-----V-----

The organic tank‘s two front legs zettra cores shot out a wave of an invisible force, making Braxton lose its balance and dropped to the ground and slid through the kypseli muck. A second program was brought forth and a violet glow surrounded Braxton, lifting it up from the ground and then brought it back down with a powerful „thump“. It continued, never stopping to give Braxton a breather. If Braxton even had a way of breathing.

I didn‘t like the look of that, I fired a barrage of blaster bolts at one of its leg-cores, and the organic tank twitched and screeched. It carapace closed and hid the cores. Braxton was free from its program, but I noticed sparks along its body.

The zettra cores are obvious weak spots, but I don‘t want to focus much at the main core, it has the gemstone that I need.

I glanced back at Franek and Amara and was about to yell at them to help me take the tank out when I noticed Amara was bound by rope. Her artifact and sword by her side on the ground. Ivona was tightening the rope that she most likely shot out from her crossbow.

„Shit.“

But now that Amara was down, Franek will finally come in with his sword, right? He wouldn‘t just leave us and take Amara with him, I still have the shield on me.

„Hey, have you finally decided to come help take down the kypseli?“ I asked.

Franek ran up to me, his sword thankfully not pointed at me.

„We will resolve the issue we have against each other after this fight. We just have to hold them off for a bit longer until our victory is assured.“

„What do you mean?“ But Franek didn‘t hear me as he charged at the kypseli.

„Vincent! Come and helmphh!?!“ Amara tried to call for help from me when Ivona decided to use cloth around her mouth to muffle her voice.

„Sorry, Amara, but I can‘t have you stop him right now, for he is likely the most powerful one here,“ I said and started launching my attacks at the kypseli again. „Oh and did you know that Braxton is an android?“

I glanced back at Amara to see that she was trying to speak, but could not.

„I‘m going to say yes, I wished that you told me sooner. Not that it matters though.“

Chase and the last of the artifact hunters were falling left and right, even he himself has taken injuries that will soon take him into the dirt.

Then that leaves us with Franek and Ivona who are together. Then Amara, Ivy, Braxton and I. Six against an entire swarm. I am not sure what Franek was talking about victory, we will surely die right here and now.

Without coordination and talking, we suddenly found ourselves finding our roles against the kypseli. The sisters and I were keeping the smaller kypseli at bay, while Franek and Braxton were scraping the carapace of the artifact-kypseli. Braxton, who still sparked after the tank‘s programs, was still a capable fighter. Amara was there as our silent support, we couldn‘t untie her as she will only cause trouble for us. Her artifact would have been really useful against the organic tank.

The artifact-kypseli opened its carapace of its second row pair of legs, revealing yet two more zettra cores. Now I know for a fact that it has a total of seven cores, six as its legs, and the one, which is the biggest and the strongest, at the top of its triangular body.

I remember thinking that it has no eyes or face, but it has antennas along its body and legs. That is likely how it sees. So as he pointed its leg towards Franek, who was trying to cut through the first row of legs, it shot out a program. The ground around it broke and dirt was kicked up, Franek lost his balance but quickly recovered. Spikes shot out from the ground, scraping Franeks‘ clothes, and even sliver of ravines cracked open which wasn‘t big enough to fall through.

As the spikes stood tall as a man, they suddenly showed the same glowing lines on kypseli, then part of them broke apart, revealing tentacles that shot out at anything, besides other kypseli, as it gets close. It‘s defenses just kept on getting worse and worse for us.

Braxton threw itself towards the pillars, Braxton‘s blades shining, and cut through the limbs that attacked it. Franek joined the android with his artifact, unleashing his programs and took out the pillars that crumbled rather easily.

With the leg-cores exposed, I aimed my blaster and turned up the zettra power of the explosive program. My blaster bolt flew across the trees of muck and snow, and shards of the core flew in all directions, shattering it to only crumbs. The artifact-kypseli roared and shrieked, quickly closing his left core from sight.

