“Mai, Biyu here. We can’t hold them!”

Mai drove spikes into the cavern roof as Biyu spoke, then blinked open her minimap, panning out so that she could see the whole battlefield. From where she was hanging on the roof she could have used her eyes to see the battle, but the minimap removed all of the distractions the bitter battle caused.

“All mecha-knights, attack the God-mecha, I’m one hundred paces from where I need to be. Once you’ve got his attention, retreat past me. Keep them engaged though. Force them to use BIO-MASS to repair damage, sting him. Make him angry. Blind him to anything but killing you.”

“Mecha-knights, acknowledging,” Chan replied. New units suddenly populated the map as the mech-knights formed their suits and charged out of their positions. There were hundreds of them, far more than she knew they’d trained, and a lump formed in her throat as she realised that some of the Nether City troops had thrown all caution to the wind in order to save their city.

Blinking her map closed, she looked over at the God-mecha. Its name was more than apt. Whoever was piloting it had covered it in slogans, most along the lines of ‘Die, die, die!’. They’d changed the paint since the battle started as well, proving that they either had BIO-MASS to waste, or that they didn’t think the battle would last much longer. It was now covered in what Mai could only describe as Day-Glo pink, and neon green. It was utterly garish.

“Cocky little shit, let’s hope they don’t learn some humility in the next half-hour,” she didn’t know why she spoke out loud, but it helped to hear a voice as she continued to claw her way across the roof of the cavern. Even from here the blasts of the artillery washed over here, and the noise of the battle was a constant distraction.

Something struck her from behind, making her jump and cry out in surprise. She missed her next handhold and desperately scrabbled for purchase, forming a spike, and driving it deep into the rock. Heart pounding, mouth dry, she tried to work out what had hit her. Her suit hadn’t registered any damage, and there were no enemy troops near enough to spot her. She’d activated STEALTH and URBAN CAMOUFLAGE before beginning the climb, using a BIO-MASS BOOST to keep it up.

SOAK DAMAGE! 2%

Another impact, harder and this time she caught a flash of movement from the corner of her eye. Forming a small drone she sent it zipping downwards until it was a good thirty paces beneath her, camera pointing up.

Twisting and turning she was still unable to see what was hitting her. And then the drone’s camera picked up a dark, four-winged shape cutting through the air towards her, four feet ending in wicked talons pointing directly at her back.

Spinning, she released the spike on her left arm and quickly formed it into a shotgun, filling the air with red-hot shot.

HIT! 67% DAMAGE

BLEED @1%

The mogwai shrieked as one of its wings was completely shorn off, the others torn, gaping holes taking away any lift. It tumbled through the sky, narrowly missing her drone.

Sneaky little fu … another mogwai crashed into her, talons grasping her.

SOAK DAMAGE! 5%

Wings beating against her helmet visor, the mogwai tried to pull her from the cavern roof. Bile rose into her mouth as she saw that the creature’s mouth was situated in its belly, a long tongue covered with what looked like suckers continuously lapped at her visor, smearing it with blood-red viscous saliva.

“Get the fucking fuck off!” She tried to aim her shotgun, but the creature’s wings kept beating the long barrel down. Snarling, she shortened the barrel, finally managing to jam it into the mogwai’s lower abdomen.

CRITICAL HIT! 95%

BLEED @15% PER SECOND

Blood, acid green, covered her visor as the mogwai tumbled away, talons screeching against her suit’s armour, setting her teeth on edge. Completely blind, she was forced to rely on her drone as she summoned nanites to clear her visor.

Another mogwai swooped in, this one had six wings and only two feet, as well as a proboscis as long as she was tall. She fired continuously, filling the air with shot, blowing chunks of flesh from the mogwai, one foot spinning away towards the ground.

INSTAKILL!

“Mai! The mecha-knights have got the God-mecha’s attention! They’re going to be under you in less than two minutes. Are you ready?” Mai winced as Biyu shouted down the comms channel.

“Not yet, got held up,” Mai cursed silently at having to admit that. She’d allowed herself to be distracted by the mogwai and hadn’t kept track of the larger battle.

“Get a fucking move on boss!”

Mai didn’t need any further encouragement, absorbing the shotgun and setting off once again across the cavern roof.

Up close the God-mecha was enormous. She didn’t actually have the vocabulary to truly do it justice. It was the largest man-made machine she’d ever seen. Weapons systems covered its armour, sending a near continuous stream of death into the mecha-knights and the nearest Nether City positions. Shells from turrets pounded at its armour, each one barely scratching the surface, but cumulatively they were chipping away at its SOAK. Between them and the return fire, the pilot must have been going through litres of BIO-MASS each second. It was astonishing.

And it was clear that the pilot was pissed off. Mecha-knights circled its huge feet. Inside of whatever protective shields it might have had at the start of the battle, they sent streams of fire up into its nether-regions.

Quicker than she thought possible, the God-mecha turned and swept its foot forward. In an instant five mecha-knights were blasted into smithereens, pieces flying for hundreds of paces in all directions, the pilots instantly dead.

There was a ripple amongst the surviving knights as their commanders issued orders and then they were back into the attack. Tears sprang from Mai’s eyes as she saw them sacrificing themselves so that she could kill the God-mecha.

Reaching the remote detonator linked to all of the explosives, she formed a manual trigger with over a hundred paces of wire. Fumbling, hand shaking as she assembled the trigger unit, she blinked at the sweat pouring into her eyes.

The wire clicked into place, lights on the trigger and detonator blinking into life, confirming that a circuit had been made.

“I’m done! Moving out of the way, all mecha-knights pull back to the West, maintain contact with that bastard.”

Clipping the trigger to her belt, she formed her gauntlets into hooks like she’d seen on a sloth and started to swing as fast as she could, her hooks digging into the cavern roof. Every step that the God-mecha took vibrated through the cavern roof, making her arms tingle. It bayed again, but her suit reacted before it could INTIMIDATE her.

“Get clear! Get clear!” She checked the minimap, cursing as she saw that there were still mecha-knights beneath the trap area, holding the God-mecha in position. “Please! Move!”

“Blow it, Mai,” Chan’s voice was calm, collected. He sounded at peace. “Kill the bastard.”

Sobbing, Mai unclipped the trigger and slammed her hand down.