Chapter 258: A Knight And His Toys
Ash and Blight collided, and the impact shook the city. Snare nearly lost his footing as he forced himself upright, cracked his neck, and watched the two giants tear into each other. Blight's attention being on Ash had bought the Brood enough time to eat, and it showed. Missing flesh had filled back in, broken limbs worked again, and those who had been unable to stand minutes ago were moving under their own power. Snare flexed his claws and felt strength answer again. Enough to fight. Enough to die standing, at least.
"Slims?! What the hell happened?!"
The familiar voice pulled Snare's attention from the warring giants toward the newest arrival.
"Don't look at me like that, I got an upgrade, baby!"
With Triss by his side, Split-jaw's ghost stared at Slims without answering. His eyes started at the horns growing from where Slims' eyes had once been, moved down across the altered flesh and exposed bone, then slowly returned to his face. His mouth opened once before closing again, and when he finally spoke, the anger in his voice did little to cover what was underneath it.
"What did you do to yourself? Did Seo-jin do this?!"
A pulse ripped through the broodlink. Every member of the Brood turned toward Split-jaw at once, killing intent pressing into the air around the old ghost. Even Slims' grin disappeared.
"Careful, old man. Mind how you talk about the boss."
Steam slipped between Slims' teeth as his jaw tightened.
"After you died, I did what I had to do. Now I'm stronger. Doesn't mean shit, though. Considerin' we're all gonna die."
As the words left his mouth, red light washed across every face as an explosion split the sky behind them.
Looking around, Snare saw no one was going to argue with Slims. They had eaten. They had healed. Pain stood again, Widow had recovered, and the rest of his siblings had put their bodies back together enough to fight. None of it had changed what happened the first time. Blight had torn through all of them without effort, and another few corpses worth of flesh wasn't going to close that gap.
"What do you suggest we do?"
Synapse walked up beside Snare, fluid bubbling inside the vat on his back beneath the distant crashes of the battle. His tone had lost its usual stoicism. Hearing a voice so solemn come from his intellectual rival bothered Snare more than he wanted to admit.
"Ash won't last much longer. We need to make sure he stays in the fight for as long as possible."
"How do we do that?"
Snare reached for his staff without thinking, his claws closing around empty air. He snarled as he remembered the broken weapon lying useless somewhere behind him. Most of the Brood had the same problem. Getting close to Blight meant dying before they could accomplish anything, but Ash didn't have that problem. Ash was already close. He was already fighting him. They didn't need another fighter.
Snare's head snapped toward Synapse.
"Weapon...that's it—"
His third eye brightened as he looked over at Widow, then toward the distant machine.
"How's your strength? I'll need you to work with Widow and—"
As Snare explained his plan, Synapse's eyes followed his toward the two giants. For once, he didn't interrupt, correct him, or explain why the idea was flawed. Instead, a very out-of-character grin slowly spread across his face.
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[WARNING LEFT ARMOR INTEGRITY 41%]
[WARNING CORE TEMPERATURE RISING]
[WARNING IMPACT DETECTED]
"Stop movin', you stupid jerk!"
Red warnings flashed across Ash's view as his entire seat jerked sideways. He screamed with it, more angry than scared, while the cockpit shook hard enough to rattle his teeth as the two giants tore through the ruined city.
The knight form was awesome. He'd decided that almost immediately. It was faster than the ape, hit harder, and the giant sword responded to his thoughts like it was part of his own body. He could move in ways the ape couldn't, and every time he swung, the blade carried enough force to split apart whatever it touched.
Problem was, Blight didn't care.
The demon's giant form shouldn't have been able to move like that. It was made of smoke and shadow, with Blight sitting inside its chest, yet the thing twisted, ducked, and changed direction almost as fast as Ash could think. Worse, every time he thought he'd finally caught him, the smoke moved between them and took the hit instead.
"Would you hold still?!"
Driving the knight forward again, warning lights flashed across his vision as another attack came back at him. The ape form could have taken it. The knight couldn't. He threw everything into getting clear, felt the machine lurch beneath him, then grunted as the edge of the attack still hit.
[RIGHT LEG ARMOR INTEGRITY 32%]
"Still got thirty-two!"
"That's not something to celebrate."
"Shut up!"
The problem was that he couldn't attack and defend at the same time. Almost all of his focus was going into keeping the machine alive. Dodge when he could. Turn into attacks when he couldn't. Take hits across the armored sections and keep Blight away from the thinner joints. Every mistake sent another warning across his helmet, while every opening he managed to create disappeared behind another wall of black smoke.
And the worst part, Blight was having fun.
He could see it every time the smoke cleared. That stupid smile hadn't moved. Blight wasn't struggling to keep up with him. He was watching him, letting Ash attack, answering whenever he felt like it.
It was pissing him off.
"Quit smiling!"
He pushed harder. The knight surged forward, its sword cutting through the smoke between them as the city shook beneath their feet. For a few seconds, he thought he had him. Blight actually moved back.
Then he felt something hit his weapon—
"MY SWORD!"
The cockpit jerked hard enough to snap his head sideways. Alarms screamed as the knight's hand was thrown open, and Ash watched his giant sword spin away through the air before crashing somewhere.
Across from him, Blight started laughing. The sound came from everywhere at once, deep enough to rattle the robot. Ash's targeting screens struggled to hold on as the giant shadow straightened to its full height.
