- Location
- North America
someone find a therapist for the bots that watched him mutilate himself
Fabricated Hazards (factorio fanfic)
- Location
- England
as much as I like the main story the 40k and alt universe timeline are more interesting and fun to me. anyway thanks for the update
With how they're essentially children in terms of emotions (aside from 2b), I'd expect them to be heavily traumatized by the sight of their "deity" ripping out chunks of himself and leaving them on the ground. One of the minds will have to learn how to work with trauma or just straight up erase the memories off the androids, although the former might be better as the engineer is also heavily affected by what he's become
Honestly I enjoy all, though I'd love to see the next part of RWBY in nauvis as the last one was a real cliffhanger
Answered questions #50
- Pronouns
- That/Thing
not an inaccurate way of describing what he was becoming, even if it was unintentional. though admittedly with Nauvis making his bones slowly turn to metal as well its even more apt.
Thanks! I did this by not sleeping for a day and a half and then writing this without blinking, it helped with immersion.
you still have the minds, and the fact that literally every other character is a machine of some sort. actually technically speaking he is the least eligible to be a perfect machine overlord.
they've seen worse, given they are YoRHa droids. which just means they need even more therapy.
I hear that alot, and its the main reason I even write the 40K thing still.
oh they all have way more trauma from before this, they are child soldiers who were taught to suffer in silence and show no emotion. oddly enough that means they are kind of desensitized to most of it. and he's less a deity to this group in particular given how much time they spent together. the only ones actually worshiping him and androids who've never actually met with and spoken to him at any significant length.
a mind built towards dealing with emotions would probably help with the emerging intelligence of the engineers machines.
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hitting a bit of a writers block, which I am attributing to the fact I can barely sleep for no discernable reason and am having some trouble focusing on writing. gonna try and have ch 45 written and posted to patreon, especially given It's about 1.3k words, but I make no promises.
this might be a hiatus, even if its just for a week while I try and build a backlog or even just take a short break. don't know yet.
Ah so that's how you make them feel so real! Just take better care of yourself, don't want you getting burned out.
By the way, a small upload schedule would be nice, even if it's just an approximate date for the next chapter or two
- Pronouns
- That/Thing
It's been on a Monday and Friday schedule for a couple months now, baring a few exceptions.
Ah, gotcha. It would also be nice to know what chapter is coming next, not sure if you include it somewhere but I believe next few are all Nier related
Best chapter yet, legit had me pacing my room whilst reading it.
Also what are your policies on fan made Apocrypha?
Also Also are you planning to create another Nauvis interlude? And I don't mean a short one weaved into a wonderful narrative I mean a full on chapter for a Nauvis interlude like the first one. Or even another interlude from the minds. They were always extremely interesting.
Also what are your policies on fan made Apocrypha?
Also Also are you planning to create another Nauvis interlude? And I don't mean a short one weaved into a wonderful narrative I mean a full on chapter for a Nauvis interlude like the first one. Or even another interlude from the minds. They were always extremely interesting.
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- Pronouns
- That/Thing
I love fan made content, even if I haven't gotten much. Part of the reason I wrote so much side content myself was to encourage it.
A nauvis interlude will happen when I think it needs to happen, I don't actually know when. A mind one will probably be coming soonish but it'll be in the rwby or warhammer one.
- Location
- UK
With the explosive pacing of the latest two chapters, if this continues at this pacing, I may no longer hold the capabilities to continue reading the main story. Luckily, the side-stories are still being written... But, for how much longer?
The Engineers Plight pt. 1
The messenger sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair outside of the commandants office. He has some bad new to relay and he is renown for a short temper and damaging equipment when sent bad news through the communications system. It's why the Federation had to switch from using electronic mail to instead using human messaging agents. Unfortunately for the messenger this current state of affairs did little to benefit him as it did the pockets of the federation.
Said messaging agents were always low ranks, as a slim majority of 53% wouldn't come back in one piece. But alas, the work was mandatory for any low ranks drafted into messaging services for the commandant. The worst part is that he didn't even know what he was delivering as it was inside of an enclosed envelope and he had explicit orders to never, under any circumstances open the envelope and or read the contents of said envelope to avoid tainting himself with classified information that was only for the commandant's eyes.
An electronic buzzer sounded and the messenger jumped up in his seat. He had been called in. He stood up and started towards the inconspicuous door of the commandant's office. With a small heave the mediocrely heavy door was opened to reveal the most underwhelming office anybody had ever seen in the history of underwhelming offices seen by humans. Even leaders of the long gone 21st centaury had somewhat iconic or impressive offices. The so called "White House" of the crippled United States of America had the oval office. The gone houses of parliament had their meeting hall... yet the commandant's office, the office of the most important person inside of the entire federation, was a small 5 metre wide 3 metre across room with an extremely simplistic metallic desk and 2 chairs. One office and one plastic. Like the ones in the waiting room. At least the table had a wooden covering so that it wasn't constantly freezing cold.
"Yes?" The commandant asked the messenger whilst staring at him intently.
"Ah, uh message sir." The messenger was quite clearly off kilter and fairly surprised by the commandant's lethal stare and mainly the fact that he didn't even look up he was just staring at the door from a few seconds before he even came inside the room. Alas, the messenger handed the envelope to the commandant and started towards the door, hoping to get out before whatever clearly bad news that was inside of the envelope caused himself harm.
"Halt." The commandant barked at the messenger whilst opening the envelope.
A sharp chill was sent down the messengers spine as he turned back towards the commandant.
Now, something you must know about the commandant was that while he was a simplistic man he was a military tactician at heart, and thus wore not a suit or, you know, normal clothes. Instead he wore a military generals outfit that looked at though it would fit best on an African warlord from the 21st centaury. Beret, medals and all. Not to say he was African. No he was white which made the outfit look almost as ridiculous as it did out of place in the year 2612.
The commandants face soured as he read. His face started to contort into such a fierce and roaring pot of anger that the messenger got ready to dart out of the room.
The commandant looked at the messenger.
"Get."
"Out."
The messenger immediately left as quickly as he could, leaving the commandant to his anger. As he left the waiting room he heard the commandant's monitor be catapulted into the door.
The dropship scheduled to be used by the Commandant was picked up by a vast magnetic functioning crane and carried to a launch bay before being surrounded by a veritable fleet of logistics and construction drones. It was being outfitted with an array of shields and weapons before being commandeered by the Commandant.
As the Commandant encroached on the ships deployable staircase his guards peeled off and entered a holding formation as the commandant ascended into the dropship. His arrival inside the ship was met by a series of salutes from the small crew whom was manning the vessel.
The Commandant paid them no heed as he moved towards the cryonic suspension chambers in the centre of the ship. This journey to the uncharted planet cluster that the signal was lost in would take a few months.
The Commandant entered his cryonic pod and was almost immediately injected with a fast acting poison to cease all cell function as the cryonic gas was pumped inside. He would be re-awoken soon.
As the commandant woke he immediately noticed that instead of being inside of the cryogenic pod he was outside the ship laying inside of a vast desert. He could see the ship with sight and was immediately drawn to it by the sight of a Class B engineer inspecting the ship and generally assessing whether to scrap or repair the ship. The commandant tapped the engineer on the shoulder and barked at it: "GET ME OFF THIS ROCK YOU WORTHLESS WORM" The class B looked at him for a few seconds, then turned back to his work. He had no desire to follow that order.
Authors Note:
That is all I currently have the will to write currently as it is my first time writing something that isn't for an exam. Let me know if I should continue.
Said messaging agents were always low ranks, as a slim majority of 53% wouldn't come back in one piece. But alas, the work was mandatory for any low ranks drafted into messaging services for the commandant. The worst part is that he didn't even know what he was delivering as it was inside of an enclosed envelope and he had explicit orders to never, under any circumstances open the envelope and or read the contents of said envelope to avoid tainting himself with classified information that was only for the commandant's eyes.
An electronic buzzer sounded and the messenger jumped up in his seat. He had been called in. He stood up and started towards the inconspicuous door of the commandant's office. With a small heave the mediocrely heavy door was opened to reveal the most underwhelming office anybody had ever seen in the history of underwhelming offices seen by humans. Even leaders of the long gone 21st centaury had somewhat iconic or impressive offices. The so called "White House" of the crippled United States of America had the oval office. The gone houses of parliament had their meeting hall... yet the commandant's office, the office of the most important person inside of the entire federation, was a small 5 metre wide 3 metre across room with an extremely simplistic metallic desk and 2 chairs. One office and one plastic. Like the ones in the waiting room. At least the table had a wooden covering so that it wasn't constantly freezing cold.
"Yes?" The commandant asked the messenger whilst staring at him intently.
"Ah, uh message sir." The messenger was quite clearly off kilter and fairly surprised by the commandant's lethal stare and mainly the fact that he didn't even look up he was just staring at the door from a few seconds before he even came inside the room. Alas, the messenger handed the envelope to the commandant and started towards the door, hoping to get out before whatever clearly bad news that was inside of the envelope caused himself harm.
"Halt." The commandant barked at the messenger whilst opening the envelope.
A sharp chill was sent down the messengers spine as he turned back towards the commandant.
Now, something you must know about the commandant was that while he was a simplistic man he was a military tactician at heart, and thus wore not a suit or, you know, normal clothes. Instead he wore a military generals outfit that looked at though it would fit best on an African warlord from the 21st centaury. Beret, medals and all. Not to say he was African. No he was white which made the outfit look almost as ridiculous as it did out of place in the year 2612.
The commandants face soured as he read. His face started to contort into such a fierce and roaring pot of anger that the messenger got ready to dart out of the room.
The commandant looked at the messenger.
"Get."
"Out."
The messenger immediately left as quickly as he could, leaving the commandant to his anger. As he left the waiting room he heard the commandant's monitor be catapulted into the door.
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The Commandant entered a large, industrial hangar flanked by his bodyguards. The hangar had huge steel struts on the roof and featured a vast array of patrol, combat, stealth, industrial, transportation and colonization ships. But today he would be taking a lightly defended and very vast dropship designed to take people 50 light years to 150 light years quickly before dropping them off.