I thought it was going to recover from what I had done to it, but it suddenly revealed all its cores and the air around it thrummed. I knew there was something horrible coming our way.

„Everyone! Get to cover!“ I shouted and hid behind the nearest dead kypseli. The others did the same, hiding behind trees and such.

A powerful sound that sounded like engines from a spaceship erupted from the organic tank, and then everything was being sucked towards it. Even the trees were bending, almost getting uprooted from the ground. I saw a kypseli that also was trying to get away from it, but the power of the artifact-kypseli was overpowering them. The kypseli flew towards the tank and was shredded to pieces by the strange similar violet glow. The tank didn‘t seem to care that it was killing some of its own.

Amara was still bound by the rope, so she couldn‘t get a hold on anything and was being dragged towards it. Braxton was thankfully quick and held her as he gripped a tree. I was behind a dead kypseli, who was not rooted in the ground, and it also was being dragged into the grinder.

I started to crawl towards the next thing that wouldn‘t move easily, and it was nothing more than a bush with muck. Slippery muck. There was no point in even trying to grab it, I would only slip.

The artifact-kypseli was making its program stronger, and it was getting harder to even hold the ground.

Franek thrusted his sword down and dug into the dirt. He seemed pretty safe. Ivy and Ivona, though. They did the same as the noble, but both of them could barely hold on to their hilt. And Ivy was first to lose her grip and started to fly towards the grinder. Ivona quickly jumped towards her and grabbed her while shooting an arrow at a tree that then stuck, a rope was attached and looked rather strong.

„Franek! What the hell did you mean by an assured victory!? We are going to be grinded by the damn kypseli!“

Franek opened a holographic screen from his sword, and I could see his grin.

„You‘ll see, reinforcements are coming. . . right. . . now!“

A sudden boom erupted close at the artifact-kypseli, smoke billowed on his side, and one of its leg-cores exploded. And the program was stopped, everything fell on the ground before they would have been grinded by the tank.

My eyes followed the trail of smoke, and I saw the reinforcements that Franek was talking about. And I audibly gulped.

There were dozens of soldiers with artifacts in hand, one of them holding a weapon that had features of a grenade launcher. I remember seeing their armor before, they were the soldiers of Franeks‘ mansion. Not like the normal Stratos‘ soldiers, they wore white and silver-colored armor, some even had cloaks around their armor, they were the ones holding the artifacts, while the ones who didn‘t have cloaks used normal weapons.

And here was my question. Why the hell were they here!? Why were they close by!? This can‘t be some ridiculous coincidence. Franek knew that they were coming, so they must have been following, waiting for his signal. He must have had them close by if he would be in trouble because he knew that Wilmer was after him.

„Soldiers of the Quenton Family! Teach the swarm of the matriarch our might and human pride!“ Franek shouted with strength, rallying his men for war.

The soldiers threw out their battlecries and started clashing against the swarm. The artifact-kypseli still had the support program activated, its smaller kypseli were stronger as they entered the field of effect inside the sphere.

Some of the soldiers held ranged weapons that did not consist of arrows, but more like rifles and blasters. I noticed one of them, a woman who had an insignia of, I believed, a general. Her long silver hair covered her armor breastplate that glimmered, her shoulder pauldrons had heads of a snake on each side, and it was golden. Her white and golden coat swayed as far down close to her feet. White golden boots that went far as the knees. She also wore normal gauntlets but showed skin on the upper arm. She held a sword that was most likely an artifact, its hilt showed serpents heads on either side, and the blade was colored pitch black.

„General Ciara, thank you for answering my call,“ Franek said and greeted her with his palm stretched out.

She took it with strength and smiled.

„Sir Franek, I see that you really did need our help after all, but not against Wilmer‘s thralls, I noticed,“ the woman, I heard was named Ciara, said.

Did she just call us Wilmer‘s thralls? We aren‘t his thralls! And this turn of events is bad. Really bad. Now it is four against. . . Ah, screw it, I don‘t need to count anymore. We are basically screwed, and I won‘t be able to go off world.

