Chapter 8-9 Like the Old Days
Our Reg numbers are in the red. Fucking Chivalrics fucked us with their godsdamned ghoulshit policies. Wasting the best of our pool as line infantry then they piss away whatever goodwill they got with our recruits?
People are willing to die for the cause. The Highflame cause, that is. Nothin' about the Chivalrics is Highflame. Theyre a bunch of fucking egotists; so drunk off celebrity and dueling they smear themselves with their own shit and call it perfume.
98% rejection this year! Add that with 45% of Regulars dropping their banners and were tumbling in the barrel of one long asskicking. The Chivalrics say, just grow some new clones; new drones; new bioforms. Meat is cheap.
Meat is cheap. No fucking shit. But a Regular aint meat. Theyre near-unbreakable, assets packaged into any vessel, thrown into any situation, against any opposition to still come out winning. Radical acceptance. No fear; hesitation. The shit we cant quantify yet. The stuff thats hard to design.
Thats a Reg.
Thats what were losing.
Godsdammit, got me rambling again. [Sighs]
Were gonna need the Chivalarics sorted someday soon or were going to lose the next one too. And thing is, I dont think we can afford to lose next time.
Were just going to have to clean house.
-Mem-log of Santanado Starsinger Mondelles, Highflame Instrument and Combat Instructor to Axtraxis Academy
8-9
Like the Old Days
Draus, Avo said. A feral grin pulled at his lips as he realized what was to come. He shifted his stance, stretching out his Echoheads in preparation for what was to come. Festooned in a biomechanical husk of a bastard being born of an attack drone and an upscale wasp, the Regular stood on thin, jagged legs. Two sub-arms--human sized but far smaller than the bladed segements festooned along her upper torso-- clenched and unclenched. The rest of her body ran in layers of chitinous segmentation reinforced by titanium. She packed three layers of cybernetics just to face him.
Flattering.
Couldnt wait anymore?
She snorted. Dont tongue your own ego. It aint graceful. I just wanna stretch my legs too. She paused. And maybe find out if hittin' you still feels hittin' your average rotlick. That's an awful lot of plating you coated yourself in. Don't tell me you're afraid of gettin' a bruise or two now.
Avo looked past her. And then around. In tandem, his Echoheads chittered, the shape of the room manifesting around him again. There were two people watching up in the stands. Their shapes were near-baseline while another seemed half-serpent, half-woman.
Kae cheered half-heartedly. Bright-Wealth was infinitely louder.
You know, Draus said, flexing her new, bladed forelimbs. Im gonna enjoy this.
Her new bio-rigged appendages ran in unfolded segments from behind her shoulders, gleaming white like shards of a crescent moon reflected upon the surface of a lake. Their movements rippled a shimmering disturbance in the air, near-invisible propulsions coming from the gaps between the edges. Along her back, six translucent wings extended, lining the space behind her in a kaleidoscope of colors. Her face was exposed as the insectoid skull meant to shield her hung from her neck like an unhinged jaw, biomass within lined with neural needles.
The bio-rig, much like his new skin, was a bridge an additional structure to anchor new implants and weight, like a rig on rigs, chrome upon armored meat.
Decided to do some shopping? Avo asked.
More like a test run. Somethin I helped River snatch a couple o months ago. How you likin your new sheathe?" Her tongue pushed out against her cheek. A tell. Like the hiss of a nu-cat or the rearing palps of an aratnid. A subtle dance was happening under her skin, its rhythm building toward fated violence. Gotta admit: I dont much like the new look of you. Bleedin you nows gonna feel like hurting some bioform. Shit, If I didnt know it was you, I'd probably treat you like something worth hurtin instead of some ghoul to put down.
Her casual taunt struck him and glanced off. The beast was incensed but then again, when wasnt that the case? What part of her words rang false? The fact ghouls were fodder? The fact she was trying to provoke him? Distract him using anger?
Her gaze slid past his form, sinking down to greet his butchered brothers. They know what you are?
Knew, Avo said. Didnt matter. Hungry. Tried to come for me anyway. He hissed a low noise, the steam of his breath a whistle between disgust and laughter. Ghouls. Should know them better by impulse than physical design. Action. Not biology. The violence is internal. A predisposition of hardware. The brain. But they like it. They dont fight it. Slaves that enjoy being slaves. Tragic fate.
They, Draus asked.
Ive His voice trailed off. He thrust one of his Echoheads into sight and studied its serrations, its willing nature. Changed. Inside, felt his Heavens, his new Soul hardening as the Frame fused its damages back together. Same thing with you. You think the other Regs will recognize you in that rig? Got too much of the Warren tainting you. Wasting your life killing thugs and gangers; wrestling with Syndicates. He chuckled. Helping a ghoul.
She shook her head. Guns dont need to recognize each other. They just need to fire when squeezed. I still fire. I just dont get squeezed so much.