The dropship scheduled to be used by the Commandant was picked up by a vast magnetic functioning crane and carried to a launch bay before being surrounded by a veritable fleet of logistics and construction drones. It was being outfitted with an array of shields and weapons before being commandeered by the Commandant.
As the Commandant encroached on the ships deployable staircase his guards peeled off and entered a holding formation as the commandant ascended into the dropship. His arrival inside the ship was met by a series of salutes from the small crew whom was manning the vessel.
The Commandant paid them no heed as he moved towards the cryonic suspension chambers in the centre of the ship. This journey to the uncharted planet cluster that the signal was lost in would take a few months.
The Commandant entered his cryonic pod and was almost immediately injected with a fast acting poison to cease all cell function as the cryonic gas was pumped inside. He would be re-awoken soon.
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Nauvis was calmly observing it's human when it noticed yet another presence of life in the empty void surrounding it. And as it reached out to it, it took note that it was very similar to the vessel that the human arrived in. Nauvis began to attempt to draw it closer before it stopped itself as it didn't want to destroy it like last time. Although, the damage had already been done. The shell was catapulting itself from the void at an insatiably fast rate. It began to enter Nauvis's atmosphere and started burning up from the extreme friction. Thankfully, at least some of the thrusters still worked, and automatically engaged to soften the fall of the crippled vessel around 20 thousand kilometres before it slammed into the ground. However, object travelling at near light speed don't enjoy slowing down and acted as if it was a rock being skipped on water. At least it wasn't actually inside the water.
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As the commandant woke he immediately noticed that instead of being inside of the cryogenic pod he was outside the ship laying inside of a vast desert. He could see the ship with sight and was immediately drawn to it by the sight of a Class B engineer inspecting the ship and generally assessing whether to scrap or repair the ship. The commandant tapped the engineer on the shoulder and barked at it: "GET ME OFF THIS ROCK YOU WORTHLESS WORM" The class B looked at him for a few seconds, then turned back to his work. He had no desire to follow that order.
Authors Note:
That is all I currently have the will to write currently as it is my first time writing something that isn't for an exam. Let me know if I should continue.
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Can I ask who the commandant is and where he is from, I feel like I am missing something?
- Location
- Hell
What?
Who is the commandant?
Which sauce he is from?
You gave a lot more questions with no answers.
Edit.ninja'd
Who is the commandant?
Which sauce he is from?
You gave a lot more questions with no answers.
Edit.ninja'd
If you go to Log 70 and read the bit about a Class B colonization ship going missing that's all the context you need. And for future reference on why nobody will come for the Commandant, he was going to where the engineer was MEANT to be dropped off to, not Nauvis.
- Location
- Israel
SO nauvis is somewhat inbetween earth and the original target, gotcha. Considering the hoatile lifeforms and Nauvis behavior, it's likely that remote observation either shows the planet as a barren rock, or as a toxic hellhole.
I'm sure the bugs eventually wiped off competitors by atmospheric saturation of acids/heqvy metals, it fits them as the absolute monsters of destruction they are. Or even it was an attempt by other land species/sea borne invader species to kill the rapidly reproducing insects which backfired as they evolved to use it and enhance themselves with it.
What if due to orbital patterns like geosynchronous orbits and rotational speed it could be possible that from earth nauvis just simply isnt visible
Snippets pt.5
- Pronouns
- That/Thing
Routine (familiar of zero)
Lousie had summoned a …human, a naked sleek man with well defined muscle, and somehow despite his nakedness the most catching features were on his face, his eyes were striking, like they saw everything there was to see, and his hair reached down to the small of his back, in a thick curling mane.
He was entirely unmarred by the light cloud of debris and dust still falling around him, his skin remaining pale and unblemished by even the notion of dirt. His eyes which had so paralyzed her slowly swept over the crowd of students, and then the man… let out a sigh? And a skintight black suit just oozed out from him, covering his flesh up to his chin, not even leaving his hands and feet exposed.
His gaze rested on Colbert, and the inhumanly perfect man spoke… gibberish. Lousie saw her teacher look around for a moment, before he hesitantly spoke "we… can't understand you, Lousie finished the ritual and bind your familiar" She gave a short nod at that and started walking towards her new familiar, he may not be a dragon or some other grand beast but…. Lousie couldn't bring herself to be disappointed. Something about him just screamed majesty.
She walked towards him, his stare boring into her and his gaze only intensifying as she got closer, but he made no move to do anything. Louise wasn't even sure he was breathing, and he certainly hadn't blinked. She got within a few feet of him before she suddenly froze in place, unable to move. The man reached up with a hand and touched her temples, and time seemed to freeze. Her entire world became the sensation of his hand on her temples, and the sensation spread until even sight started to fade.
After a few moments, or an eternity she wasn't certain, Lousie came back to her body. The man spoke again though the words weren't from his mouth. "Words and Language, oddly complicated things to learn. I suppose introductions are in order, I am The Engineer."
Even if his means of communication were odd Louise was finally getting back onto familiar ground, "I am Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, and you are to be my Familiar". It was only polite to let him know of his immediate future, and projecting a confident image was only proper for a noble. The now identified engineer let out a faint scoff at that, "a lifetime of servitude? For what? A bit of power? No, I do not think I will"
It was then Lousie figured out a fact she had somehow forgotten, she still couldn't move her body below her neck. Like she was trapped in rock, even if she wanted to, she couldn't finish the ritual and bind him, not unless he allowed her to move. And given the fact he had turned his gaze from her, staring back at the crowd behind her that was unlikely. Louise went to call out, though she didn't know what she'd say, but she found herself incapable of opening her mouth.
But she could still hear the man's voice, seemingly coming from everywhere around her. "Forgive my temporary restrictions of your movements, most magics are somatic in use, if one cannot move or speak they cannot cast, and you're all normal humans in terms of strength and durability." by now Louise couldn't see the man, and she had the oddest impression that she wasn't the one being talked to. "I'd imagine you're this class's teacher? A magic school if my guess is correct? I'll free your head so you can shake it yes or no. Yes to both? Good. If I let you move, will you attack? No, and not a lie! Good on you" with that Louise could suddenly move, and she turned around. Half the students had fallen over in their haste to move away from the man, and the grand majority of the familiars were cowering.
She watched Colbert step in front of the man, standing between him and the bulk of the students. A faint sheen of sweat on his face and a white knuckle grip on his wand. If Louise had to guess, Colbert had been straining against the hold. Colbert spoke, a strained smile on his face "I'm Colbert, A professor at this academy. I apologize on behalf of my students for any inconvenience we may have caused you my good sir" the now terrifying thing she had summoned shrugged his shoulders "less of an inconvenience than you'd imagine, at least I wasn't summoned in the middle of a battle or an ocean this time, a school courtyard is practically mundane"
Colbert latched onto that thread, "your summoned places often?" and the man nodded at that, sitting down in the air like a chair had formed under him. "At least once a month after I 'resolve' the prior summoning. Either by beating the 'demon lord', solving some world ending issue, or just opening a portal back home" Colbert had a skeptical look on his face, but wisely chose not to openly question the man's claim of fighting demons. "Then I would assume you have some method of returning home yourself? We sadly lack the means to reverse a Familiars summoning."
The man shook his head, "I won't need to, could but in about… 4 minutes? A portal will be opened to my current location. Though I will warn you they will be expecting a fight of some sort on this side, getting thrown into a peaceful situation like this is nearly unheard of. Shouldn't take long to calm things down though, might be best to get the kids inside. And maybe get your head master down here." he lets out a faint shiver "for diplomacy"
--------------------------------------------------
Rules were not made for the strong
I knew intellectually that I shouldn't be doing this, not that it was the wrong thing to do, more in that it was simply impossible. But I don't think I've ever cared about what's possible, so I was doing it regardless.
Pyrrha's death has happened quickly, not even a corpse left behind. That would have made my work too simple, it would have been theoretically possible. No, there had only been dust. Though the same could be said of the woman who killed her, an airborne target was one without cover.
This world had something called aura , a manifestation of one's soul used to shield them. A soul was a non-physical part of the body containing one's true self. They believed the soul lasted after death.
I did not know if this was true, but it did not need to be. The existence of a soul would only make my impossible task easier, a non-issue.
I myself worked on something similarly non-physical, concepts the crystallization of what something was what it embodied. Superficially similar to souls, but instead of being limited to solely living things it was the 'soul' of everything.
It was this that I would be relying on, what cannot be replaced should not be lost. A simple phrase and one I aimed to make true.
Without a body gathering the concept of Pyrrha was difficult, DNA was simple, blood stores and samples had been gathered. But that was not all Pyrrha was. Mementos and cherished objects where gathered, art projects, trophies, childhood toys, everything Pyrrha had been.
That had been the easy part, but that complied essence hadn't just been Pyrrha there had been impurities and waste. It had taken copious refinement and enough energy to burn several planets to purify it.
And the result? It was Beautiful. Simple base concepts had some oddness to them, something that made them other. But something as advanced as the embodiment of a person? It'd was complex enough that even I couldn't actually comprehend it. It was everything Pyrrha had been.
This, while difficult, was still possible to do, everything had a concept, this included people. Distilling it just had no true purpose, the only noticeable thing Pyrrha's concept did was shift the magnetic flow within the room. That and sparkle.
Still the presence of her semblance was somewhat expected, it was a part of her. An integral piece at that. But it was a good sign, implying that her soul existed, and that it recognized itself.
Crafting her a clone body from leftover blood was comparatively simple, and I soon had the concept of Pyrrha and a vessel for it. But a comatose body and a single droplet of liquid did not a person make.
I needed to merge them, the impossibility I had been dreading. Concepts did not like being changed, even into a shape they had previously been. The liquid would remain a liquid, the only thing it could be used for was to gain a greater understanding of its 'concept'.
