsword as the two Knights charged at each other like a lancing duel. While Kang tries to keep the better-designed opponent focused on him, Mika and Alphric are genuinely worried about the way things are going. That the more they try to get closer to what they knew as the epicenter, the fiercer the response they received.
The two chainswords collide with one another as sparks flew fiercely. As both teeth of them grind against one another, Kang noticed that the Imperial Knight is aiming its artillery arm toward his Knight's torso, point-blanked. Despite his Psykic Passive clearly pushing it, he knew that he won't be able to push the blade far enough to disengage thus he quickly tries to find any measure he has left.
Then he remembered, the Scrap Knight still has one trick left in its arsenal and he quickly uses his power of Light to scan the control for anything that is out of his visible sight. In mere moments, Kang noticed the switch beneath the control panel and it revealed one big red button. With zero hesitation, his fist slammed into it with such might that he might have punched through it.
Power courses in the blink of a moment as a rather inconspicuous barrel on the Scrap Knight's mouth begins to crackle and glow in power. The Imperial Knight noticed it but it couldn't disengage in time as a ray of crimson unleashed into its face. Twilight Lascannon being considerably more efficient than its Imperial counterpart managed to do what most of them can significantly better.
Despite the Adamantium armoring it has, it couldn't withstand the continuous exposure to high-temperature energy as its face melts apart along with the vision auspex used to feed it combat information. The Lascannon yielded as the Scrap Knight made its breakthrough
Metallic Crush + Violence
The Scrap Knight's chainsword rends apart the Imperial Knight's chainsword as the torn blade collides into the ground and crashes in a loud manner. The Imperial Knight blindly fires its artillery arm which tears apart a bit of his central column. However, that is enough to render the Scrap Knight unable to turn effectively with what it sustained. As he stumbles toward it, Kang made one more lunge to finish it off only for it to somehow know and retreat back. It knew that his arsenal has limited anti-Knight weaponry and if it tries to remain its distance, it will wear him down eventually.
Emotion Level: 1.94
Kang refuses to back down as he continues his unrelenting charge against the Imperial Knight. When it seems that he'll finally finish it off when his chainsword almost collides with it, something unbelievable happened.
A momentary force deflected his charging blow as the Scrap Knight is pushed back onto its back. With the damage he sustained before, he soon lose his balance as the Scrap Knight fell directly onto the ground. Kang could barely tell what happened as both Mika and Alphric were left bewildered by what just occurred even when they are fending off the horde of Servitors beckoning upon them.
Ion Shield, a crucial piece of protection that all Imperial Knights have. They are made to deflect critical blows that could land on the Knights, especially of anti-tank weaponry often scatter about across the battlegrounds of the Imperium. And with unrestrained cogitation units, this Abominable Knight could deflect virtually any single strike with unmatched precision
The swarm of mechanical monstrosities quickly surrounded him as they uses their twisted limbs to tear the Scrap Knight apart like a corpse being eaten by maggots. From the barely left vision that he has remaining, the Imperial Knight is aiming its artillery directly at him without a direct visual feed. The fact that it could be capable of telling what he could do is horrifying and that it deliberately take that first hit just to bait him like this.
Emotion Level: 1.95
The Knight fired its artillery arm and Kang was sure that it should have killed him where he stood. He heard its firing but the ballistic didn't reach him. From the vision hatch that he has, something has swept over the swarming Servitors and cleared them out in a blink of an eye. And from it, he saw Alphric as he stands in between them with his guard crossed.
Scar of Sorrow + Stagnant Blood
Alphric blocked that artillery shell with his power and it was clear that he didn't make it out unscathed. He used his power to withstand a stomp of a Knight but to directly block an artillery shell even with that ability is unreal no matter what for the latter is immensely more powerful. But Alphric still perseveres as the artillery shell pierced through both of his arms but that is where it stopped.
He bought some more seconds. The tide is about to turn and all they need to do is to persevere no matter what.