No. But you still bleed pretty good. Did a good imitation of an opened tomato after Vicious pasted you. Performance of the year there: mangled Regular. Might have a future in the arts. Maybe you should consider it seeing how a prepubescent psychopath managed to drop you.
Her nostrils flared as she sneered. Oh, but it was so fun goading her on, and she took to it so well. Annoyance burned behind her gaze as she fixed him with a glare. Dont I recall needin to pull your mangled ass out of there?
Recall you helping too late and letting me get tortured.
Found your screams funny was all.
Her tone indicates honesty. What does your pain sound like master? His Woundshaper hummed in anticipation. Strange though it might be, I am curious to what songs she might extract from you.
Dont think I can win?
That depends: are you going to use your Heavens? Or do you wish to bleed her with your mortal hands.Fun option.
Then I expect things to be quite painful.
Draus cocked her head. You talkin to your Heaven again? She hadnt activated their session. Wise. Hurting someone running on a synchronized phantasmal bandwidth left mental scars similar to self-abuse.
It doubts me, Avo said. Thinks Ill have a hard time with you without using my Heaven.
Why, look at that? You got somethin' with sense growing inside you. Maybe you did get something useful out of eatin all those golems.
He snapped his fangs together. Going to get something tastier by eating your eyes.
Well, alright. You keep thinkin about that. Me? I still wanna break your arms. Its the length that bothers me. Theyre too damn long and hurt to look at. Better now that you got some shit grown over themdoesnt make you look like a starved child no more, but still!
Wont bother you anymore if youre blind.
Cmon, Avomove on to something new. You already threatened to blind me. Regs do a month of sensory deprivation shit in basic. You gotta grind deeper.
Most Regs. You got discharged. First I heard of that. Who knows how good you are.
Ouch. Did your pa teach you to talk that way?
Draus grinned.
Avo exhaled. Hed tell me to stay away from your mind. Bad etiquette. But since Ori-Thaum has such an easy time making vegetables of your kind
A tide of genuine anger smudged the grin from her face. Her jaw went tight. Alright, then.
Did I offend you? Avo asked, adding a low whine to his voice. He ran his tongue along his fangs, deliberating cutting himself to whet his appetite. Was that why you started touching my food? Because me nulling all those watchers reminded you of the bad old days? Howd the last war go for you again? When you werent playing with my brothers.
Draus snorted, but the glare didnt leave her eyes. Godsdamn, rotlick. You get a couple of burnin balls inside you and youre feeling mighty big about yourself. She clicked her tongue. You know, my old commander? He had these jokes weird sex shit from the pre-rash days. Diseases. Sexually transmitted monsterfucker stuff. Studying his features again, she laughed. Whatever fuckin degenerate wants to bump ends with a thing like you anyway.
A pause went between them. Avo gave an awkward grunt. Chambers. Probably.
The Regulars eye left eye twitched. She fought hard, reluctant to release her anger. She failed, the breaking her of resolving coming as a loud guffaw. Fuckin, Soft Masters. The nature of her mirth was infectious, and Avo found himself hissing along with sibilant laughter. He wondered if her smile would remain once they started bleeding each other. The shine behind her eyes told him the expression on her face just might grow.
Breathing one last gasp of fresh air, she shot him a final look before her bio-rigs exoskull snapped together in a series of skittering clicks. It had the look of a crucifix visored battle visor entombed between the twitching palps of a wolfspider; two layers of protection; blood outside, chrome within.Im still gonna make a victim of you, know that Avo?.
Angry that I didnt listen to you. Made my own choices against your wisdom? Avo asked.
Some of that, she said. Mostly, Ive been feelin a bit green. Envys a strange weight, consang. Dont hinge right inside me. Been seein you do whatever you want and I think you woke somethin ugly in me too.
A month ago, her words would have sounded absurda Regular being jealous of a ghoul was like a tiger stating a cockroach to be their superior. But things were different now. She was a Regular in habit and skill only, and he was a being mid-transition; a divorce was happening inside him: future from past and god from ghoul.
So, Avo asked, as he imagined biting into her. Violence?
Her voice, carried by proxy through the creature she clad herself in, rattled the structure of his brain. It felt as if a piece of his skull was ejecting itself into the softness of his brain. Knowing Draus, this was likely a deliberate featurea resonant weapon, attuned to wavelengths inimical to his hearing. Yeah, she agreed. Violence.
A command ebbed out from her Metamind. A droplet of water fell between them. Followed by more. Looking up, Avo watched as several sprinklers came alive along the walls, spewing misted rain down to bathe the world below. There was a strange simmer in the waters, however. A tinge of unnatural flame.
These waters mend the flesh, the Woundshaper said.
Midnight rain? Avo asked.
Draus shrugged. Circuits here use it for their practice sessions. Lets participants break each other without stayin that way.
Touched you care, Avo said.
He could feel her smirking behind her armor. Dont be. Besides, I dont want this to end prematurely.
He nodded. Till one breaks?