There simply was not a way to get the concept to merge with the body. And so I needed to make one.
Reality is composed of rules and energy, at its core that is all reality is. Even matter is just energy formed from rules, even concepts are just a greater expression of energy and rules.
But I couldn't bring myself to care, I sank into the realm of concepts, consuming every concept I could produce at a constant rate. And I started to understand that what I was trying to do could not be done. But still, I did not care. I set to work regardless.
The body was modified and turned into a beautiful hybrid of machine and flesh, something better suited towards surviving what I would need to put it through, made more durable than either could have been on their own.
Reality was composed of unbreakable rules, but none of those rules say a new rule cannot be added, none of the rules say a rule cannot change another. Many rules even do as such, gravity affects time after all.
Making a rule of reality was not possible, at least not with my current power, not a true one. But in a small area, and with power enough, one can nudge a rule into place for a few instants, with even more the second needed rule can be crafted. Leaving me with milliseconds to do what I had too.
Crafting the machines had not taken me long, gathering the power needed was simple if one understood the very concept of energy. I had come as close to ascendance as I could, and the only limits on me were what I could accomplish before the concepts ran through my system.
My smile as reality was torn and remade within my image would have struck fear even into my minds, but they had long since stopped being able to understand anything in the facility I had crafted for this purpose. And as such there was no-one to witness it.
The strings holding existence true stretched under my might and I contorted them into shape, and in a moment that stretched on far longer than it should have, my will was done.
On her bed Pyrrha took her first breath in her new body, and I smiled. I felt her mind link up with my own, and with careful effort kept her from being absorbed into my own mind, a thin wall keeping her out of the greater factory. I felt as she Marveled at her own 'miraculous survival' and stared at her new body, feeling it with even more clarity than her previous vessel.
There was nothing I could not do, even if only for a few moments, and even if those moments had long since passed.
I wouldn't lose anything or anyone ever again. and if I did? well that could be fixed couldn't it?
(after this these are incomplete, as in the muse ran dry for em)
The Orbs
One would think the group of self replicating eldritch machines, known only as 'orbs' would be more of a concern to the residents of the factory. One would be wrong, it was hardly the weirdest thing that could be found in the depths of the tangled mass of machines, and they never did anything overtly harmful. And even if they were self replicating, there were only ever two of the things, probably, at least there were only ever two seen at the same time.
The orbs were of no concern to those of the factory, like wouldn't harm like. But what of those outside the factory, what of its enemies?
Theology (warhammer)
I didn't actually like a large portion of the primarchs, I mean I got along well enough with the majority but that was in small doses.
Logar was one of the ones I could only handle in the smallest of doses. He was just…. Overbearing. Constantly preaching about this or that and only using the simplest of tactics in any engagement he fought.
Also he was annoying. His voice was somehow grating, and given his genetic modifications included perfect vocal control that meant he spoke like that intentionally, for some reason that even the god he prayed to couldn't figure out.
But Logar needed someone to talk to him, and leaving it to the emperor was about as poor an idea I could think of on short notice.
As much as I disliked the way the emperor was rushing us to push the great crusade so fast, I understood it. And Logar wasting time to preach about worshiping a god that didn't want to be worshiped in the first place? Not exactly tolerable.
So as I so often needed too I set out to work at this problem before the emperor was inclined to handle it with exactly zero tolerance or grace.
I was going to be getting into a theological debate with a devout superhuman, and only my greater understanding of how gods actually worked would give me any semblance of advantage.
The Engineer's Dragon
Labyrinthine was somewhat confused by a few of the engineers' new build orders, what uses did an artificial cave filled with golden coins and metallic statues of specifically 'precious' metal? And why was the engineer taking personal care of a small winged reptile? It was normally Byzantine who picked up odd creatures from worlds they went through.
Still the design was interesting, and when the creature was an adult it would be quite large, the cavern needed to be sized appropriately. Apparently the creatures didn't actually stop growing, so room to expand was a must.
Dozens of drones took stones of all colors and variations and began to make a mosaic of colors in the shape of a cave, hours later another set of drones flew in and started adding metal accents to the designs, as well as reinforcing the cave walls and floors to house a creature of 'supernatural' strength without much wear and tear. Then small alcoves were carved, some to house the statues and others for the lizard to sleep in while it was still small.
It was only the work of a few hours for the expansive cavern network to be completed, large enough to house a 30 meter flying lizard comfortably.
AN-
I'm back, figure I have to say. this rwby thing aint canon to anything but itself, including rules and how things work.
if any of the incomplete snippets drew you in I might add on to them if ya give ideas, or if you just wanna go finish them yourselves if your the creative sort.
Lousie had summoned a …human, a naked sleek man with well defined muscle, and somehow despite his nakedness the most catching features were on his face, his eyes were striking, like they saw everything there was to see, and his hair reached down to the small of his back, in a thick curling mane.
He was entirely unmarred by the light cloud of debris and dust still falling around him, his skin remaining pale and unblemished by even the notion of dirt. His eyes which had so paralyzed her slowly swept over the crowd of students, and then the man… let out a sigh? And a skintight black suit just oozed out from him, covering his flesh up to his chin, not even leaving his hands and feet exposed.
His gaze rested on Colbert, and the inhumanly perfect man spoke… gibberish. Lousie saw her teacher look around for a moment, before he hesitantly spoke "we… can't understand you, Lousie finished the ritual and bind your familiar" She gave a short nod at that and started walking towards her new familiar, he may not be a dragon or some other grand beast but…. Lousie couldn't bring herself to be disappointed. Something about him just screamed majesty.
She walked towards him, his stare boring into her and his gaze only intensifying as she got closer, but he made no move to do anything. Louise wasn't even sure he was breathing, and he certainly hadn't blinked. She got within a few feet of him before she suddenly froze in place, unable to move. The man reached up with a hand and touched her temples, and time seemed to freeze. Her entire world became the sensation of his hand on her temples, and the sensation spread until even sight started to fade.
After a few moments, or an eternity she wasn't certain, Lousie came back to her body. The man spoke again though the words weren't from his mouth. "Words and Language, oddly complicated things to learn. I suppose introductions are in order, I am The Engineer."
Even if his means of communication were odd Louise was finally getting back onto familiar ground, "I am Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, and you are to be my Familiar". It was only polite to let him know of his immediate future, and projecting a confident image was only proper for a noble. The now identified engineer let out a faint scoff at that, "a lifetime of servitude? For what? A bit of power? No, I do not think I will"
It was then Lousie figured out a fact she had somehow forgotten, she still couldn't move her body below her neck. Like she was trapped in rock, even if she wanted to, she couldn't finish the ritual and bind him, not unless he allowed her to move. And given the fact he had turned his gaze from her, staring back at the crowd behind her that was unlikely. Louise went to call out, though she didn't know what she'd say, but she found herself incapable of opening her mouth.
But she could still hear the man's voice, seemingly coming from everywhere around her. "Forgive my temporary restrictions of your movements, most magics are somatic in use, if one cannot move or speak they cannot cast, and you're all normal humans in terms of strength and durability." by now Louise couldn't see the man, and she had the oddest impression that she wasn't the one being talked to. "I'd imagine you're this class's teacher? A magic school if my guess is correct? I'll free your head so you can shake it yes or no. Yes to both? Good. If I let you move, will you attack? No, and not a lie! Good on you" with that Louise could suddenly move, and she turned around. Half the students had fallen over in their haste to move away from the man, and the grand majority of the familiars were cowering.
She watched Colbert step in front of the man, standing between him and the bulk of the students. A faint sheen of sweat on his face and a white knuckle grip on his wand. If Louise had to guess, Colbert had been straining against the hold. Colbert spoke, a strained smile on his face "I'm Colbert, A professor at this academy. I apologize on behalf of my students for any inconvenience we may have caused you my good sir" the now terrifying thing she had summoned shrugged his shoulders "less of an inconvenience than you'd imagine, at least I wasn't summoned in the middle of a battle or an ocean this time, a school courtyard is practically mundane"
Colbert latched onto that thread, "your summoned places often?" and the man nodded at that, sitting down in the air like a chair had formed under him. "At least once a month after I 'resolve' the prior summoning. Either by beating the 'demon lord', solving some world ending issue, or just opening a portal back home" Colbert had a skeptical look on his face, but wisely chose not to openly question the man's claim of fighting demons. "Then I would assume you have some method of returning home yourself? We sadly lack the means to reverse a Familiars summoning."
The man shook his head, "I won't need to, could but in about… 4 minutes? A portal will be opened to my current location. Though I will warn you they will be expecting a fight of some sort on this side, getting thrown into a peaceful situation like this is nearly unheard of. Shouldn't take long to calm things down though, might be best to get the kids inside. And maybe get your head master down here." he lets out a faint shiver "for diplomacy"
--------------------------------------------------
Rules were not made for the strong
I knew intellectually that I shouldn't be doing this, not that it was the wrong thing to do, more in that it was simply impossible. But I don't think I've ever cared about what's possible, so I was doing it regardless.
Pyrrha's death has happened quickly, not even a corpse left behind. That would have made my work too simple, it would have been theoretically possible. No, there had only been dust. Though the same could be said of the woman who killed her, an airborne target was one without cover.
This world had something called aura , a manifestation of one's soul used to shield them. A soul was a non-physical part of the body containing one's true self. They believed the soul lasted after death.
I did not know if this was true, but it did not need to be. The existence of a soul would only make my impossible task easier, a non-issue.
I myself worked on something similarly non-physical, concepts the crystallization of what something was what it embodied. Superficially similar to souls, but instead of being limited to solely living things it was the 'soul' of everything.
It was this that I would be relying on, what cannot be replaced should not be lost. A simple phrase and one I aimed to make true.
Without a body gathering the concept of Pyrrha was difficult, DNA was simple, blood stores and samples had been gathered. But that was not all Pyrrha was. Mementos and cherished objects where gathered, art projects, trophies, childhood toys, everything Pyrrha had been.