Emotion Level: 1.97
The Imperial Knight's Autocannon turret unleashed upon Alphric as its barrage pellets against his guard with immense power each. Normally it would take an armored vehicle to endure against but Alphric's Psykic Passive is doing what it entails. The retinue can't really believe what they see as the Autocannon rounds that should have obliterated him into fine mist being stopped by his guard like nothing but plastic pellets tossed by a child.
However, seeing that the threat of the Imperial Knight is focused solely on Alphric, they realized that they too must do something instead of looking in awe. With each of the explosives that they have left, they all focused solely on the Knight.
The Imperial Knight's shield intercepted the first missile as it explodes harmlessly against its luminescence barrier. But it didn't expect 12 more on its way as the sheer amount of them landed upon staggers the Knight backward.
Kang trying to take advantage of the situation to quickly get out of the now-defunct Scrap Knight. However, he came to realize one horrible fact. Its cockpit wasn't designed to be left in mind. It was a last-stand weapon that he unintentionally imprisoned himself into. A desperate last resort that the Gangers made knowing full well that it shall be their coffin.
The moment he realized it, he started to scream and yell incessantly but through the minimal vision hatch did a bare of it could make through. Turning toward desperation, Kang starts to focus his Psykic Power to smash through its hull but seeing how his power before was barely enough to damage its structure Kang then realized just how thoughtless he truly was. He looks towards his friend who is making their stand against the Imperial Knight as he now admitted the true scale of his hubris.
Emotion Level: 1.99
In this seemingly grand stage of battle against the Imperial Knight, the one that is actually cleaning the straggler out is Mika as her Psykic Passive is made to weed out these monstrosities as fast as she could. And what better way is with fire that cleanses these filths for what they are? As Mika's Twin Automagnums click empty, her sleights of hand made quick work of it in such a way that she displays closely more to a gunslinger than an apothecary but then again... prevention is far better than treatment.
The stench of molten slag permeates the already-rotten atmosphere of Underhive. As torn and broken mechanicals piled up onto mountains, Mika stood atop there as she breathed tiredly. When Alphric quickly disengages to protect Kang, she ended up having to pull his weight if she intends to prevent any further casualties in this seemingly endless carnage. Although she is putting on a brave face, the injuries sustained on her body is telling a contrary one. Any more and the next might be the death blow.
Mika looks at the centerpiece battle and sees that Alphric is standing on his last leg against the Imperial Knight. Seeing that something must be done, Mika's thoughts stray toward that one answer she probably had reprimanded him for doing so for all the risky and daredevil maneuvers. And yet here Mika is about to go against what she preached before. If Alphric could say it, he would definitely say that she is a hypocrite and that he'll still love her so.
She sighed as such a relationship rarely found its foundation firmly before she made her breakneck speed toward the Knight.
With her Twin Automagnums in firing position, she fired all of them as the rapid barrages of them landed on the Imperial Knight. It was never intended to do any damage at all but at least to sway its focus on her. The Knight noticed the attempt she made on it but didn't even bother to turn a gaze toward her. But regardless of what it does, Mika has her own measure.
As she quickly approaches it then climbed onto its leg. It is only then that it finally takes her as a threat. With its chainsword lost, and its armaments can't even reach toward her, it could only try to shake her off by moving as fast as it could. And as the Imperial Knight ran away from the battle leaving Alphric and the retinue dumbfounded at what Mika is attempting
But no matter how much it tried, it couldn't break Mika's grip on it. With the intention of using her Psykic Passive, she uses one of her hands to put her Automagnum into her mouth. Seeing how destructive it was at hand, she knew that if anything could do it then it will be her fiery death throe. However, before she could do so, her having only one hand grip on the Knight's leg caused her to slip out of it and fell to the ground.
The moment it detected that its interloper no longer interfere, its internal radar detected her by the weapons on her as it then raised its artillery toward her. For something that is supposed to be efficient, it certainly loved the idea of overkill so much that it compromises everything else. As Mika's attempt falls apart, Alphric quickly made his dash toward her in his desperate attempt to save her. But no matter how fast he tried, he'll never reach her in time.
