12 Miles Below

Book 3. Chapter 13: Tackling apex predators

The strike was clean and quick, the sort of perfect swing that would stun a courtyard into silence.

ToAacar took a casual step back, letting the blade flash a hairbreadth away from his throat. The spear in his left hand spun, already putting itself in position to tackle the follow-up hits. The shock on his face faded to a grin, almost as if he'd been playing it up for dramatic effect.

That scrapshit had something else coming for him if he thought thats all we had. Occult pulsed and both Cathida and I struck as one from opposite ends. One side was her blade, and the other was my spectral copy.

The spear flicked out, expertly stopping her strike, while he crouched and twisted under my attack, turning the move into a kick that sent us flying backwards, as if wed run headfirst into a wall and bounced back hard.

Cathida landed like a cat, back on two feet. ToAacar remained where hed stood as if nothing had happened, lowering his bare foot back onto the ground. I see Atius found a way to teach you some tricks. A novel use of a relic armor. Very novel. Im impressed. He smiled. Not often I see something new these days. But this won't work either. Do you know why you wont win?

You talk to much. Cathida said while she leaped forward. Occult blue licked the sides of my armor as I readied the fractal of mirrors one more time. The Winterscar blade whistled through the air, a near blur. Three ghostly blades struck at the same time, from alternate directions.

ToAacar matched out speed - and then exceeded it. I think the spear struck back at Cathidas attack, bouncing her off but I cant be sure. He did something that spun the spear around in his hand, but only the afterimage was what I could remember. Things were going too fast for me to keep up, even with the Occult sight feeding concepts directly into my mind. Whatever happened in those fragments of seconds, ToAacar dodged or destroyed all my own occult strikes and somehow struck us hard enough to cause shields to flare up and the armor to groan down onto a knee. Then kicked us away, casually, like we were just scrap metal in the way.

Okay. I may have officially bitten off more than I could chew here.

Cathida landed hard against the ground, rolling for a moment before her hand struck out and lifted the entire armor off the ground and back on solid footing. Her blades were back up, aimed at the enemy before us.

I told you already, human. You cannot win against me. I'm a machine. I can overclock my systems. Make time fly by as if it was trapped in amber. He said, taking another relaxed step to follow us, as Cathida reluctantly matched his steps backwards, keeping spacing between us. A second to you can be an eternity in my world. Your armor can do the same of course. But only for a moment. Where your trouble lies is that my body was made to funnel and dissipate heat. Made for war and battle, optimized for it, perfected. Your armor has to deal with that squishy human inside. It was built to protect you first, and fight second. They were never created to have such strain put on them, and so they don't have the means to handle that strain for long.

Hes right. Cathida said in my ear. I know Im better than him, the little scraphead only has one hand and a spear bigger than his ego. But skills worth nothing if he can just move faster to counter anything I do. If I try to keep up, Journeys saying Id risk cooking you alive deary. The armors worse than an overprotective parent, but having you burn to death is something I can grudgingly set my differences aside for.

How long can you match his speed?

Journey doesnt want to even try. Cathida said. Goddess, its a pain in the ass and doesnt want to take risks. Youre going to have to do that administration mubo jumbo to make it listen.

ToAacar leisurely walked forward. Cathida took steps backwards, keeping out of range. We were going deeper into the cave with each step. Like a weasel playing with a rat trapped in a one-way pipe.

I spoke the authorization, Cathida walking me through whichever it was that Journey needed, and only then did my relic armor reluctantly supply the specs it had to work with.

The answer wasnt good. The real problem is that heat stays trapped inside the armor for a good few minutes due to the seal against the environment. That means even with the overclocks turned off, youll still be roasting in here with whatevers slowly going away. Journey says twenty seconds is the cut off point where youll live through the cool down. Thirty seven if you take off your helmet right after to make an opening for air to pass through.

Twenty seconds is enough. I said. If he doesnt have a shield, all we need is a few good cuts to put him out of commission. It only takes a second to cut his head off with an Occult blade. We aren't making aerogel.

"And how exactly are you planning on deleting his shield from the equation? Because that seems to be the hard part in all this."