That had been the easy part, but that complied essence hadn't just been Pyrrha there had been impurities and waste. It had taken copious refinement and enough energy to burn several planets to purify it.
And the result? It was Beautiful. Simple base concepts had some oddness to them, something that made them other. But something as advanced as the embodiment of a person? It'd was complex enough that even I couldn't actually comprehend it. It was everything Pyrrha had been.
This, while difficult, was still possible to do, everything had a concept, this included people. Distilling it just had no true purpose, the only noticeable thing Pyrrha's concept did was shift the magnetic flow within the room. That and sparkle.
Still the presence of her semblance was somewhat expected, it was a part of her. An integral piece at that. But it was a good sign, implying that her soul existed, and that it recognized itself.
Crafting her a clone body from leftover blood was comparatively simple, and I soon had the concept of Pyrrha and a vessel for it. But a comatose body and a single droplet of liquid did not a person make.
I needed to merge them, the impossibility I had been dreading. Concepts did not like being changed, even into a shape they had previously been. The liquid would remain a liquid, the only thing it could be used for was to gain a greater understanding of its 'concept'.
There simply was not a way to get the concept to merge with the body. And so I needed to make one.
Reality is composed of rules and energy, at its core that is all reality is. Even matter is just energy formed from rules, even concepts are just a greater expression of energy and rules.
But I couldn't bring myself to care, I sank into the realm of concepts, consuming every concept I could produce at a constant rate. And I started to understand that what I was trying to do could not be done. But still, I did not care. I set to work regardless.
The body was modified and turned into a beautiful hybrid of machine and flesh, something better suited towards surviving what I would need to put it through, made more durable than either could have been on their own.
Reality was composed of unbreakable rules, but none of those rules say a new rule cannot be added, none of the rules say a rule cannot change another. Many rules even do as such, gravity affects time after all.
Making a rule of reality was not possible, at least not with my current power, not a true one. But in a small area, and with power enough, one can nudge a rule into place for a few instants, with even more the second needed rule can be crafted. Leaving me with milliseconds to do what I had too.
Crafting the machines had not taken me long, gathering the power needed was simple if one understood the very concept of energy. I had come as close to ascendance as I could, and the only limits on me were what I could accomplish before the concepts ran through my system.
My smile as reality was torn and remade within my image would have struck fear even into my minds, but they had long since stopped being able to understand anything in the facility I had crafted for this purpose. And as such there was no-one to witness it.
The strings holding existence true stretched under my might and I contorted them into shape, and in a moment that stretched on far longer than it should have, my will was done.
On her bed Pyrrha took her first breath in her new body, and I smiled. I felt her mind link up with my own, and with careful effort kept her from being absorbed into my own mind, a thin wall keeping her out of the greater factory. I felt as she Marveled at her own 'miraculous survival' and stared at her new body, feeling it with even more clarity than her previous vessel.
There was nothing I could not do, even if only for a few moments, and even if those moments had long since passed.
I wouldn't lose anything or anyone ever again. and if I did? well that could be fixed couldn't it?
(after this these are incomplete, as in the muse ran dry for em)
The Orbs
One would think the group of self replicating eldritch machines, known only as 'orbs' would be more of a concern to the residents of the factory. One would be wrong, it was hardly the weirdest thing that could be found in the depths of the tangled mass of machines, and they never did anything overtly harmful. And even if they were self replicating, there were only ever two of the things, probably, at least there were only ever two seen at the same time.
The orbs were of no concern to those of the factory, like wouldn't harm like. But what of those outside the factory, what of its enemies?
Theology (warhammer)
I didn't actually like a large portion of the primarchs, I mean I got along well enough with the majority but that was in small doses.
Logar was one of the ones I could only handle in the smallest of doses. He was just…. Overbearing. Constantly preaching about this or that and only using the simplest of tactics in any engagement he fought.
Also he was annoying. His voice was somehow grating, and given his genetic modifications included perfect vocal control that meant he spoke like that intentionally, for some reason that even the god he prayed to couldn't figure out.
But Logar needed someone to talk to him, and leaving it to the emperor was about as poor an idea I could think of on short notice.
As much as I disliked the way the emperor was rushing us to push the great crusade so fast, I understood it. And Logar wasting time to preach about worshiping a god that didn't want to be worshiped in the first place? Not exactly tolerable.
So as I so often needed too I set out to work at this problem before the emperor was inclined to handle it with exactly zero tolerance or grace.
I was going to be getting into a theological debate with a devout superhuman, and only my greater understanding of how gods actually worked would give me any semblance of advantage.
The Engineer's Dragon
Labyrinthine was somewhat confused by a few of the engineers' new build orders, what uses did an artificial cave filled with golden coins and metallic statues of specifically 'precious' metal? And why was the engineer taking personal care of a small winged reptile? It was normally Byzantine who picked up odd creatures from worlds they went through.
Still the design was interesting, and when the creature was an adult it would be quite large, the cavern needed to be sized appropriately. Apparently the creatures didn't actually stop growing, so room to expand was a must.
Dozens of drones took stones of all colors and variations and began to make a mosaic of colors in the shape of a cave, hours later another set of drones flew in and started adding metal accents to the designs, as well as reinforcing the cave walls and floors to house a creature of 'supernatural' strength without much wear and tear. Then small alcoves were carved, some to house the statues and others for the lizard to sleep in while it was still small.
It was only the work of a few hours for the expansive cavern network to be completed, large enough to house a 30 meter flying lizard comfortably.
AN-
I'm back, figure I have to say. this rwby thing aint canon to anything but itself, including rules and how things work.
if any of the incomplete snippets drew you in I might add on to them if ya give ideas, or if you just wanna go finish them yourselves if your the creative sort.
- Location
- UK
I am sure the construction of the cave is for a new pet and definitely not, a specialized care suite for the new bioweapon the Engineer found...
I wonder how the Engineer from TeamFortress 2 would react to Nauvis's Engineer. They both build automatic turrets and a Dispenser almost acts like a miniature factory... Is that where their similarities end?
I wonder how the Engineer from TeamFortress 2 would react to Nauvis's Engineer. They both build automatic turrets and a Dispenser almost acts like a miniature factory... Is that where their similarities end?
- Location
- Earth
A greater similarity would be between the Engineer and the Damazti Cluster given how both of them are both singular individuals and the many at the same time, the main she might want to find out more if what the Doctor really is ever comes to light, something to starve off her own monotony induced madness and apathy.
My brain autocorrected this into 'Damocles Gulf' and I was left wondering why you where talking about a group of planets for a good minute or two.
Rwby pt.8
- Pronouns
- That/Thing
Weiss could only reminisce on her statement, she had been so very wrong. The 'Maker' was much worse than Jaune. Still she bottled her internal monologue and resolved not to make assumptions on incomplete information in the future.
It had started off okay, she had followed ruby into what could only be a training room, the floor covered in soft mats and multiple punching bags and targets were in the room. Not the best facilities she had seen but if Weiss's hunch was correct it had only been built that day.
The room itself was something she only passively noticed though, instead Weiss's eyes were drawn to the figure in the middle of the room, some six feet tall now that she could see his size relative to her own. It was the man they'd seen on the camera feed, this time clothed in shorts and a t-shirt, something distinctly reminiscent of Yang's own workout outfit.
It was odd to see a man in the outfit, but it was fitted properly for him, even if part of his stomach was exposed. Showing wiry muscles, the kind you built on a poor diet or from being pushed to hard on too few calories. Like he had been half starved at some point and was only now putting on some weight. Even with that half starved appearance he was too attractive if that could be said, his hair was well groomed, his skin had no imperfections, his features symmetrical.
He looked more like a detailed statue or drawing than a person, no details that could be considered 'ugly' or 'imperfect' were present. If it wasn't for his rampant scars it'd have been disturbing to look at, but with them it was just odd.
Ruby, ever one to rush ahead, was the first one to stop gawking at the man, dashing forward in a burst with her semblance and reappearing just a few feet from him with a bright smile and sticking her hand out. "Hello! I'm Ruby, I never thanked you for keeping me out of the reactor so…. Thank you!" The Maker reached out and shook the offered hand, while Yang just went over to the weight bench and Blake to a small rock wall and obstacle course on one of the walls. Both trusting Ruby to handle the bulk of the work, but Weiss stayed watching her partner.
"I know you can't talk but that doesn't mean you can't understand me right?" Weiss could only hope the man wasn't overwhelmed by Ruby's … rubyness. Stepping forward and speaking in a significantly calmer manner "now Ruby we were going to see about teaching him basic combat skills remember?" and to do that she needed to see what level he was actually at, and given how the other half of their team were now busy with other tasks… Weiss was the best suited for it.
"Unarmed combat I would imagine?" she could only assume, given the lack of any noticeable weapon on him. That got her a short nod as he turned away and strode towards what could only be a training arena. One that looked oddly similar to the one in use at beacon.
Weiss followed him, and once both were in the arena and without any ceremony Weiss lunged at him with a burst of aura enhanced speed.
This is when Weiss realized what Balistraia had meant by 'bad at fighting' he didn't bother ducking, weaving, or even giving a counter strike to her intentionally somewhat open guard, he just met her lunge by standing relatively still and lashing out with an overhead strike.
Weiss easily sidestepped this and struck him in the chin, doing no noticeable damage, in fact he didn't even flinch and it felt like she'd struck pure metal. But the rest of the fight continued as such, he fought like a machine, but not like an atlas war robot. Like an assembly line machine, just receptive and consistent blows. They had force, and would seriously dent her aura if they hit, but they never did.
If she had been an armored door, or a vein of ore then Weiss would have had trouble, but given she had this wonderful invention called legs and a brain she was more than cable of slowly whittling him down without taking a single hit herself, even when he started moving more erratically and with even greater speed.
Eventually she just got behind him and when he inevitably turned, always turning clockwise for some odd reason, she tripped him by messing up his positively abysmal footwork.
