As Antasma left the gym, he glanced at his objective and was slightly baffled at the new mission that the system has assigned him to.
Objective: Go to a Canteen and Collect additional Castaphrose for Upgrades and Repair
Antasma squinted at the word "collect", he is pretty sure that implies something more…gruesome than simply sweeping an item from a shelf and picking it off like apples.
He headed back towards the crossroads, and continued on through the winding hallways.
As he travels, he decides to open his search engine once more and begins typing on his holographic keyboard. He needs to know more about this time era other than this generation's crappy humor. Maybe he should start with historical events? Or maybe just what regions are there in this period…or perhaps just the ship is on. Because currently he is in space, there is no land in space.
So he typed into the search engine with what he could best describe the ship he was on. Hmmmm, perhaps "Big War SpaceShip with Murderous Cyber Villains" would suffice? He pressed enter, and the results he got from it was..well…nothing. He scrolled through websites after websites and the closest he got is a company that sends people to moons and collects items for profit in multiple well outfitted spaceships…which aren't even equipped for war. Antasma sighs, seems like this particular ship is off-grid as they would put it. It also makes sense too considering the recent events and the mass murdering that occurred, it probably wouldn't look well for their public image since this ship seems to be built by the BeanBean Kingdom.
He chuckled darkly, he knew he was evil but at least he did not hide, how ironic and cruel of them.
Soon enough he arrived at the previous crossroads he was at and without stopping he headed straight towards the cafeteria, he cracked his neck again, the long hallways are still incredibly irritating but he's getting used to it. At least he can browse the internet while he moves, there is so much for him to learn, yet so little chances.
The trip to the cafeteria was surprisingly short compared to the gym, the door arrived quicker then he had anticipated. So he did a quick stretch and cracked his knuckles. He's gonna have to prepare for whatever is behind the door, whether it be simple soldiers or mechanical beasts like the Pi'illodium, he needs to be ready at any time.
So he placed his hand on the pad and braced himself for battle…
…Only for him to be greeted with an empty canteen and a vial of Castaphrose already dispensed out from a tub, he tilted his head. That is…oddly coincidental.
He floated into the room, and glanced around. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, other than the unsettling stillness of the canteen, a place like this should be bustling with people who are chatting with each other during meal time..or whatever the hell they consume since he cannot eat. At the very least there should be cooks..or someone here managing the place. However it's completely empty and silent, save for the glowing Castaphrose beckoning towards him. He squinted, there are no obvious doorways other than the one he just came from and a couple of vents around the room. He scowled, despite that it still feels like it's a trap…but what else can he do? His objective is marking the vial for his obtainment and he doesn't know where else he should go.
So with a cautious manner, he approached the tube and slowly reached out to take the vial…
Only for the tube to immediately slam shut and a group of soldiers teleporting into the room, Antasma inwardly sighed, he should've expected this with all the hints of the room. But oh well, if he wants items he needs to earn it.
As the soldiers approached, he raised his fists. He is still in his intermediant stance and he felt a sense of giddiness to test it out, if he needs to kill to survive then so be it, might as well have fun while he's at it.
As the soldier foolishly swung at him, he easily parried the strike and returned with an incredibly fast barrage that easily stunned and beat the poor beanish into a pulp. It was almost unfair, the other soldiers backed away, not in fear, but as a tactical retreat. There is no fear in their eyes which pisses Antasma off, how dare they mock him while they are in the position of defeat, despite the fact that he is outnumbered from one to ten, he is more than prepared to tear through their ranks like butter.
The moment he finished off the first Beanish, the second one came towards him with a swift strike, but before he could parry it, another strike suddenly smacked him at the back of his head. He hadn't even noticed that one of them had rolled behind him, they probably used their brethren as sacrifice while they moved into position, Antasma snarled at their strategy. How cowardly, the Beanish people used to be known as some of the bravest people in the world, and now they're reduced to using scummy strategies that hide behind trickery and lies.
…like villains.
He clenched his fists, he will not let these scumbags use the same tactics that he had used in the past, he will have NO copycats.
So when the soldier in front of striked, he swiftly dodged the attack and rolled behind the Beanish as he proceeded to grab them by the waist and firmly suplexed the life out of the soldier.
The squadron was taken aback, this was definitely not a part of their plan.
Antasma grinned from underneath his mask, he is going to enjoy toasting these suckers into the ground.
The soldiers started to circle around him like vultures in an attempt to create a formation that attacked him from all directions, but Antasma saw right through their strategy as he also had used such a tactic but only with his antasmunchies. So when the soldiers lunged for the strike, he avoided the attack by hopping into the air, he chuckled underneath his mask as he watched the soldiers foolishly smack each other in the face from their attempt.