Mika sees him approaching and she tried to signal him to refrain from getting near her. From perceiving his action, Mika knew that he is most likely not aware of the full extent of her Psykic Power. If she dies here now, he'll also get caught in her death throe. As much as she tries to speak her voice, her heart was already stricken by fear of what may happen next.
Alphric however still charges forward in a blind determination to rescue her as the Inquisitorial retinue behind him literally uses up the last of their ordinances reserve in hope of taking the Knight down. They were woefully underprepared for what is essentially a lawless land where violence just doesn't seem to be enough no matter what or how they deal with it.
As turbulent thoughts converge together with one another, the threshold is broken.
Emotion Level: 2.00
Minor Psykic Link activated. True Link only activates at emergence.
Heart of Aspiration + Fervent Beat + Overdrive (minor)
As if filled with power in a blink of a moment, Alphric's speed became exceeding to the point everything around him is nothing but a blur. A 50m dash that would take a few seconds that he didn't have now cut down in a mere instant. His heart was beating rapidly as if it could burst at any moment and yet it refuses to no matter what. With newfound strength that he couldn't imagine having, he stood in between the two in defiance.
The Knight fired its artillery arm with the assurance that it will obliterate him. But the combat data that it gauged from their previous conflict soon proved outdated in mere minutes as Alphric did the unthinkable to all but the Luminaries.
With reflexes and motions impossible for so many, Alphric grabbed the artillery shell that was fired at him by his own hands. As the force pushes him across the ground, his grip on the shell stood unfazed no matter what. As his drag slowly move to a closing halt, he tossed the shell toward it as if to make a mockery out of it. Unable to compute what happened at all, the Knight stood there for a moment as if it was too baffled at what was going on.
Mika also felt the newfound power lapse over her. All the fatigue and agony up to this point seemingly vanished as if she has only started to fight. Focusing her thoughts together, she reaches for the scalpel inside her apothecary satchel and she puts all of her might into one singular swing towards it. Inexplicable power with no possible way to describe rushes through her body as the scalpel on her hand turns into a blazing sword formed by sheer raw psykic power.
Nostalgic Embrace + Display of Affection + Ember of Hope
The swing of her blade form into a shockwave arc that surges toward the Knight. Breaking out of its stupor, the Knight made its strategic evasion. However, it didn't make out unscathed as the flaming shockwave collided with it and cleft a burning mark across its hull. In comparison to what Mika did before without the power of the Cherished Memory, it is like comparing a bonfire to the wrath of a volcano.
Its Ion Shield works significantly well against physical projectile threats. But against Psykic foes is another can of worm entirely as such foes are so rare that most world-crossing folks won't meet beyond their Navigators. As the infernal shockwave rushes toward the Knight, it isn't an attack that could just be deflected with Ion Shield as the amount of psykic power behind rends apart any physical attempt of protection.
Meanwhile, the retinue is continued to be baffled as the battle between "David and Goliath" plays out in front of their eyes. They exhausted all of their ordinances before they even do what they were supposed to but seeing how the Luminaries fight made them reconsider whether or not they should remain as reluctant allies. If anything, they are the one that truly carries their weight around here.
Suddenly back at the broken-down Scrap Knight, something is violently trying to burst through it. As if it was a patient afflicted with terrible xeno-parasite that tearing apart their inside that the retinue themselves can't help but fixated on it. As the chestpiece dents upward with each colliding strike then soon came the shatter point.
Overdrive + Violence + Chained Wrath + Metallic Crush
Kang's fist burst through the Scrap Knight's hull as his hand tore the steel plating apart like cardboard. He was furious, so much so that despite only his eyebrows furrowing, the retinue personnels could tell the deep-seated rage beneath that calm composure. As he stares at the battle between the Imperial Knight and his two friends, he knew that he must also do something to help them.
He gazed at the massive chainsword installed to the Scrap Knight, the one that slew countless of those horrifying machinery that preys on those weaker. As he steps out of the torn remains of the Scrap Knight, he took hold of the chainsword, and with forces not belonging to any mortal, he ripped it away from the wreckage and he then sprinted toward the Imperial Knight dragging said chainsword like a kid dragging a tree branch.