If there was one positive it was that he took to instruction well, she demonstrated correct footing once and then he had it, at least he had the exact positions she taught him, if she even lightly changed her strategy he couldn't really compensate. He had no fighting instinct whatsoever.
Eventually Weiss got tired, both physically and mentally, his blows were fast and strong and did in fact hit on occasion, and Weiss had determined early on that the only way to teach him was to have him learn a broad set of responses to attacks from different angles and positions.
Ruby had subbed in for her and Weiss got to watch from the side of the arena, better helping her to see how exactly her teaching had taken effect and….. It wasn't the worst, he reacted quickly and no matter where Ruby went with her semblance he seemed to know and react. But there still wasn't a plan in his mind for actually beating Ruby, just outlasting her or eventually getting a lucky hit in. no feints, no attempting to limit her mobility, no anything really. And if he had trouble fighting Weiss.. Well Ruby's mobility but her own to shame.
He had potential, he was strong, he didn't seem to even know how to get tired, and he was fast and durable. Even now that whatever pseudo aura he had had worn off none of the hits Ruby got in seemed to bother him, even if they moved him they never left a bruise or a mark. So it wasn't like his strategy of 'wear them down' wasn't viable, he just wasn't very good at executing it.
Eventually even Ruby's energetic nature ran dry and she started flagging, and the Maker was about to actually hit her with one of his hammering blows. But just before he could his arm stopped dead in its tracks and he pulled it back, then with a short nod of his head he gestured for her to leave the arena. It showed how tired Ruby was that she only lightly protested, even if he wasn't a good fighter he was rather fun to practice against.
That had been two hours ago and not even a minute after Ruby left the arena did Yang enter it. If anything the maker had been fairing the best against her, even if her hits did the first noticeable damage to him, she didn;t bother dodging all his blows, just the heavy ones. They both had smiles on their faces while pummeling each other in said faces, though the Makers was faint, especially compared to Yang's radiant one.
Blake was just looking on the fight with faint exasperation, while Ruby was cheering with every hit Yang got in, and wincing with every returning blow that Yang let land. The Maker had been fighting against trainee huntsmen for three hours now, with her and Ruby having taken the first, and Weiss once again upped her estimation of his endurance, he wasn't even sweating or breathing heavily, just slow deep breaths.
------
My mind is barely paying attention as the fist crashes into my jaw, the pain fairly faint and something easily ignored. My teeth and bones have both been reinforced and it'd take far more force than that to dislocate my jaw, even more to even slightly disorient me. My brain being the most heavily armored and cushioned part of my body.
The minds forced me to dress up in new clothes and 'engage in physical enrichment' with the group I took in, something about interacting with members of my own species being good for my mental health. Personally I think my mental health is sublime, even disregarding the fact I routinely talk to myself, and that I did that well before I knew the minds were listening.
I took a slow breath in, one of an infinite many now that my lungs functioned on a pseudo biological clock. Each breath timed to draw the most oxygen out of my environment as possible. My feet slid into one of the positions I had seen Yang use, with my differing height and shape I couldn't help but feel slightly unbalanced. I much preferred a more stable position even if it didn't lend itself to quick and forceful attacks and counters. My arm took the position Weiss had recommended and rocketed out, just barely scraping Yang, either I was getting better or she was getting tired given that the last time I had tried that I hadn't come close to hitting her.
Her countering elbow strike to my arm hit hard enough to dent most metals, and would have dislocated my elbow and shoulder before my augmentation, as it is my muscles were actually denser and tougher than steel cording. The blow did little but bring me further out of position as my body shifted with the force impacted, Yang brought up her knee to meet my stomach on its descent. The blow hit hard enough that my diaphragm actually caused me to let out of huph of air.
Still now I was low to the ground and Yang did have one foot in the air. My mind looked back at every instance I had been tripped and I soon found the one most similar to this, I had tried to kick Ruby and she had grabbed my leg and twisted me over her head before throwing me to the ground. That had actually hurt, and had been the thing to do in my shields, which even now hadn't actually been given time to refill.
My arms lash out and grab her knee, and then it's simple engineering with my body as the fulcrum. I fling Yang over myself, adding speed and power by twisting my torso and leaning down to put even greater weight in the toss. I watch in slow motion as her eyes go wide, if she'd been expecting retaliation she would've been able to twist or pry herself out of my grip, or even just land better. But after two hours of barely any successful counters? She'd gotten complacent.
It was only as she was moments from impact that I realized that I was doing a little too well, as in I was going to slam her far too hard into the floor. Immediately I stopped throwing her, let go, and triggered the shield net to slow her impact. It barely worked but I still saw and felt her aura break, but thankfully it left her with little more than a large bruise.
It's easy to forget what with their aura, strength, and durability. That without it these are just normal girls, and I am not and perhaps have never been, a normal human.
After that near disaster, without the safety nets I might have broken her legs. The team of huntresses were done, at least for the day. And the cat-human hybrid glowered at me for a few seconds when she thought I couldn't see, as if I had blind spots at all. Still, I knew this hadn't been a good idea.
-----------------
The next few weeks passed much the same, the girls slowly learned how to make use of their suits. Mastering the built in weapons, functions, and systems. Occasionally they would train with the maker, though never for as long as that first day. It had become a routine almost. Day after day of the same relatively bland meals.
Even the intricate and fascinating halls of the factory grew monotonous, the constant noise of industry becoming ever more grating.
The factory continued as it always had, the factory would churn out units and robots, they'd use the units to claim land, the land would be fortified and used to produce more units. The tides of chitin would rise and fall, crashing against the Factories and wearing them down, the tides would be beaten back or flood over the forts and outposts. More units would be built, more land would be taken. But slowly, ever so slowly, the factory grew. Every day just a little faster.
Then, not a week before the portal would supposedly reopen. The girls broached an utterly idiotic idea. They wanted to go bug hunting.
AN-
It's Friday somewhere, probably. Hope you enjoy this chapter, next ones gonna be the minds that got sent to remnant
Likes and reviews are great.
It had started off okay, she had followed ruby into what could only be a training room, the floor covered in soft mats and multiple punching bags and targets were in the room. Not the best facilities she had seen but if Weiss's hunch was correct it had only been built that day.
The room itself was something she only passively noticed though, instead Weiss's eyes were drawn to the figure in the middle of the room, some six feet tall now that she could see his size relative to her own. It was the man they'd seen on the camera feed, this time clothed in shorts and a t-shirt, something distinctly reminiscent of Yang's own workout outfit.
It was odd to see a man in the outfit, but it was fitted properly for him, even if part of his stomach was exposed. Showing wiry muscles, the kind you built on a poor diet or from being pushed to hard on too few calories. Like he had been half starved at some point and was only now putting on some weight. Even with that half starved appearance he was too attractive if that could be said, his hair was well groomed, his skin had no imperfections, his features symmetrical.
He looked more like a detailed statue or drawing than a person, no details that could be considered 'ugly' or 'imperfect' were present. If it wasn't for his rampant scars it'd have been disturbing to look at, but with them it was just odd.
Ruby, ever one to rush ahead, was the first one to stop gawking at the man, dashing forward in a burst with her semblance and reappearing just a few feet from him with a bright smile and sticking her hand out. "Hello! I'm Ruby, I never thanked you for keeping me out of the reactor so…. Thank you!" The Maker reached out and shook the offered hand, while Yang just went over to the weight bench and Blake to a small rock wall and obstacle course on one of the walls. Both trusting Ruby to handle the bulk of the work, but Weiss stayed watching her partner.
"I know you can't talk but that doesn't mean you can't understand me right?" Weiss could only hope the man wasn't overwhelmed by Ruby's … rubyness. Stepping forward and speaking in a significantly calmer manner "now Ruby we were going to see about teaching him basic combat skills remember?" and to do that she needed to see what level he was actually at, and given how the other half of their team were now busy with other tasks… Weiss was the best suited for it.
"Unarmed combat I would imagine?" she could only assume, given the lack of any noticeable weapon on him. That got her a short nod as he turned away and strode towards what could only be a training arena. One that looked oddly similar to the one in use at beacon.
Weiss followed him, and once both were in the arena and without any ceremony Weiss lunged at him with a burst of aura enhanced speed.
This is when Weiss realized what Balistraia had meant by 'bad at fighting' he didn't bother ducking, weaving, or even giving a counter strike to her intentionally somewhat open guard, he just met her lunge by standing relatively still and lashing out with an overhead strike.
Weiss easily sidestepped this and struck him in the chin, doing no noticeable damage, in fact he didn't even flinch and it felt like she'd struck pure metal. But the rest of the fight continued as such, he fought like a machine, but not like an atlas war robot. Like an assembly line machine, just receptive and consistent blows. They had force, and would seriously dent her aura if they hit, but they never did.
If she had been an armored door, or a vein of ore then Weiss would have had trouble, but given she had this wonderful invention called legs and a brain she was more than cable of slowly whittling him down without taking a single hit herself, even when he started moving more erratically and with even greater speed.
Eventually she just got behind him and when he inevitably turned, always turning clockwise for some odd reason, she tripped him by messing up his positively abysmal footwork.
If there was one positive it was that he took to instruction well, she demonstrated correct footing once and then he had it, at least he had the exact positions she taught him, if she even lightly changed her strategy he couldn't really compensate. He had no fighting instinct whatsoever.
Eventually Weiss got tired, both physically and mentally, his blows were fast and strong and did in fact hit on occasion, and Weiss had determined early on that the only way to teach him was to have him learn a broad set of responses to attacks from different angles and positions.
Ruby had subbed in for her and Weiss got to watch from the side of the arena, better helping her to see how exactly her teaching had taken effect and….. It wasn't the worst, he reacted quickly and no matter where Ruby went with her semblance he seemed to know and react. But there still wasn't a plan in his mind for actually beating Ruby, just outlasting her or eventually getting a lucky hit in. no feints, no attempting to limit her mobility, no anything really. And if he had trouble fighting Weiss.. Well Ruby's mobility but her own to shame.