"Screeeee ha ha! Vhat a bunch of NPCs!" He laughed while pointing towards the dazed group, despite the new era, the intelligent aspect does not seem to scale with the time period, people never change after all.
Then he stopped for a moment, what are NPCs?
However he simply shrugged the question off, he'll find out about it later. He switched over to the Burning Thunder Module and blasted at them with a hearty combo of flame burst and thunder shock, turning the Beanish soldiers into a Cassoulet of metal and Castaphrose.
Antasma wiped his chest plate of the soot and blood from the battle, it was so much easier than before. He was slightly surprised by the ambush but it's nothing too difficult for him to deal with. Now he should grab the vial before-
BOOM
Antasma froze, he slowly turned around and grimaced at the reinforcement.
If he thought fighting one futuristic Pi'illodium was hard, he now has to deal with two of them. He internally groaned as both of the mech locked its sight onto him.
This is going to be painful.
Dreambert was wheezing on the ground when he sent in the double Pi'illodium at Antasma, he knew about the ambush attempt that was conducted by the BeanBeans, even though he had reassured them of his capability they still wanted to neutralize him, so Dreambert simply shrugged and let the results speak for themselves.
He climbed back onto his chair and rests his leg on the table, he wanted something a bit more for Antasma, he knew about his shortage of Castaphrose so he sent in more enemies for him to refuel and spike up on the difficulty just a tiny bit, but it seems like the combine efforts of the Pi'illodium is doing a good number on him. Dreambert watched as Antasma failed to parry a swipe from one of the Pi'illodium and ended up getting hit by a shockwave and flung across the room by the other, the mixed patterns of the two mechs really seemed to gnaw on his psyche as he struggled to maintain balance.
Dreambert chuckled, his friend never really had to deal with this type of a battle approach since he was always with Bowser, who did most of the heavy lifting during their little takeover scheme. Now he is alone, completely on his own with his powers restricted to only fueling his armor, which means he can't use any of his nightmarish magic since it's too busy keeping him alive.
Dreambert snorted in amusement, in a way, Antasma received a huge downgrade since he cannot transform between his tiny bat form or his Dreamworld battle form. The cybernetics locked his body in place, he cannot change. However Dreambert made sure he gets something in return, he didn't revive Antasma just for him to be a punching bag, though the thought of it did cross his mind while discussing the project with the other leaders, perhaps the whiff of vengeance and pettiness might have glazed his nose as he made those suggestions during the planning stages, he considers it as a pay back for beating him into a pulp within the Dreamworld.
He leaned back into his chair, the sight of him getting tossed around by two of the simplest designed mechs was both hilarious and concerning. Despite his confidence in Antasma's ability, he is currently struggling with some of the most mass produced mech that the army used for war, if he could barely or even unable to handle two of them at the same time. Maybe he should rehaul his cybernetics again once he is killed, afterall, perfection is made from imperfection.
So Dreambert simply leaned back and waited for the sparks to fly.
Antasma slowly sat up and groaned from the assault, his health bar is not looking good, and the duo mechs are still advancing towards him with a menacing look, as if it knew what he did to their brethren earlier. He panted and cracked his neck, he doesn't know what will happen if he dies here, would he simply return back to the Underwhere and remain there til the end of time? He wouldn't dislike that but he'd rather not have his second chance of life cut short because of his inability to fight, he promised himself that he would push through, and he will.
Antasma sucked a deep breath through his teeth, he could already feel his blood in his mouth and he probably lost a tooth somewhere. But despite the injuries, he stood up once more and squared up. He doesn't know whether he should be concerned or thankful that he couldn't feel pain, but if he could still fight, he'll take it.
He just have to watch.
The first one approached him and swung while the other performed the slam attack, this combo that they did was stupidly difficult to avoid, as he would either get block broken by the slam or from the shockwave as he tried to parry the first strike.
But this time, he got another strategy, he remembered what he did with the soldiers earlier, that simple hop-and-dodge technique that he used to avoid the circle clash, maybe he could apply it here?
Antasma squinted at the mechs, and the moment they strike, he sprung upwards and successfully dodge the shockwave while narrowly avoiding the claw strike. Using his elevated ground to his advantage, he activated his own module and striked at the back of the Pi'illodium head with a blazing fire burst, the mech stumbled as it experienced a sudden change in temperature as it's system tried and fails to regulate the heat, causing it to instantly explode and effectively killing it.
The blast knocked Antasma backwards as the Pi'illodium watched it's brethren die in despair, the destruction of the first mech instantly regenerated a good portion of his health back as his system auto registered the Castaphrose and instantly placed a quarter of the reapings into repairing him, effectively turning the giant mechs into glorified health packs.
