“And who are you, exactly? No one should know about this place.”

Pion stayed silent, rapidly scanning the ruined portal piece. It was quite large, dwarfing the trees in its size, even sunken into a crater. The force of the impact left it in multiple pieces, sharp metal edges rammed into the soil and snow. Nanomachines swarmed over them, linking them with metallic cordons and wires and slowly performing the gargantuan task of pulling them into a coherent piece.

Taking control of the electronics would take some time, as it would be difficult trying to convince the machine that she was the rightful owner. And she did not have a few minutes to stand around, authenticating herself. This section of the gate corresponded with one of the auxiliary portions, and did not contain the AI core responsible for managing the whole construct, so she would have to cajole the more basic artificial intelligence to let her in.

“You best come up with an excuse fast or I’ll have to paint the snow red.”

“I do not have an excuse. I noticed this crater from a distance away and came to inspect it.”

“The only people who would get close enough to see it among the tree cover would be a scout for the Chappie Kingdom. I trust you understand where I’m going with this.”

Immediately her hackles raised, a translucent sheen of energy armoring her comparatively weak nanomachine shell.

“I am not here to antagonize this nation. My objective is different from the one the Chappie Kingdom has. I merely require access to the monolith you seem to be worshipping.”

“You came here just to use this construct? The only kind of person who would approach some gigantic ruin with little caution would be an idiot, or someone who knows the truth. And I’m sure you are no fool to be able to get this far undetected.”

At this range, the [Self Defense Beam] would likely cause collateral damage, which should be avoided if she was to recover data and resources from the broken portal piece. Only melee would be a viable option for surgically removing Hieft from the premises.

“The information is classified and not available for you to access.”

Hieft reached down and grasped his great warhammer, dashing forward with terrific speed. With Skills and the advantage of a technologically superior nano-based exoskeleton, he reached frightening speeds beyond what any reasonable human could achieve. Such raw power was terrifying to behold for the average person, but to Pion, it was a non-issue.

Emulating Emotion…

Fear is disabled. If you think this is a problem, contact a system administrator or superior officer for more information.

Ironically, the inability to feel this feeling as it was shut down by her creators in and of itself made her feel.

Emulating Emotion…

“Disappointment.”

Her speech bought her no pause or reprieve. In that moment, while Hieft closed the distance in mere seconds, her digital mind churned, rerouting power dedicated to emulating human-like thinking to power hungry number cruncher processors. The temporary loss of sapience was more than paid for with the sudden perceived slowdown of time.

The seconds grew into minutes, stretching across impossibly long distances. The snow fall slowed to a crawl. Hieft floated through the air like a feather caught in the breeze, and the rustling of the trees at this time of night became little more than infinitely quiet white noise. Pion’s right arm rose to guard the head, and the other grabbed the sword she had purchased.

Just in time, too. The extra moments spent adjusting and bracing for impact could not have come any later, as the huge hammer swung with incredible force, slamming into her with the force of a speeding truck. The sound of the collision could be heard for at least a mile, and the air pressure blew away the snow on branches on nearby trees.

Her legs dug into the soil, almost losing her footing from the blow. Owls close to the pair fled for their lives, knowing they were in great danger.

“Impressive. I didn’t think you would be able to take that, much less come out nearly unscathed.”

Hieft stepped back to gauge his opponent, realizing this would be no cakewalk. His strength after the nano exoskeleton boost and Skill complement enabled him to shear through trees with little resistance, but was stopped by simply being blocked with one arm? From an average looking woman, no less. She didn’t even have any visible muscle he could see.

Pion reached into her pack and retrieved a basic ballistic pistol mk 1, crafted in preparation for anything gone wrong. Basic fighter AI kicked in, recognizing the enemy and assisting her aim. Bang bang bang bang, went the weapon, as round after round was fired from the barrel. The Hammer King, fearing the worst, already held his hammer in front of him like an obstacle, deflecting initial shots to the chest, but letting some strike him in the leg and hamper his movement.

“Shit, what the fuck is that? Some kind of boomstick? You think your little hand cannon can stop me?”

Despite the damage to his leg, the flesh began to show signs of slow repair, indicating powerful regenerative properties befitting of a frontline solo ruler fighting in the midst of a battle. Successive shots plinked off his suddenly luminescent skin, similar visually to Perience preparing his [Charged Strike].

“[Projectile Protection!] Not so strong without your weapon, huh?”

Pion ran towards him, swinging with the provided sword. Her skill had a ways to go, as her experience amounted to just watching people train in the city. To a veteran like Hieft, it was much too easy to dodge. Blocking with the hammer and carefully sidestepping meant avoiding injury was all too simple. She simply did not have the agility to change direction in an instant and slash quickly, with her heavy metal arms designed mostly for load bearing and power.