He had potential, he was strong, he didn't seem to even know how to get tired, and he was fast and durable. Even now that whatever pseudo aura he had had worn off none of the hits Ruby got in seemed to bother him, even if they moved him they never left a bruise or a mark. So it wasn't like his strategy of 'wear them down' wasn't viable, he just wasn't very good at executing it.
Eventually even Ruby's energetic nature ran dry and she started flagging, and the Maker was about to actually hit her with one of his hammering blows. But just before he could his arm stopped dead in its tracks and he pulled it back, then with a short nod of his head he gestured for her to leave the arena. It showed how tired Ruby was that she only lightly protested, even if he wasn't a good fighter he was rather fun to practice against.
That had been two hours ago and not even a minute after Ruby left the arena did Yang enter it. If anything the maker had been fairing the best against her, even if her hits did the first noticeable damage to him, she didn;t bother dodging all his blows, just the heavy ones. They both had smiles on their faces while pummeling each other in said faces, though the Makers was faint, especially compared to Yang's radiant one.
Blake was just looking on the fight with faint exasperation, while Ruby was cheering with every hit Yang got in, and wincing with every returning blow that Yang let land. The Maker had been fighting against trainee huntsmen for three hours now, with her and Ruby having taken the first, and Weiss once again upped her estimation of his endurance, he wasn't even sweating or breathing heavily, just slow deep breaths.
------
My mind is barely paying attention as the fist crashes into my jaw, the pain fairly faint and something easily ignored. My teeth and bones have both been reinforced and it'd take far more force than that to dislocate my jaw, even more to even slightly disorient me. My brain being the most heavily armored and cushioned part of my body.
The minds forced me to dress up in new clothes and 'engage in physical enrichment' with the group I took in, something about interacting with members of my own species being good for my mental health. Personally I think my mental health is sublime, even disregarding the fact I routinely talk to myself, and that I did that well before I knew the minds were listening.
I took a slow breath in, one of an infinite many now that my lungs functioned on a pseudo biological clock. Each breath timed to draw the most oxygen out of my environment as possible. My feet slid into one of the positions I had seen Yang use, with my differing height and shape I couldn't help but feel slightly unbalanced. I much preferred a more stable position even if it didn't lend itself to quick and forceful attacks and counters. My arm took the position Weiss had recommended and rocketed out, just barely scraping Yang, either I was getting better or she was getting tired given that the last time I had tried that I hadn't come close to hitting her.
Her countering elbow strike to my arm hit hard enough to dent most metals, and would have dislocated my elbow and shoulder before my augmentation, as it is my muscles were actually denser and tougher than steel cording. The blow did little but bring me further out of position as my body shifted with the force impacted, Yang brought up her knee to meet my stomach on its descent. The blow hit hard enough that my diaphragm actually caused me to let out of huph of air.
Still now I was low to the ground and Yang did have one foot in the air. My mind looked back at every instance I had been tripped and I soon found the one most similar to this, I had tried to kick Ruby and she had grabbed my leg and twisted me over her head before throwing me to the ground. That had actually hurt, and had been the thing to do in my shields, which even now hadn't actually been given time to refill.
My arms lash out and grab her knee, and then it's simple engineering with my body as the fulcrum. I fling Yang over myself, adding speed and power by twisting my torso and leaning down to put even greater weight in the toss. I watch in slow motion as her eyes go wide, if she'd been expecting retaliation she would've been able to twist or pry herself out of my grip, or even just land better. But after two hours of barely any successful counters? She'd gotten complacent.
It was only as she was moments from impact that I realized that I was doing a little too well, as in I was going to slam her far too hard into the floor. Immediately I stopped throwing her, let go, and triggered the shield net to slow her impact. It barely worked but I still saw and felt her aura break, but thankfully it left her with little more than a large bruise.
It's easy to forget what with their aura, strength, and durability. That without it these are just normal girls, and I am not and perhaps have never been, a normal human.
After that near disaster, without the safety nets I might have broken her legs. The team of huntresses were done, at least for the day. And the cat-human hybrid glowered at me for a few seconds when she thought I couldn't see, as if I had blind spots at all. Still, I knew this hadn't been a good idea.
-----------------
The next few weeks passed much the same, the girls slowly learned how to make use of their suits. Mastering the built in weapons, functions, and systems. Occasionally they would train with the maker, though never for as long as that first day. It had become a routine almost. Day after day of the same relatively bland meals.
Even the intricate and fascinating halls of the factory grew monotonous, the constant noise of industry becoming ever more grating.
The factory continued as it always had, the factory would churn out units and robots, they'd use the units to claim land, the land would be fortified and used to produce more units. The tides of chitin would rise and fall, crashing against the Factories and wearing them down, the tides would be beaten back or flood over the forts and outposts. More units would be built, more land would be taken. But slowly, ever so slowly, the factory grew. Every day just a little faster.
Then, not a week before the portal would supposedly reopen. The girls broached an utterly idiotic idea. They wanted to go bug hunting.
AN-
It's Friday somewhere, probably. Hope you enjoy this chapter, next ones gonna be the minds that got sent to remnant
Likes and reviews are great.
I wonder how these experiences will change the fall of beacon? And how much the maker would interfere in remnant? Also how would atlas react to all of it, especially how someone is continually building armies bigger than everything atlas has got every day and losing them almost instantly on the never-ending battlegrounds of nauvis?
Could the maker create mechanical versions of some bugs so that team rwby won't go out completely unprepared?
Could the maker create mechanical versions of some bugs so that team rwby won't go out completely unprepared?
rwby pt.9
- Pronouns
- That/Thing
Balistraia had found human settlements, or at least human variant settlements. It hadn't taken long for her to get into the information network after that, it was decidedly unsecure, even for the world's supposed tech level. Which was a great vulnerability given the heavily centralized nature of this world's digital infrastructure.
That tech level, and some basic scanning, finally proved one of Balistraia's theories: this world wasn't one from the human empire that had crafted her commander. It likely wasn't in the same universe at all. That in itself was fascinating, the prospect of standardizing universal travel and finding uninhabited worlds to mine for resources without the slowness of space flight was highly appealing.
That however would be the makers choice to make, so she turned away from those old thoughts and back to her current issue. Her domain arguably meant she needed to make contact with the abhuman settlements and begin basic diplomatic interactions, but she did not want to, at least not yet.
Instead Balistraia went throughout the arid desert, purging the black beasts wherever she could find them, gathering combat data and keeping the under defended settlements safe in a fairly indirect manner.
She had never actually done anything like this before, and Balistraia had no idea where to start. How did one introduce themselves without a body? Just drive up in a tank and use a drone with a speaker? Decidedly inefficient. Craft a simulacrum? What would it look like? Try to emulate human appearance?, abhuman? Embrace the machine she was and only look vaguely humanoid?
And even if she had the answers to those questions, and she didn't. What would she ask about? Would she set out to help? Make demands? What actions could she take to best serve the greater factory? How would the leaders react? If they attacked would she kill them? Incapacitate them? If she did, would she need to make a holding cell to keep them from just attacking later?
The Commander would know what to do, he always had some direction to build towards. But she had been sent off to work without him, with no orders on how she should act beyond "learn the situation and make the appropriate decisions". And she had no baseline, no simulations she could run to even begin determining the optimal outcomes. The other minds were no help, only defaulting to 'human interactions are your domain' at best Bulwark just advised her to be careful, as if that helped in any way shape or form.
So she just kept up her patrols, always staying just far enough for no one to spot her. Keeping the humans alive until she could make a decision, eventually someone would notice the depleted numbers of 'grimm' but she figured it'd take a few weeks at least, and if she hadn't come to a decision by then… well it'd force her to make a choice.
What did humans even want anyway? Food? Shelter? Safety? Other humans? She didn't, couldn't really, assume the Commander was anything close to a baseline. He was far too odd for that, given his isolation and bodily modifications.
--------------------------------------
Basic mining operations had already been set up, though this planet was noticeably lower in mineral amounts. Traces of volatile unknown substances had been found, and they were kept aside for later study. Byzantine could already see a fair few uses for the so-called 'dust' even in its unrefined form.
But the mind was far more interested in the greater economy of the world it had ended up in, the mind was already gathering funds solely through digital work. It was surprising just how much funds could be gathered just VIA freelance work, from budgeting, reviewing finance reports, offering legal advice.
The mind had needed to forge a few fake identities, but the regulatory bodies monitoring for those actions were few and they were underfunded regardless. Already the mind had numerous bank accounts open, and soon enough planned to invest in some stocks, which just may happen to be companies it was building. Workers and contractors hired over the web without ever meeting their various employers in person.
Really refining this worlds bureaucratic and economic nonsense was going to be the work of years, but getting a start on it? Simple enough.
——————
There was one issue with Balistraia's slowly broadening 'surveyed area', she was on an island. By now she had already scouted out and cataloged all the island's notable features.
And if she wanted to do more…. She'd need to build…. Boats.
The request was sent to Labyrinthine and construction on one began. Small enough to be moved on a trailer via tank but larger enough to transport a vehicle and defend itself. As well as scouting out the shores and shallower ocean areas.
A few days later and she was already regretting it, four relatively small boats. Only fifteen meters long. Heavily armored and armed with guided torpedoes and harpoon launchers, as well as turrets and laser defenses for above water defenses. Each one held ten courier drones to serve as scouts, better than tanks as they didn't need support or fuel. The boats were perfectly acceptable, which meant she would need to actually use them.
The tank convoy guarding and protecting the boats reached a beachfront that was over two dozen miles away from the nearest settlement, a small fishing village. And Balistraia looked out into the endless expanse of blue, which was obviously hiding something within its depths. Then the boats were unceremoniously dropped into the water, and she felt the cold liquid lap at her sensors.
So very different from the firm ground or freeing air, it was like standing on top of an abyss. Even if she could still see the sandy bottom of the shallow ocean. She kept a careful eye on every single creature in the waters around her, watching as a few swam closer to examine the hull of one of her ships. Her shields kept the water around far too firm for them to swim through, keeping the things from touching her.