Reaper Chainsword, a standard armament of any Knight on any world that was colonized by the Federation. Made with mass deforestation in mind before being repurposed as a weapon, this chainsword could cut even steel and ceramites apart like butter without going dull instantly. And when Knight combat initiates, it is very often to see Knights dueling at melee range instead of shooting each other because of how deceptively agile they are.
Kang's speed starts to exceed even mortal peak even as he is dragging something that horribly heavy. Even when it is taking all he has, his Psykic Passive carries his momentum forward in an unstoppable manner. As his sight on the Imperial Knight draws even closer, he starts to lift the Reaper Chainsword up with struggles before he focuses every single ounce of strength he has. As the Knight's sole focus on Mika is to keep firing the Autocannon to suppress her from using the blazing sword against it, the Knight has no spare room for any additional focus when Kang swings the said gigantic chainsword.
Overdrive + Momentum + Violence + Metallic Crush
Like a bolt out of the storm, the Reaper Chainsword crashes into the central axis of the Imperial Knight as if the Scrap Knight raised itself back into action unbeknownst to it. Suddenly caught in a pincer attack, Mika also quickly jumped into the fray as she swings her blazing sword into its feet. It was stopped at first but as Mika's determination shone, the blade become increasingly hotter as if it is turning into the solar tongue in her hand.
Nostalgic Embrace + Burning Heart + Ember of Hope
Her hands slowly char as even the Psykic power that rushes through her arm becomes even fiercer as it approaches the breaking point. Like an electric fuse of a device going through a power surge over the verge of exploding. Mika wasn't even sure if she was supposed to handle this amount of power at all but her indecisiveness was banished away as she lets out a heartfelt cry.
"GAAAAAAAH!" Mika shouted as the blazing sword become intensified along with her raging emotions.
Her blazing swords start to slowly cleave through the adamantium plating of the Imperial Knight. It tried to move away but Kang basically pinned its movement as his gigantic chainsword crushes upon its frame with every blow that further deform its structure. As Mika pushes further, she lets out a loud cry as all her asserted might is released into that one singular slash. As the merciless flame rends and consumes all in its path, her sword cleft its foot as the Knight fell forward having lost any semblance of balance.
Alphric soon approaches as he took hold of the artillery arm that has become damaged across this battle. With every ounce of strength and willpower that he has, he tried to rip apart its artillery arm to completely disable its combat capability. As the Luminaries fight in unison, their thoughts resonated with one another as individual strength compounds one another as they become more than the sum of their parts.
Fervid Emotions + Heart of Aspiration + [Overdrive + Nostalgic Embrace + Momentum + Burning Heart + Violence + Chained Wrath] (minor)
If what is displayed before is beyond anyone's wildest imagination then this utterly demolishes the feat he did before. With strength unbounded by limit, he starts to lift even the Imperial Knight by himself before slamming it down in front of him. Then he did it again as he tries to rip apart the artillery arm but it still remains there stubbornly no matter his strength.
With the Autocannon broken by the slamming throwdown that Alphric did, its last-ditch attempt to fight now lies on the artillery on its arm that becoming increasingly damaged. Decided that it will go down fighting no matter what and thus when Alphric focused all of his strength as he threw it upward into the air, it aimed the artillery right at Alphric just to try to take him down no matter what. But Mika steps in between the two as a flaming glint flash in her eyes.
Nostalgic Embrace + Display of Affection + Burning Heart + Ember of Hope + [Violence + Fervid Emotions + Heart of Aspiration + Metallic Crush + Momentum + Overdrive] (minor)
It fired the artillery right at them but Mika's power far exceeds any armament physically made. As she held her blazing sword above her head before making a vertical slash sending a blazing arc toward it. The fired artillery shell collided and splits into two that hits nowhere near them as the blazing arc scorched the Knight and left behind a molten chasm across its surface.