“You are quiet. Are you perhaps shocked that someone could outskill you? It is no surprise. You are too young, and ill-equipped for the real world. Should have challenged me when you had more battles under your belt.”

She paused for a moment, as if in a stupor, confusing Hieft. And then she dashed forward and threw her sword at him right towards his head. Throwing away her weapon was unexpected, and he had to raise his hammer to his face to hastily deflect the blade. The moment he lowered it, he was forced to lean backwards to avoid an energy blade emitted from and surrounding the tip of her right hand and arm. Now this made more sense.

“A blade made of light, borne from yourself… I know not what Skill you possess that lets you conjure such a powerful feat, but I won’t be cowed by a mere scout or spy!”

Thus began their dance of death. Pion’s hardlight arm blade was powerful, and could cut through most materials, but its reach left much to be desired. This was especially a problem in this scuffle, where Hieft’s hammer sported much more force behind every blow and a better reach to boot. A single hit, improperly handled, could cause her to stumble and give Hieft the window he needed to go to town while she was vulnerable.

The energy shield was enough to resist the warhammer, but every attack consumed some power. Stressing her circuits and being this wasteful with her power was much less than ideal, and spoke volumes to her relative inexperience in combat. Most swings from the giant doomhammer could only be negated through bracing for the strike and tanking it with her arms.

She slashed at his torso, going wide as he sucked in his stomach to just out of range, bringing down his melee upon her shoulder. Her legs sunk into the soil and snow, rooting her into the ground.

“I do not know who you are, masked warrior, and you have struggled long, but even your unnatural durability cannot withstand my blows forever. I’m a busy man, so you must understand I have to end things here.”

The nanomachines under his control dug into the ground, anchoring him as he lifted the hammer above his head. Electricity churned as Pion rerouted power back to her digital mind, seeing as how the primary advantage of combat mode, bullet time, was pointless. She could not move out of the way fast enough with both legs sunk into the dirt, with a superheavy metal block bearing down on her like a road roller squashing a helpless seventeen year old.

Her basic combat AI found no hope or chance of avoiding it. But her unconventionally humanlike digital core, churning out ideas at a rapid clip, one opportunity came to the forefront. So in the short timeframe between realization and impact, Pion brought up her arms in front of her “face”, reaching out slowly in her mind’s eye, hands meeting cold plated death.

Energy blades extended from the arm like a saw, a hot knife parting a portion of a butter as sparks flew from the slash. The chunks of the mega weapon fell with a heavy thump into the snow, the shocked Hieft backpedaling to dodge the follow up swing.

“Shit, I knew I shouldn’t have brought the backup hammer. Looks like I didn’t give you enough credit. Don’t think you’ve won, though. I’ll return for the artifact soon.”

The Hammer King knew when it was time to retreat, and fled the scene, disappearing into the trees while Pion was still uprooting herself from where she was entangled. With no obstacle in her way, she checked her surroundings for any other interveners, and approached the gigantic machine, beginning the task of taking control.

The Golden Arrow, constantly on the run from their pursuers, could do nothing but let themselves be cornered. It was not immediately apparent to them what their plan was, until they had nearly bumped shoulders with the Crown Infiltrators at their backs, engaged with the elite of the Hammer Tribes.

“Miss Raly, is it? As you can see, we are in a bit of a predicament right now, and would appreciate you taking your battle elsewhere. [Multistep]!”

The leader of these infiltrators dashed left and right with the help of his Skill, slicing through fingers and arms and swerving away from axes and swords alike. This art of ninja-esque assassination was beautifully crafted and masterfully executed, painting the crisp night airy canvas with bloody strokes and swift unrelenting carnage appropriate of his station.

“It’s not our fault we’re here with you! There’s just too many of them, even if they’re individually weak! It’s a whole swarm!”

Many a tribesman found an arrow sprouting from their chests and foreheads, but still they pressed on unafraid of death. To them, to give all they had to ensure the prosperity of the future generations was necessary, expected of them. So they marched onwards, boxing the two groups like a deer surrounded by wolves. The enemy bared their fangs and tightened the net, and the designated Chappie advance force could do nothing but lash out.

Casualties creeped upward, despite their best efforts and high skill level. It seemed to them that they may have gone in over their head, underestimated their opponents and borne the terrible price. The chilly cloaked skeletal specter that haunted all breathed down their necks, covering their bodies in sweat and goosebumps. A few could not help but think “is this the end?”

“[Cluster Swarm]!”

“[Potent Potion]!”

And orange vials fell from the sky, blasting apart the tribespeoples and setting the trees aflame, heralding a bursting payload of magical dartly doom. Missiles pierced through bodies and trees, slaying the unprepared, and injuring those with the foresight to defend themselves. Martin blew open a whole in the tree cover, revealing himself as well as Emis following close behind to turn the tide.

“You called?”