Traveling through the water was different than the land or sky, it was the same flat dimensions of land mixed with the turbulence of air travel. But the waves in this ocean weren't near large enough to even rock her boats and she set out in a basic formation to patrol the coasts just far enough out that no one on the shore could see her.
It was an inevitability that another boat would spot her formations at some point, hiding on the water was far more difficult than the land or sky and she lacked the experience to manage it. So she had even prepared a few basic responses, either using the radio's. If the boats she encountered had them, or simply making contact with menagerie's leadership when they eventually learned of her nascent fleet.
Nascent fleet as Labyrinthine was already making another 12 ships, meaning she'd have four squads to patrol and scout one of the cardinal directions of the Island that was their technical home.
Still that was far off yet, and for now she was largely learning how to control just these four ships and dealing with the few microsecond delay she had from not actually having an instance on the boats or with the fleets. She still didn't have a command tank, and that was far more of a priority than a command boat.
Only it seemed she wouldn't have the time to learn, as her farthest ranged sensors detected a disturbance in the waters closer in the direction of the fishing village, and even as she speed towards it Balistraia had the sinking feeling that she'd be forced into open communications far sooner than she wanted to be. A sinking feeling on a ship was really not comforting.
Her fears were confirmed as she got closer, her sonar and radar picking out both aquatic and aerial grimm swarming in the same direction as she was heading, so she opened fire and went even faster. Her ships outright bulled through waves and occasionally went entirely underwater for a few moments from sheer force. Lasers and armor piercing shells shredded all the grimm within range while the torpedos and harpoons did a remarkably worse job in the water. Only taking out a handful of the grimm.
She noted that better aquatic weaponry needed to be added to the boats, they had some examples but it was significantly more expensive than the current armament. But this just wasn't effective. Still she pressed on regardless, and soon came upon what looked like two fishing boats and the remains of a third.
There were enough Grimm that they were more than capable of sinking the ship, but they just slowly circled waiting. And she soon saw why, the ships were just damaged enough that they were going to sink, and the engines were broken. The Grimm just wanted to draw it out longer, if the creatures wanted at all.
More grimm would be drawn in, and once the town realized that three ships had sunk they'd feel negative emotions, either rage, fear, or sadness. Drawing in the horde of Grimm that had formed where the boats had sunk. It showed a disturbing level of intelligence, but not wide scale. If that had been the case the Grimm would have gathered on their own and attacked the town, not needing the despair of the fishermen to draw them in.
There was a more intelligent grimm somewhere nearby, and Balistraia kept her sensors primed and searching for it while firing into the schools of Grimm circling the other boats, drawing them towards her decidedly more durable ships. She saw the sailors on the boats pointing at her own, shouting and waving their arms to get her attention. Regardless of the fact she was well within sight and already firing upon the Grimm both in the air and in the water.
She realized a few moments later as her sonar picked up a massive shape rocketing towards her in the water that they hadn't been pointing at her, they'd been pointing behind her. Her torpedoes and harpoons fired, the harpoons sank deep and the torpedos blasted massive chunks out. But Grimm didn't have internals, they weren't really alive, and as such were difficult to put down.
The massive thing crashed into one of her boats, curling itself around the boat's hull and dragging it under water. Within seconds the ship was gone from the surface, but the fight continued underwater, the shields rapidly draining as the ship was being outright crushed, the Grimms teeth shattering as it tried to bite through the shields.
But the ship was as good as lost, it wouldn't last under that assault, and she didn't have any weapons big enough to kill the thing. So she pulled her three remaining ships closer to the fishing boats and away from the fourth. And then she blew up all its munitions, triggering a chain reaction with its engine and blasting a massive gote of water into the air. The fisherman screamed as the droplets rained on them, most likely assuming that there had been people on the ship.
Yet the beast was still not dead, nearly blasted in two though it was, it still struggled to attack her ships, or get to the fishermen. Balistraia was not inclined to let it, and her harpoons did far more damage when they tore into already wounded flesh.
That still left dozens, actually one hundred and fourteen, of small Grimm to purge before the battle could be considered won. If it had just been her boats that wouldn't be an issue, the Grimm simply couldn't break through her shields before she killed all of them. But the Grimm weren't even attacking her in the first place.
The fishing boats were still sinking, rapidly now that the larger Grimm wasn't there to keep the lesser Grimm from tearing into their prey. Already a few fishermen were fighting the Grimm that just outright jumped into the boats, wielding knives meant more for skinning fish and cutting lines than true combat.
Once they were in the water the Grimm would tear them to shreds. Balistraia could not, would not, abide that. Her own vessels plowed through the water and came as close as she dared to the fishing vessels, and while a war waged below the surface each of her ships pulled up to a fishing boat and dropped ladders.
If there was some credit she could give the sailors, it was that they got the message quickly. And that they had survived as long as they had in the first place. She saw more than one sailor pull another into a desperate hug, or simply fall to the ground weeping while taking a firm grip of the metal side rails.
It was only as the minutes passed and she fought and killed the grimm in the water that the Sailors finally pulled together enough to realize the obvious, that there wasn't anyone on the boats. They didn't seem to know what to do with that knowledge, And Balistraia was more than content to simply leave them to stew. She had a premade letter that she'd give them for their leaders once she got them back to shore.
Then she took a look at her sunken ship, depleted Ammunition stores, and let out the digital equivalent of a sigh. She really hated the ocean.
----------------------------
Tealle had been a fisherman for twelve years, a true veteran in his profession where one could die any day to some unseen danger lurking in the waves or from freak storms, or riptides, or simply falling off and drowning. It was these myriad reasons that he and most other fishermen drank nearly religiously. But never before had he longed for a drink so much, his canteen having been speared through by a grimm's spine.
First they had been attacked by a leviathan, admittedly it wasn't nearly as large as some of the stories said they were. But a grimm larger than four of their boats was far too large for them to kill with what spears and guns they had brought.
Then, and these were the only reason he could complain in the first place he admitted to himself, some bloody ghost ships had arrived just to kill the grimm! Pulling them off of their sinking ships just to leave them on the decks without a single word. They ships themselves were devoid of any markings, Though if he had to guess Tealle would say atlas just by virtue of the laser weapons and all the metal.
He had a great lack of drink and just a general frustration with the situation. Half the village's fishing boats were well beneath the waves by now and they hadn't gotten out of this without casualties, luckily there had been medkits around the sealed door to the ship. With bandages plenty, apparently the numbed pain too, given he had wrapped them around his waist where that same Grimm spine had pinned his canteen to his flesh.
This wasn't helped in the least by the fearful braying of a few of the younger sailors, he didn't care much to listen to what they said beyond the basics. Something about the ships taking them away to the underworld, or to be sold as slaves, or feed them to the grimm. They were a superstitious lot he had to admit. But he finally got fed up and bellowed as loud as he could "shut the hell up boy! These ships, whoever they are! Just saved your lousy life. If it bothers you so much just jump back onto your own!" given that those ships were well behind them at this point, and sunken regardless he knew the 'boy', really a man of twenty, wouldn't be doing that. "If you had bothered to look around you you'd see we are going back to shore. Unless you think the underworld's menagerie?"
And it was true, they were heading back to shore at a decent clip. Faster than his own ship could manage, it wasn't to the village but if his guess wasn't off it'd be within ten miles of it. A long hike especially with their injuries but there hadn't been almost any grimm nearby in months. And as he looked around at the ship Tealle figured he'd found a clue as to why.
He reached for a flask that wasn't there and let out a sigh, he was far too sober for this.
An-
Tell me what ya think. Next chapter will be mainline again then probs warhammer
Likes reviews are great, patreon is a thing.
That tech level, and some basic scanning, finally proved one of Balistraia's theories: this world wasn't one from the human empire that had crafted her commander. It likely wasn't in the same universe at all. That in itself was fascinating, the prospect of standardizing universal travel and finding uninhabited worlds to mine for resources without the slowness of space flight was highly appealing.
That however would be the makers choice to make, so she turned away from those old thoughts and back to her current issue. Her domain arguably meant she needed to make contact with the abhuman settlements and begin basic diplomatic interactions, but she did not want to, at least not yet.
Instead Balistraia went throughout the arid desert, purging the black beasts wherever she could find them, gathering combat data and keeping the under defended settlements safe in a fairly indirect manner.
She had never actually done anything like this before, and Balistraia had no idea where to start. How did one introduce themselves without a body? Just drive up in a tank and use a drone with a speaker? Decidedly inefficient. Craft a simulacrum? What would it look like? Try to emulate human appearance?, abhuman? Embrace the machine she was and only look vaguely humanoid?
And even if she had the answers to those questions, and she didn't. What would she ask about? Would she set out to help? Make demands? What actions could she take to best serve the greater factory? How would the leaders react? If they attacked would she kill them? Incapacitate them? If she did, would she need to make a holding cell to keep them from just attacking later?
The Commander would know what to do, he always had some direction to build towards. But she had been sent off to work without him, with no orders on how she should act beyond "learn the situation and make the appropriate decisions". And she had no baseline, no simulations she could run to even begin determining the optimal outcomes. The other minds were no help, only defaulting to 'human interactions are your domain' at best Bulwark just advised her to be careful, as if that helped in any way shape or form.
So she just kept up her patrols, always staying just far enough for no one to spot her. Keeping the humans alive until she could make a decision, eventually someone would notice the depleted numbers of 'grimm' but she figured it'd take a few weeks at least, and if she hadn't come to a decision by then… well it'd force her to make a choice.
What did humans even want anyway? Food? Shelter? Safety? Other humans? She didn't, couldn't really, assume the Commander was anything close to a baseline. He was far too odd for that, given his isolation and bodily modifications.
--------------------------------------
Basic mining operations had already been set up, though this planet was noticeably lower in mineral amounts. Traces of volatile unknown substances had been found, and they were kept aside for later study. Byzantine could already see a fair few uses for the so-called 'dust' even in its unrefined form.