And with a chink made in its indomitable armor, Kang made contact with the two as the three together placed their hands on the chainsword as all of their power resonated together with it. As the Imperial Knight falls down toward its demise, the Luminaries with their hands together on the chainsword as their thoughts and strengths combine in unison resulting in something that not even they know if there's any lexicon capable of describing.
With one singular slash that the three of them pull together, the broken chainsword rends apart the Imperial Knight across the molten chasm as it shatters in half. As sparks and scraps flew everywhere after that decisive slash, the three's minds were no doubt connected so strongly with each other that there was no discord or self-contradictions to be traced. They were the antithesis of this whole place that they lived in. A shred of unity in a world driven to the brink.
Imperial Knight slain (+300k Lights)
After that performance, the gigantic chainsword in their hands were reduced to unrecognizable scraps but they did what they sought thus it is an acceptable trade considering what could have befallen them.
"Hey, if this thing is used to patrol the area around, would you think that there's a wireless connection between it and the mastermind?" Kang asked as he inspects the broken Knight for anything that could possibly work against them.
The prospect is undeniable. If whoever is behind this horrible show that is being put on here then this Imperial Knight is most likely having some equivalent of communication or transmission on it. Alphric took out the handheld cogitator as he scans for any input bus on the now shattered Knight. Surprisingly, there's what seems to be a signal amplifier if he guessed correctly installed deep inside its head. With some modifications or messing around, he managed to connect it to the cogitator.
Right at the corner of his eye, he saw some retinue soldiers slowly approaching him. They have a lot of questions and some degree of fear and reservation about him but considering that they have now been reduced to such a lowly degree that they unanimously agree to join up with him personally from now on. It is that or dies a horrible death in a land where they'll never see the light of day again.
Alphric sees both respect and fear in the eyes of the soldier even through the protection gears that they have.
"So you want to be a part of my team". Alphric said as he reverse-tracing the other side of the connection.
"Yes, you are clearly far more gifted and more capable than all of us combined. I could only hope that I'm not hindering you in what you try to do". The leading PDF soldier said as he is clearly shaken at the performance Alphric just did.
A moment of silence that stretches beyond everything they knew as all of them don't know what response they'll get. But Alphric answered promptly soon after.
"Feel free to join, considering the length we have gone for you already". Alphric said with a sincere tone as he tries to prevent them from blowing up in stress.
Sighs of relief were heard as though they truly dreaded what may happen next if they were denied. And not like they could hold the Luminaries hostage either when they clearly exceed all of the PDFs present here combined by an unreachable margin.
Suddenly, Alphric's scan actually caught something as the cogitator beeped loudly just to notify him of what was going on. The moment he checked what he found is utterly unexpected for all everyone involved here.
WHY wHY why wHy WHY wHY WhY -
Then his cogitator immediately bricked and the transmission disabled. Something inside the Knight clicked but it didn't do anything else. Alphric however easily repaired the cogitator just by rebooting it but that was genuinely the most chilling experience they see so far.
"Apparently, the mastermind thinks that we somehow disabled one of their Knights and tried to self-destruct to take us out. If they see how hard we demolished it though then they'll definitely not take any of this kindly either". Kang said as he removed one of the reactor parts that seem to function independently. Combined with the fact that it has no pilot tells that this very thing was remotely controlled.
"By the way, why don't we use the signal amplifier to extend our searching zone?" Mika said as she tries to tend to the wounds of those nearby. Mostly basic sanitation and anesthetizing.
Alphric once more tampered with it and thus turned the signal amplifier into a makeshift radio station. Most of what they picked up is static that couldn't be discerned for anything. However, it wasn't too long before they found one that is not only too legible but the voice heard actually got identified by one of the PDF soldiers that are accompanying them.
"Help! Those mechanical monstrosities are about to overwhelm us! If there's anyone here, please help us!" A voice from the other side of the radio spoke in fear and panic.
The transmission got cut off and Alphric managed to trace the origin and whereabouts of the source. It seems that they responded because communication suddenly become possible. Desperation really makes a wonder of anything it came to be.