You know I can hear you muttering under your helmet? ToAacar said as he continued to force us to backtrack. "I have no helmet but somehow I have the impression you didnt hear me, despite that. Let me help you with that short attention span, you poor miserable little thing: I was created to hunt down and kill deities. Ive crossed blades with the likes of Talen and held the line with my brothers and sisters. Even weakened from madness, hes a thousand leagues above a human cowering behind his pet armor.

Cathida, I said, whispering. Time for plan B.

She instantly sheathed a blade and drew the knightbreaker out from its holster by the small of my back. The Feather paused, head tilting. You think something like a grenade is going to do anything to me? He laughed, Go ahead, fire away. Im right here. You cant possibly miss.

Looks like he thought this was just a regular grenade launcher. I gave a prayer to any god that would hear me, hoping that this scrapheads ego was just wide enough hed think to tank the shell directly. He seemed like the type to do that.

Cathida didn't spit on an open gift, drawing and aiming the weapon without hesitation. "Goddess piss on your corpse, scraphead." She hissed and fired. The occult shell launched with little recoil, the payload zipping through the air directly at the Feathers center mass.

ToAacars left hand moved. The spear blurred. One moment it had been at his side, the next, it was pointing up, held high in the air, with only the afterimage of the glowing path the occult edge had passed by.

Hed cut the shell in half. Right on the way. There was even a whip-like crack as the spear clearly passed the speed of sound to do that. Almost at the same exact moment, physics gave his dramatic counter the middle finger.

The shell continued moving forward by inertia, no longer connected as a single unit, but split in half, and still going the same general direction with the rotational energy pushing them apart - but not quite fast enough. Parts of the carefully crafted occult chains inside were no doubt cut, but not all of them, and not all completely. The split shell fragments collided against his bare chest, and the chains flew out as designed. One didnt light up at all, the power source likely being in the way of the occult spear.

But the other three did light up. Two had been greatly shortened, and the third was undamaged. They sliced and diced wildly in all directions for a fraction of a second, before the two shell fragments flew off in different directions, dragging the chains behind them.

The chains hadnt wrapped around their target as intended. But the damage had still gone through in those milliseconds of contact.

If he tried to get out of the way, he was already too late. Occult pulsed across his body for a moment, but the chains already reached him before anything could manifest from whatever last second defense he'd attempted. His shield flared out within that millisecond - and instantly collapsed. The wild chains dug and cut into the mechanical body, causing havoc, ripping apart bits. His limp right arm was shredded in three parts, with only the chunk up to his elbow remaining. Dangling from a bit of artificial skin where the occult chain hadnt happened to pass through.

His chest had major cuts, right through whatever served as the rib cage. A few chains had both cut into him, and then flailed around before being sucked away by the shell pieces, and theyd done untold damage within him. A shorter chain had whipped right into his eye, and passed through out his cheek, just before the ear. Nothing survived wherever the Occult edge passed.

The left arm was mostly intact, but his spear wasn't. Only the spear blade itself had an Occult edge. The handle and shaft were the traditional weakpoint of a spear, the reason spears weren't reliable in combat. Those chains flew right at the shaft, and wrapped around the hilt, where an occult shield, of all things, flared up for a heartbeat. It collapsed just as fast as the Feather's own shields had.

There was no stopping the chains. The spear was cut into chunks, as if it hadn't been shielded at all, leaving him holding onto a short metal rod with no blade attached.

The chains zipped around further into the air, like two scribbles of blue fading out, before the shells hit the walls and bounced off, clinking onto the ground, the currents stopped and the attack completely spent. But damn did this little beauty pay off. Worth every bit of stress and money to make. The moment I'm back home, I'm ordering ten more.

ToAacar stumbled, falling down onto one knee, now looking more like a ripped up puppet. He lifted his head to stare. Disfigured, with only his left eye working while the right side of his face looked like it had been held down against a blender. A few emotions passed through whatever parts of his face remained working. Shock. Disbelief. Anger. And hate. A lot of hate. And then surprise again, at the sight of an occult blade zipping right for that last eye.