Antasma, now rejuvenated, stared at the last Pi'illodium with a menacing expression. The mech widened its eye and visibly stumbled back, he grinned towards it and extended his claws.
"You'll join the rest of them" He snarled gleefully.
When he finally collected the vial, all that remained in the canteen were the corpses and the metallic remains of the ones that tried to defy him. He took a swig from the vial and opened up his upgrade menu, currently he has enough Castaphrose to upgrade his combat chip and maybe a few other things too.
He maxed out his combat chip upgrades completely, which earned him a star next to every maxed stats. Satisfied, he left the menu and turned towards the others.
There's only Module and System left, he squinted at the two remaining options. He already knew about Modules, so he was semi-curious on what his Systems could offer him.
He selected the option and was brought forth with the following choices:
+Increased Castaphrose Extraction Amount
+X-Ray Detection
+Enemy Evaluation
+Increased Defenses
Antasma blinked, X-Ray and info-gathering? That's interesting, he never really knew how X-Ray worked since, well…such a thing didn't exist back then. He knew how to gather information about enemies, but he never knew that it could be automated. He squinted at the options, he fancies all of the upgrades that are available to him. However, from his current situation, getting more Castaphrose is a priority.
So he selected the first option and waited.
However while his waiting, a new objective popped up:
Objective: Traverse the Ship through The Vents
This time, he is really confused by the order. He glanced up and spotted the vents within the cafeteria, why can't he just go back to where he came from? Why does he need to crawl through a vent? He looked at the objective with a questioning look as it provides no further explanation.
He rolled his eyes; it was probably planning on leading him towards more places that dispense Castaphrose and avoiding further ambushes from soldiers and mechs. If the computer in his brain thinks this is the route, maybe he'll just humor it for now. He still has very much no idea where he should go, he felt like a blind mouse trapped in a maze. Eternally scratching and clawing at the walls as it attempts to find the exit, so without much grace. He approaches the vent and tore off the grilles, and with a hop. He sprung into the tiny space and lazily slither through the shaft like a snake.
As he followed the yellow marker, he could hear various activities from below. Ranging from soldiers shouting orders at each other, to light chattering from Beanish and Pi'illo researchers. He could tell if they were Beanish or Pi'illo just by their accent, the Beanish speak with a bit of waviness with their vowels, as if they thought of a funny joke but were simply holding back the laughter. While for the Pi'illos'...he just knew, perhaps their airy tones within their speech is what gives them away, or maybe because he simply does not forget about the voice of his warden and murderer.
He clenched his teeth, he should keep moving, the voice of those people grates his nerves like string cheese. He silently swore to himself that he would make them pay for his pain, even if he doesn't feel any.
However, what's even more frustrating for him is that the ventilation system is equally as long, or more longer compared to the winding hallways he traveled in since it snakes through unwarranted routes that even he questions the structural integrity of it, because some areas he was moving through behaved more like a dangling bridge instead of a vent, which does raise reasonable fears in his mind as he steadily slither through the shaft. However, despite the tiny passage that he had to travel through, he is grateful that at least, it was dark within. His eyes no longer felt like it was bleeding from the painful strains of the neon lights that plagued every hallway he had to go through, and he at least had some illusion of privacy within the air ducts as it effortlessly mute the world outside it, containing a respite of darkness within it's dusty embrace.
Speaking of dust, he would really love to have a shower once this whole fiasco is done. The stench of the green blood and Castaphrose that is splattered across his body is starting to make him gag. He is absolutely positive that anyone who even stayed near the confines of the vent would certainly smell his disgusting body odor from his little travels within the shaft; he silently prayed that his objective could lead him to a general showering area so he could at the very least, not look or smell like as if the Grinch just came back from a recent dumpster diving trip.
But as he reached the exit of his designation, he was genuinely disappointed that it was not, in fact, a showering area.
No, what he came into was a dingy lit room with various piping and turning vaults that stretched upwards into the infinitely dark ceiling, Antasma squinted in confusion, why had his objective led him to…this place?
He floated around the small room, the feeling he felt from this place is incredibly uneasy. As if there is more…things…in this tiny room other than him and some random pipings. Without much things for him to do, he decided to stare upwards into the darkness.
…
…..
…..
Suddenly, endless beady eyes glowed through the darkness as the front of a gargantuan, mechanical spider slowly descended upon him. Antasma could feel a bone rattling chill from the beast as it quietly whispers a deadly message towards him through its drill-like fangs, one that he would never forget even if he escapes this monster.
"The darkness stares back"