"We have to help them, if that's what they called then it is most likely the rest of the Inquisitorial Retinue. That will most likely be our best chance of getting out of this hellhole". Alphric said as he rips out the signal amplifier thus ending the usefulness of this broken Knight once and for all.
"Yeah, we have to prevent any more life loss because of them. Whoever it is behind this madness, I shall spare no mercy for them!" Mika said as she is furious whenever the destruction of any livelihood was on display and she could do something about it.
"Don't look at me like that, I'm pretty much on board too. This kind of mistreatment and torture is personal and I'll utterly punish whoever did this". Kang said as he stand properly and for once genuinely in it more than before.
The Luminaries nodded with each other as they made their breakneck runs toward the call for their help. Because of their Psykic Passive, they ended up accidentally ditching the retinue behind them from just how overpowered they are in comparison to their compatriots. As the desperate folks trying to catch up to them did the Luminaries realized how disconnected they were from normalcy.
Another lesson to add to the already long list that is to reach for that spiritual zenith.
Battle Report
Group Physical Strength: Peak Human
Spiritual Resolution Level: Awakened Psyker
Light: 990,911
Total Kills: 6,155
Maximum Emotion Level: 3.00
-Nemesis Slain:
-Scrap Knight (100k Lights)
-Imperial Knight (300k Lights)
#Mika Apocrypha:
+Broken Hope:
-Ember of Hope: Kinetic-based attacks gain incendiary effect, and heat-based weapons gain more effectiveness. Close-quarter combat can release fire burst upon injury received and inflicted.
-Burning Heart: Melee attacks gain increased potency and can cause explosions at times. Can cause friendly fire and self-harm. Can be activated and deactivated at will.
-Rise From the Ashes: Cause a massive incendiary explosion on receiving mortal wounds, nullify said deathblow at the cost of potentially losing all non-relic equipment in the said explosion. Can be activated and deactivated at will.
+Cherished Memory:
-Nostalgic Embrace of Old Days: All melee attacks can cause shockwaves even if fail to connect. Chance of happening increases with repetition and succession.
-Cherished Memories: Combat fatigue effect is reduced, and the most tiring combat technique known and used becomes less tiring the more usage of it is increased. Reset at long rest.
-Display of Affections: When engaging in direct combat or duel, attack potency is increased significantly. Otherwise, attacks become less in power. (Can be toggled at will)
#Kang Jeremy:
+Forsakened Servitor:
-Violence: All attacks gain a significant boost but skill-based attacks may suffer from uncontrollable violence. Can be activated and deactivated at will.
-Metallic Crush: Strike attacks or critical blows inflict permanent damage that can't be removed. Significantly increased damage dealt against mechanical and constructs.
-Chained Wrath: Gain a massive attack boost to everything even firearms, however, mobility is reduced to a near-slow pace. Can be activated and deactivated at will.
+Helper Servitor:
-Overdrive: At combat start or well-rested, gain a massive increase in speed and attack deals significantly increased damage in comparison to potency during effect.
-Recognition: When attacks succeed against enemies' attacks multiple times in a row, the next following attack has minimal fatigue.
-Momentum: The higher Kang's speed in comparison to the clashing opponent, the higher the attacking potency against the said opponent.
#Alphric Alpheus:
+Bloody Aftermath:
-Stagnant Blood: Blocking become much more effective and can withstand all blows with no agony and permanent damage.
-Scar of Sorrow: Slash attacks received deal significantly reduced damage and can nullify blows at chances.
-Pale Hands: Melee attacks can inflict shocking and revolting sensations. Extensive contact can destroy a target mentally.
+Endless Endeavor:
-Heart of Aspiration: Increase maximum health and endurance. Movement and reaction speed is increased considerably when activated.
-Pulsating Beat: Strength increases the longer combat extends (hard-capped at 12 hours maximum). This ability resets when the Emotion Level is reset from long rest.
-Fervid Emotions: Gain a short burst of strength, speed, defense, and indomitability when activated. May cause heart attacks if overused in rapid succession.