"This is the most fun I've ever had! Give me more!"
Black smoke poured from his arms, shoulders, and chest. It gathered above Blight's open hand, thickening as more joined it, until Ash had to lean back just to see the whole thing through his screens.
His mouth slowly fell open as the smoke compressed...a handle formed first...then a blade. It kept growing until an enormous black sword rested in Blight's hand, nearly as tall as the giant wielding it.
Ash swallowed.
"That's cheating."
"Your shield! Quick!"
"Activate shield!"
A massive boom pulled both their attention outside as Ash's sword rocketed into the air. Its blade split apart and transformed mid-flight before dropping back into the knight's waiting grip, just in time to block Blight's sword.
Warnings flooded his vision as the impact drove him against his restraints, his face growing redder as he started yelling.
"Are you insane?! The sword is a shield?! Have both, you retard!"
"Don't judge me! Focus or he's gonna—!"
"I know!"
The knight was practically bent backward, its shield braced overhead as Blight's sword pressed harder and harder. The entire robot shook from the strain, metal screaming while sparks burst where the shield ground against the solid mass of smoke.
The diagram of the robot on one of Ash's screens flashed red at its right knee. The joint was going critical, and he could feel it beginning to buckle beneath them. It wouldn't be long before it failed completely.
"What do I do?!"
"Activate your—"
Before he could finish, something like a bomb exploded against Blight's face. Three more blasts followed in rapid succession, each one rocking the giant's head as a loud, manic voice laughed somewhere beyond Ash's screens.
"Take that, you big ugly son of a bitch! Bigger Min nuts to the face!"
The pressure disappeared. Ash pulled the knight back, putting as much distance between them as he could while immediately starting the repair systems. He was still scanning for the voice when the entire robot lurched sideways as something heavy crashed into him.
"Hold still! Little more—there! Might wanna get some earplugs in, kid!"
Ash turned the knight's head toward its shoulder and stared. What basically looked like a tank was now strapped to it, the barrel still smoking while its tracks had transformed into heavy grips locked around the knight's armor.
A knight with a shoulder-mounted cannon.
"Oh shit."
Grinning ear to ear inside his helmet, Ash watched the shield unfold in his hand, its sections sliding and locking back together until the giant sword had returned.
"He's comin'!"
Another shot from Bigger Min rocked the air hard enough to shake Ash in his restraints, but this time, he didn't mind at all.
"Let's do this!"
He charged.
The knight met Blight again, but this time Ash didn't feel like he was barely hanging on. Bigger Min's cannon fired from his shoulder as Blight's sword shifted to intercept it. Ash saw an opening and moved—
His sword came down, and Blight blocked, smoke exploding from the impact, but Ash was already moving into something else.
Each exchange came easier than the last. He stopped thinking about every individual movement and let the machine follow what was in his head. Attack, shift, dodge, attack again,.just like his training with Min. The knight moved with him, and for the first time since the fight started, Blight had to keep up.
Whenever Ash screwed up, Bigger Min was there. A blast tore past the knight when he overextended, forcing Blight to abandon his attack. Another caught the demon's sword when he was too slow getting his guard up. Sometimes Bigger Min fired before Ash even realized he'd left himself open, the cannon kicking against the knight's shoulder and giving him just enough time to recover.
"Again!"
A shot fired.
Ash followed it in.
Blight's smoke rushed forward to intercept, only for another shell to tear through it. Ash twisted the knight around the opening and brought his sword down, forcing Blight to catch it across his own blade.
For a moment, they stopped.
Breathing hard inside his helmet, sweat ran down Ash's face as he stared through the screens...and he finally saw it.
Blight's smile twitched.
"HA! I saw that! I fucking saw that!"
His laughter filled the cockpit as Bigger Min joined in over the speakers.
Then Blight spoke.
"Enough fun."
Ash stopped laughing as another sword formed in Blight's empty hand.
"Oh—"
His giant shadow split along the shoulders and four more arms pushed out.
"Not fair."
Black smoke gathered in each new hand, hardening into four more swords until Blight stood across from them with six arms and six blades.
As his face grew pale, warmth spread through Ash's pants.
"Mr. Gates..."
"You did good kid."
Blight moved. Ash didn't.
Six swords came down at once. He saw every one of them on his screens, coming from different angles faster than he could even decide which one to block.
His death had come.
Just then, a deep, echoing snap rolled across the city, and something huge ripped through the air—
Blight reacted—all six arms crossed at once, his swords locking together just as a massive bone arrow slammed into them.
The impact swallowed him.
The entire robot shook as the pressure hit, alarms flashing while Blight was ripped off his feet and launched backward. His giant form tore through the city, smashing through everything in its path until it disappeared beneath a distant wall of dust.
Ash just stared.
"What the hell...?"
Another heavy creak came from behind him.
Ash turned the knight—
In the distance stood Tomb.
His feet were planted deep into broken pavement, body bent beneath the strain of an enormous bow built from meat and bone. Thick cords of silk formed its string, pulled so far back they trembled under the tension. A second bone arrow sat against it, its head almost as large as Tomb's bicep.
He drew farther, the bow groaning like an ancient beast—
And the giant knight shot both fists into the air.
"HELL YEAH, TOMB!"
The Broodspawn released.