But the mind was far more interested in the greater economy of the world it had ended up in, the mind was already gathering funds solely through digital work. It was surprising just how much funds could be gathered just VIA freelance work, from budgeting, reviewing finance reports, offering legal advice.
The mind had needed to forge a few fake identities, but the regulatory bodies monitoring for those actions were few and they were underfunded regardless. Already the mind had numerous bank accounts open, and soon enough planned to invest in some stocks, which just may happen to be companies it was building. Workers and contractors hired over the web without ever meeting their various employers in person.
Really refining this worlds bureaucratic and economic nonsense was going to be the work of years, but getting a start on it? Simple enough.
——————
There was one issue with Balistraia's slowly broadening 'surveyed area', she was on an island. By now she had already scouted out and cataloged all the island's notable features.
And if she wanted to do more…. She'd need to build…. Boats.
The request was sent to Labyrinthine and construction on one began. Small enough to be moved on a trailer via tank but larger enough to transport a vehicle and defend itself. As well as scouting out the shores and shallower ocean areas.
A few days later and she was already regretting it, four relatively small boats. Only fifteen meters long. Heavily armored and armed with guided torpedoes and harpoon launchers, as well as turrets and laser defenses for above water defenses. Each one held ten courier drones to serve as scouts, better than tanks as they didn't need support or fuel. The boats were perfectly acceptable, which meant she would need to actually use them.
The tank convoy guarding and protecting the boats reached a beachfront that was over two dozen miles away from the nearest settlement, a small fishing village. And Balistraia looked out into the endless expanse of blue, which was obviously hiding something within its depths. Then the boats were unceremoniously dropped into the water, and she felt the cold liquid lap at her sensors.
So very different from the firm ground or freeing air, it was like standing on top of an abyss. Even if she could still see the sandy bottom of the shallow ocean. She kept a careful eye on every single creature in the waters around her, watching as a few swam closer to examine the hull of one of her ships. Her shields kept the water around far too firm for them to swim through, keeping the things from touching her.
Traveling through the water was different than the land or sky, it was the same flat dimensions of land mixed with the turbulence of air travel. But the waves in this ocean weren't near large enough to even rock her boats and she set out in a basic formation to patrol the coasts just far enough out that no one on the shore could see her.
It was an inevitability that another boat would spot her formations at some point, hiding on the water was far more difficult than the land or sky and she lacked the experience to manage it. So she had even prepared a few basic responses, either using the radio's. If the boats she encountered had them, or simply making contact with menagerie's leadership when they eventually learned of her nascent fleet.
Nascent fleet as Labyrinthine was already making another 12 ships, meaning she'd have four squads to patrol and scout one of the cardinal directions of the Island that was their technical home.
Still that was far off yet, and for now she was largely learning how to control just these four ships and dealing with the few microsecond delay she had from not actually having an instance on the boats or with the fleets. She still didn't have a command tank, and that was far more of a priority than a command boat.
Only it seemed she wouldn't have the time to learn, as her farthest ranged sensors detected a disturbance in the waters closer in the direction of the fishing village, and even as she speed towards it Balistraia had the sinking feeling that she'd be forced into open communications far sooner than she wanted to be. A sinking feeling on a ship was really not comforting.
Her fears were confirmed as she got closer, her sonar and radar picking out both aquatic and aerial grimm swarming in the same direction as she was heading, so she opened fire and went even faster. Her ships outright bulled through waves and occasionally went entirely underwater for a few moments from sheer force. Lasers and armor piercing shells shredded all the grimm within range while the torpedos and harpoons did a remarkably worse job in the water. Only taking out a handful of the grimm.
She noted that better aquatic weaponry needed to be added to the boats, they had some examples but it was significantly more expensive than the current armament. But this just wasn't effective. Still she pressed on regardless, and soon came upon what looked like two fishing boats and the remains of a third.
There were enough Grimm that they were more than capable of sinking the ship, but they just slowly circled waiting. And she soon saw why, the ships were just damaged enough that they were going to sink, and the engines were broken. The Grimm just wanted to draw it out longer, if the creatures wanted at all.
More grimm would be drawn in, and once the town realized that three ships had sunk they'd feel negative emotions, either rage, fear, or sadness. Drawing in the horde of Grimm that had formed where the boats had sunk. It showed a disturbing level of intelligence, but not wide scale. If that had been the case the Grimm would have gathered on their own and attacked the town, not needing the despair of the fishermen to draw them in.
There was a more intelligent grimm somewhere nearby, and Balistraia kept her sensors primed and searching for it while firing into the schools of Grimm circling the other boats, drawing them towards her decidedly more durable ships. She saw the sailors on the boats pointing at her own, shouting and waving their arms to get her attention. Regardless of the fact she was well within sight and already firing upon the Grimm both in the air and in the water.
She realized a few moments later as her sonar picked up a massive shape rocketing towards her in the water that they hadn't been pointing at her, they'd been pointing behind her. Her torpedoes and harpoons fired, the harpoons sank deep and the torpedos blasted massive chunks out. But Grimm didn't have internals, they weren't really alive, and as such were difficult to put down.
The massive thing crashed into one of her boats, curling itself around the boat's hull and dragging it under water. Within seconds the ship was gone from the surface, but the fight continued underwater, the shields rapidly draining as the ship was being outright crushed, the Grimms teeth shattering as it tried to bite through the shields.
But the ship was as good as lost, it wouldn't last under that assault, and she didn't have any weapons big enough to kill the thing. So she pulled her three remaining ships closer to the fishing boats and away from the fourth. And then she blew up all its munitions, triggering a chain reaction with its engine and blasting a massive gote of water into the air. The fisherman screamed as the droplets rained on them, most likely assuming that there had been people on the ship.
Yet the beast was still not dead, nearly blasted in two though it was, it still struggled to attack her ships, or get to the fishermen. Balistraia was not inclined to let it, and her harpoons did far more damage when they tore into already wounded flesh.
That still left dozens, actually one hundred and fourteen, of small Grimm to purge before the battle could be considered won. If it had just been her boats that wouldn't be an issue, the Grimm simply couldn't break through her shields before she killed all of them. But the Grimm weren't even attacking her in the first place.
The fishing boats were still sinking, rapidly now that the larger Grimm wasn't there to keep the lesser Grimm from tearing into their prey. Already a few fishermen were fighting the Grimm that just outright jumped into the boats, wielding knives meant more for skinning fish and cutting lines than true combat.
Once they were in the water the Grimm would tear them to shreds. Balistraia could not, would not, abide that. Her own vessels plowed through the water and came as close as she dared to the fishing vessels, and while a war waged below the surface each of her ships pulled up to a fishing boat and dropped ladders.
If there was some credit she could give the sailors, it was that they got the message quickly. And that they had survived as long as they had in the first place. She saw more than one sailor pull another into a desperate hug, or simply fall to the ground weeping while taking a firm grip of the metal side rails.
It was only as the minutes passed and she fought and killed the grimm in the water that the Sailors finally pulled together enough to realize the obvious, that there wasn't anyone on the boats. They didn't seem to know what to do with that knowledge, And Balistraia was more than content to simply leave them to stew. She had a premade letter that she'd give them for their leaders once she got them back to shore.
Then she took a look at her sunken ship, depleted Ammunition stores, and let out the digital equivalent of a sigh. She really hated the ocean.
----------------------------
Tealle had been a fisherman for twelve years, a true veteran in his profession where one could die any day to some unseen danger lurking in the waves or from freak storms, or riptides, or simply falling off and drowning. It was these myriad reasons that he and most other fishermen drank nearly religiously. But never before had he longed for a drink so much, his canteen having been speared through by a grimm's spine.
First they had been attacked by a leviathan, admittedly it wasn't nearly as large as some of the stories said they were. But a grimm larger than four of their boats was far too large for them to kill with what spears and guns they had brought.
Then, and these were the only reason he could complain in the first place he admitted to himself, some bloody ghost ships had arrived just to kill the grimm! Pulling them off of their sinking ships just to leave them on the decks without a single word. They ships themselves were devoid of any markings, Though if he had to guess Tealle would say atlas just by virtue of the laser weapons and all the metal.
He had a great lack of drink and just a general frustration with the situation. Half the village's fishing boats were well beneath the waves by now and they hadn't gotten out of this without casualties, luckily there had been medkits around the sealed door to the ship. With bandages plenty, apparently the numbed pain too, given he had wrapped them around his waist where that same Grimm spine had pinned his canteen to his flesh.
This wasn't helped in the least by the fearful braying of a few of the younger sailors, he didn't care much to listen to what they said beyond the basics. Something about the ships taking them away to the underworld, or to be sold as slaves, or feed them to the grimm. They were a superstitious lot he had to admit. But he finally got fed up and bellowed as loud as he could "shut the hell up boy! These ships, whoever they are! Just saved your lousy life. If it bothers you so much just jump back onto your own!" given that those ships were well behind them at this point, and sunken regardless he knew the 'boy', really a man of twenty, wouldn't be doing that. "If you had bothered to look around you you'd see we are going back to shore. Unless you think the underworld's menagerie?"
And it was true, they were heading back to shore at a decent clip. Faster than his own ship could manage, it wasn't to the village but if his guess wasn't off it'd be within ten miles of it. A long hike especially with their injuries but there hadn't been almost any grimm nearby in months. And as he looked around at the ship Tealle figured he'd found a clue as to why.
He reached for a flask that wasn't there and let out a sigh, he was far too sober for this.
An-
Tell me what ya think. Next chapter will be mainline again then probs warhammer
Likes reviews are great, patreon is a thing.
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Thank you for the chapter! I wonder how ghira will react to all of this? Cause an explosion that big would have been both heard and seen from the settlement.
I'm also very surprised that Balistraia even considered making boats, but then again that might just be one of the differences between Balistraia and the maker.
I'm also very surprised that Balistraia even considered making boats, but then again that might just be one of the differences between Balistraia and the maker.
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