Yeah, Draus said. She cracked her neck and the wasp skulls solidified around her. Till one breaks.
Draus moved, a violent explosion of motion blasting out from her wings. Falling water exploded off her person, a fluid jetstream along her trail.
Avo felt his Celerostylus firejust in time. Drops hobbled to a crippled pace. Speed was torn out from the rushing stream. In a world nigh-frozen in pace, two figures moved unchainedclashing tides of force within a cage of stillness.
She was unfettered, wings swimming upon gales of winda taunt to his very ontology. True to his nature, he lashed at the world, striking gouges into the ring beneath him using his Echoheads. He moved erratically; dashing; shifting. Never bound to a single place, angles of attack made wide by his Echoheads.
Through it all, he felt the flow of his hyper-charged synapses flooding every sinew of his being, thrumming loud in every fiber. Where once he was a stone lobbed from a sling, his momentum now took the form of a whip, his body molded to the instantaneity of his mind.
To his pleasure, he detected a stutter to Draus turns. A lull in her motion. Perhaps she was slower than he now. Perhaps the divide between their physicalities had flattened; inverted.
Phy-Sim filtering distances across his feed, watched her circle closetwenty feet. Her wings widened. Force erupted out from her wings. He thrust an Echohead at her, fifteen feet at rest. He activated his piston, reaching spearhead lancing out another five.
Fast as she was, water exploded before the velocity of his new tail. His Phy-Sim flashed red. Evasion was impossible.
But then, she didnt. A forelimb descended, scything sideways into his Echohead. Edge met edge as they crossed blades. A rattle of force danced down Avos spine. He speared two more of his tails into the ground, rooting himself against the momentum. She fought nothing, letting their first clash send her higher.
The flow of force went silent from her blade then as she tumbled, and only when there were thirty between them did her wings come back into action. Instead of battling to right herself, she turned, diving low and using the impact to her advantage. She disappeared over the edge, and around him he felt a distant force pull on the air.
The Woundshaper sighed. Master, tear her hold on the winds. This is a farce. You are playing as a child would.
No. Must break her.
Perhaps I could have served you better in this regard. What would she know of the multiplicative effects if you simply let your blood flow
No! Break her myself!
Ah, but I suppose were all entitled to a hubris.
A crackle of thoughtstuff came alive in his mind. Through their session, he felt her joy. +Shit, did you ask the grafter to add another couple hundred pounds to your sheathe? That felt like cuttin a wall.+
+Echoheads: Good stabilizers.+ he replied.
+Is that right? Well, Im gonna have to see for myself.+
Their session cut out. Back to the bloodshed.
Reaching out with his Echoheads, he chittered, and the world around him came into shape, a map of tactile-static wrapping over his senses. She was circling the edge behind him, turning along the edge. She gesticulated suddenly, her secondary limbs whipping and twisting something through the air.
Something split through the air, chipping the edge of one of his Echoheads. The tail shuddered, unused to the sensation. Avo felt a trickle of spasms run up his spine.
A hair-thin damage trajectory played across his feed via his Phys-Sim. She had a monowire installed, monowire she was flicking up from the edge of the ring, cutting up at him from range.
Chittering again, he mapped her path using both his echolocation and his Phys-Sim. Rushing toward he edge, the beast called for him to throw himself off the side, to tear into her on the encroach and see this done.
He knew better. Draus had the ability to move in the air without a Heaven. Only foolsand ghoulswould charge a foe in their element.
Avo decided to steal instead. Using his own tactic of obfuscation, he arrived near the edge where she was soon to arrive, plucking the top half of the ghoul he killed earlier and dangling it below himself. As she came cycling in, monowire licking up again to cut, he expelled his Mimefog and released his decoy before reeling himself back using his rearmost tails.
Fog greeted fog as rain smeared his sporing mists. A clean slice danced up through the body of his deceased brother, blood splattering out through the sphere of deception. Parts of ghoul tumbled off the ring. Draus lurched momentarily, trying to gauge what she cut.
And from out of the fog, Avo kicked off the edge, all eight Echoheads launching him forward in a blast of motion.
The pace at which she realized his ruse spoke to how fast her mind ran. The fact she managed a half-turn spoke great things of her reflexes.
The way he slammed into her at speeds north of a hundred and twenty miles an hour spoke to the changing of the times. The air around them ruptured as her forelimbs were twisted from stability, their bodies spiraling.
He felt one her subarms grab him, pulling him in around the neck. A crack shook his head. Stars flashed across his eyes, his brain bouncing as if it had been struck by a sledgehammer. She headbutted him again. He headbutted her back. A mutual crack sang out between their armors. Clasped tight in a grapple, they plunged down, his Echoheads spearing out to find something to latch onto.
Laughing he activated his Auto-Seance again. +Still nostaglic, Reg?+
+Yeah,+ she said, amusement shining through. The Session went dead.
She clenched her left sub-arm and, along his neck, he felt a wisp-thin pressure begin to sink through his outer plating.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