Cathida, being both a foul mouthed hellion and imperial crusader, had long ago learned never to pass on any opportunity to kick an opponent on the ground. The moment shed fired the weapon, the grenade launcher had been tossed out of her hands while she sprinted forward, Winterscar blades tip first, one reaching to impale, while the other sweeped to catch any dodge attempt.

The broken Feather's head shifted to the side and the blade passed an inch off target, cutting slightly into his cheek. Occult pulsed across his body for a second time, and this time flashed outwards. Cathidas follow-up attempt to cleave down with her off hand went directly through nothing, with the rest of my own occult mirrors also striking through thin air. He'd vanished, but not far. Whatever that occult spell was, it had repositioned him a few feet to our right.

Cathida and I instantly pivoted, and we both struck out.

I dont know how he did it, but one of his feet kicked the broken speartip off the ground, and tossed it straight up, directly through one of my occult mirror strikes at the same time that he narrowly avoided Cathida's hit. The ghost apparition faded the moment it was cut through. That didnt matter, Id thrown out another in that span of time. This second swing he took head on, letting it cut through parts of his chest, and carve out a new cut across his limp right arm.

In exchange he threw out an open handed punch. Occult pulsed around his arm, and when he struck, it was like a massive anvil had clobbered us. Once more I found my limp body being thrown back violently.

You godless heathen, Cathida snarled, standing us back up a distance away. Just die already. Its embarrassing.

This isnt happening. ToAacar said, voice bewildered. This cant be happening. How? Zero Twelves dead. How did you recover his chain? I saw him cast it into the mite sea, seven entire levels below, right before we killed him! Nothing comes back from that. Nothing.

He took a step forward and collapsed on another leg. The damage to his chest was really something, a human would have been dead twenty times over by now. It was like watching a corpse move around, the body occasionally refusing to function, twitching even. No. No, no, no, he cant be alive. Hes dead. I saw him die!

I dont know what youre babbling about. I said, taking back control. But it looks to me like youre finished. If you dont want that head of yours to fly off whatevers left of your shoulders, youre going to do the smart thing and surrender now. Ive got a lot of questions to ask.

He stared back, that one eye seemed as if it wasnt looking at me, but somewhere far off in the past. Of course. He nearly whispered. The mites finally spat his body back out. They must have pushed it to the surface of all places. But how did you duplicate his weapon into so many parts? Did you hairless monkeys break it apart into pieces?!

"Don't know who else had the idea to use chains, but I made those myself. I'm pretty good at making weapons these days." I said, taking a few steps forward. Not so high and mighty now, eh?

This time his eye focused on me. It looks like he responded well to taunts. This isnt over. He said. I havent lost.

Spoken like every sore loser at the gambling table. Youre on one knee if you havent noticed, and the other doesn't seem to be working well either. Give up.

There was rumbling behind me. The rocks hed collapsed at the entrance shook, and began to tumble down. Scans show the fightings died down on the other side. Cathida said, answering my unworded question. Our side's breaking the rocks down. Time to wrap him up and take him back home. Part of me really hates to say this, but those Knightbreaker shells of yours are on a different level. Instantly ended that fight. Id hate to be on the other end of one of those.

That violet eye seemed to twitch. I do not surrender to anyone or anything. I am ToAacar, the one above all challenge and reach. Know this, human. Today, I acknowledge you, weaponsmith. He stood up, slowly, and collapsed back on his knees.

I dont think youre following the script here, buddy. I said. Ive got the sword and shields. Youre down an arm, a shield, a spear and I waved a sword tip in his general direction. Well, an everything. This fights over. Youre coming with me, or Ill cut you up some more. And then youre coming with me. Man, now Im starting to sound like the villain here. But there was something visceral satisfying lording over a broken enemy. Or maybe it's the Winterscar in me that simply can't pass up on an opportunity to taunt and kick a downed opponent.

The fight is never over. Not until you, or I, die. He said, oddly calm.

"Fine. Don't say I didn't give you a chance. Cathida, serve up another limb. And bring out the fancy silverware please."