„Ciara, if you please,“ Franek said and gestured towards the artifact-kypseli.

„As you wish, Sir,“ he answered and stood tall, lifting up the sword.

I remembered Ethan talking to me about what they found in the vault of Mount Kamlin. Nothing but a sword with the hilt of serpent heads, the blade pitch black as space itself. And he heard from the butler of the Quenton family that it is stronger than Franeks‘ artifact.

Ciara, the general of the soldiers, gripped her sword with both hands and readied herself to strike.

„Program!“ The sword started to glow, and a strange whirring sound was suddenly coming from the sword. „Devastation!“

She threw the sword down, still clutching the hilt, and a wave of electrifying golden energy erupted from the blade. It was clouded by a black smog, and as it flew across the battle, it made a loud noise of metal scraping against metal. It collided with the organic tank, and it shrieked as two of its legs containing zettra cores were severed from the body. Not only that, but part of the main body also was hit by the effect, scorch marks seethed the carapace, and then the flesh was shown. It‘s weak spots were open.

The soldiers roared and barraged the organic tank with every artifact they held. And I knew it was my time to run.

I saw that Ciara‘s sword didn‘t run out of zettra power, it still looked strong, and she was already calling out the same program again.

With the same effect, the main zettra core of the artifact-kypseli broke apart, and its shards flew in all directions, along with the gem I needed.

I quickly took action and ran towards the gem, it landed close to Ivona, and she noticed me running towards it, and she knew there was something about it. She grabbed it and held it with her left hand, her crossbow with her right, and it was aiming at me.

„Vincent! Give me the shield!“ She said with authority and calmness.

„I told you, I won‘t, I need it to escape from here!“ I shouted.

She glanced at the gem she held with curiosity.

„What is this?“ She asked. „It looks rather important to you.“

„That is none of your business, just like with the shield.“

„If you won‘t tell me then I will just split it in two!“

She threw it in the air, and brandished her sword from her sheath.

I cursed and aimed at her with the trigger already being pulled back.

„No!“ I heard from behind.

I didn‘t think much of it, I needed to take her out! I needed that gem more than anything! This is the only way I know to get back. And I will get back to my timeline.

As I pulled the trigger, and the barrel was already shooting off the bolt, someone kicked my artifact and the bolt was shot in the air. My blaster landed not so far and I glared at the girl who stopped me.

Ivy glared back, but quickly aimed her bow and called her program.

„Program! Bind!“ She called and her arrow changed as it flew towards Ivona.

The arrow split open, and the net covered Ivona and tightened around her. She couldn‘t move as she writhed on the ground, still holding on to her artifact.

The gem fell by her, and I ran up to it and held it with my hand. Feeling its hard and smooth surface, I brushed off the small bits of the zettra core. The gem was blue in color, or more like azure blue. It had no shapes like it was made from an artisan, though it was smooth, it was still crude on the edges. And as I held it close to the shield, both Ethan‘s artifact and the gem glowed, they were linked together.

I opened my pocket to store it, but a different hand gripped it and took it away from me with speed. I turned to see Franek. And he held the gem.

„Vincent, I do believe this is what you summons call an artifact gemstone. And I know what it is used for,“ Franek said and scowled.

„Give. That. Back.“ I said angrily.

I was losing my composure, I need to clear my head.

There were only a few kypseli left, the soldiers were continuing to deal with them. The artifact-kypseli was still alive, but only having a few cores left has left it too weak from being a big threat.

„How about this, Vincent, an honorable duel. If I win, I get your shield, and I hold on to this gem. But if you win, you can keep the gem and Ethan‘s shield.“

There was no way I was going to run, I needed that gem. And after all, due to the soldiers here, there was nowhere I could run to. I needed to fight him, and I needed to win.

„I accept,“ I said and already finished filling my blaster with a zettra stone.