She complied, one blade swiping down on that last working hand of his. The crippled machine corpse once more moved with that scrapshit alacrity, twisting his whole torso to avoid the blow, grabbing the wrist of our hand, and yanking up. Quite literally, throwing us straight up over his shoulder, in a full unbroken arc, and tossing us away. Like we were a shopping bag. And relic armors weigh quite a lot. In the hundreds of pounds.

We hit the ground with a thud, rolling back into ground. No real damage, other than my pride of course, not even the shields were triggered. But how strong was this scraphead exactly?! Even with all that damage piled up and no leverage on his knees, he still tossed us like laundry. If I hadn't outright cheated the whole fight with the knightbreaker, I'm dead certain I'd be machine kibble.

The machine corpse tried to rise and take a step after us, but stumbled and crashed down again on his knees. He looked up, agast. Then his eye widened. Thats your full name is Keith Winterscar? You?

Yes, me. What, you never even checked my first name?" I said, taking some control back and brushing off the dust on the armor. "Id say Im hurt, but somehow that seems in character for what Ive seen of you. Ill be honest, youre not the most polite person Ive met.

The feather laughed. Do you care for the names of each ant you pass by? All humans are the same to me. Or were the same until this moment. I know who you are now. I've just read everything that exists with your name attached to it. Perhaps I was too... harsh on my little sister. You are an anomaly among humans. I see now how she could have been killed by you.

I dont remember killing your sister? I think that would have been a memorable occasion for me. I shrugged, Cathida, do you have any idea what hes talking about?

She gave the verbal version of a shrug.

Her name is ToWrathh. And it was a memorable occasion to her when you killed her. Shes very interested in you. Obsessed even. She was named due to your actions. I should have read the full report long ago, theres so much more I could have tormented her with. How I've wasted the opportunities.

The rocks continued to rumble, breaking apart. Bits of light shafts began to open up.

Still doesnt jog any memory. Sorry. Dont remember stabbing a machine lady to death recently. I know I have poor memory, but it cant be that bad.

He grinned. A wide wicked thing, like a child that had found a new toy to torment. She wasnt a Feather when you met her. No, she came back solely to hunt you down and finish what she started.

Oh! Now I get it. Is this some kind of stalling tactic? Youre making up a story on the spot? It's not going to work, but keep going. I'll admit it's entertaining. So what did this lady start exactly? I've got a.. let's say 'checkered' past when it comes to partners you see, can't tell if she wants to slap me or ask me for a second date.

Well, I was stalling too on my end. He had nothing he could do to do damage to me anymore, not with Journey's shields still being active. He could try to punch me a few times and that might just work given his freakish strength. But we had the occult weapons, and he had no shields. The moment we got a cut in, we won, while it would take him some time to punch through relic shields. So I decided I was going to wait for the rest of my knights to show up, and we'll dogpile the Feather until someone managed to cut his legs and arms off. We'd get him eventually. And more importantly - we had to make sure to get him. Tie him up and haul him back to the clan, then throw as many locks, bolts and knights as we could to keep him sealed up. Because if there ever were a round two against this monster, I'd end up as a smear on a wall somewhere for the mites to deal with.

My dear little sister, she killed that other knight you were with." To'Aacar said, with unmistakable glee. "Right before you killed her for that. How ironic. How delightfully ironic. Your final words to her was to remember the moment. And youve forgotten it. Look at your stunned features. You don't even know who she is, do you? I cant wait to tell her.

My blood froze as he spoke. Memory flashed through my muddled mind. I took a step back, almost in shock. No. No way.

You should feel honored, Keith the weaponsmith. This is the first time Ive ever taken an interest in one of your kind. He said. Occult pulsed around him. The next time I see you, Ill be ready. Its a shame you can only die once.

Cathida took command, drawing a blade up and lunging out for his shoulder without word.

The Feather simply leered. Madness in that eye. Occult flashed, wrapping around his body in a heartbeat - and faded away right as Cathida's blades struck through.

Where he stood, there was nothing left.

The fucker had run.

Next chapter - Alone (T)