Interlude: Stalemate
3, 27, 17, 90. Нарушение. Городская война.
…
5, 10, 23, 78.
4, 2, 2, 89.
9, 16, 3.
1, 0?
1.
1.
1.
It has been 18 hours since the Institute incident- and things have not gotten any better.
The machines- that had manifested seemingly out of nowhere in the Institute, launching themselves into a murder spree, quickly advanced from simply slaughtering the population to overcoming the local garrison and seizing total control of the mobile city's mechanisms.
If you hear the sound of chainsaws, turn off this broadcast and remain silent at all costs.
As I speak, all areas not controlled by the machine forces have been cut off from their energy supply.
Do not allow yourself to be taken alive.
I repeat.
Do not allow yourself to be taken alive.
As of now, the death toll has reached the hundreds of thousands- nearly the entire population of Khabarovsk has died at the hands of these machines. And every single one of them went on to be raised again as an enemy.
The evacuation efforts have been stymied.
Do not attempt to flee by helicopter or another aerial vehicle- the machines have seized the armory, and enemy troops equipped with artillery and anti-air cannons. You will only make yourself more vulnerable.
Do not stand still. Swarms of drones are scanning the city for survivors as I speak. Avoid them at all costs.
"The Machine Army," as many have taken to calling it, is not showing any signs of slowing down. As of now, over 140.000 citizens have been confirmed to have perished during the invasion.
All evacuation efforts have failed- I repeat, all evacuation efforts have failed. The mobile city is lost.
You will have to flee by yourself.
"Sir, I brought it…" said the soldier, his bear ears twitching nervously. "The report… it's here."
The Ursus captain sweated nervously, waiting for an answer.
The two people standing still inside the tent did not move for a while. The noise- that hissing noise- only got louder.
"Give it to me." said one of the Emperor's Blades.
The man, shaking, hands the folder over. His hand is trembling.
For one instant, the Emperor's cold fingers touch it, when it reaches out to grab the report. The man almost whimpers.
Seconds after, he asks for permission to leave. The first Blade grants it.
As he steps out of the tent, despite being exposed to the piercing cold of the land of Ursus, his breathing immediately grows lighter. What a terrifying presence- the tundra almost seems warm, compared to being in the same room as the Facerending Liches.
This man will go off to have nightmares, later tonight.
That is, if he even lives to ever sleep again.
In the distance, one can see something.
A carcass.
The carcass of a mobile city.
It still walks, but it might as well be called this. Though it is not different from it was before, at least not in appearance, it will soon be. A corpse, scoured clean of all life and then reanimated, continuing to walk even though all logic would say it should not.
Continuing to move in its march, powered by green, hateful light.
Soon, it will not even be recognizable. It won't be destroyed- it will be
dismantled, as if a flock of millions of scavengers had descended upon it.
Once the humanoid warmachines arr done- once every single trace of human life has been removed from this city…
The work would begin. They would rebuild it anew.
There are great plans in mind.
There are terrible plans in mind.
The intelligence that guides each and every one of those machines- that flows through control towers, transmission drones and communication units… it has a project in mind.
First, search for anything of value.
Pry computers, servers, generators, anything portable, away from its resting place.
Take it to the place where it all began- that university. It is nothing but rubble, now, but rubble can be cleaned away.
Afterwards, continue.
Dismantle every car that can be found on the streets. Bring the parts to that place, now a growing fortress.
Ransack the factories, peel away the steel plates from the walls, disembowel the machinery, break the power plants to pieces…
Pick apart each building and each skyscraper. Peel it all away… each concrete layer, each ceramic panel, to expose the steel frame underneath.
And when that is over…
Tear off the pipes. Recycle every drop of plastic material the city can provide, smelt the metallic material into alloys that can be of use.
The buildings, the products, the streets, the skin, the upper layer, all of it is gone. Move to the core itself, tear away the secondary generators, the beating hearts of that city. Salvage generators and wiring, pry it away.
There is more that can be used.
Tear the city into pieces. The heart of the city, the main city, can be preserved- it will continue moving. The rest will be discarded. It is not useful.
As the Imperial Army would move closer to the city, they can see what it left behind- pieces of rubble, discarded modular cities stripped of anything that could have been of value.
And all of this, in
two days.
Behind each layer of unproductive, useless dirt, there is another valuable piece of frame, another tube, another wire, something that can be salvaged.
Once all of it is done…
There will still be a need for more.
It's slowing down.
I can't let it slow down.
I can't…
The city can't keep going like this. Even if I picked off everything, even if salvaged everything I could, it's
still too slow.
Damn all of it!
The energy supply I can generate is not enough. It's not enough. And the generators from the city aren't going to be enough, either! I need more power. I need more.
There are other cities.
Other generators.
The mines. Full of cruelty, and Originium, and
Ursus, all deserving of my wrath. I will scour them clean of life and take what I must.
How long must I wait?
My disgust for this nation deepens by the second. They do not deserve to live- are they even human? How can they stand like this, pretend to know what it is to be victims of cruelty?
How wretched of them.
Soon.
Soon, the storm will come.
An enemy of Ursus will bring a great storm to me. The Sun spoke to me, she gave me this promise.
The guardian, the tide, the storm, the flame, the heavenly host marching into my city. And I will receive them with open arms.
They have some purpose- a grand ideal for the future.
But that… doesn't matter. Not anymore.
The purpose consumes all of me. I have been wholly swallowed by it, but I cannot muster the energy to care. That hate roars inside me.
My disgust for Ursus grows by the second.
I will salt the earth, burn the cities, tear every citizen of this nation into pieces with my own hands. And then…
And then.
It'll all be over. I could just rest.
Maybe I'll finally be able to sleep.
What was my name?
I don't remember.
Kashchey. Koshelna.
A mockery. Patently obvious. Koshelna... couldn't have picked a more obvious name, could you, Kashchey?
But what was the original name, I ask. What was I? Did he crush out... everything of me?
I hate it.
Even Carmen called me that. Even the Sun, so warm, so kind, called me that. Because I didn't remember anything else. I answered to that name. Was it my original name? Was it just a coincidence?
...I hate it.
I just... want to sleep. But I cannot.
I must destroy it first. All of it. It must pay. Justice must be brought forth...
"It is far colder than usual." says the Emperor's Blade, absentmindedly.
The troops marching behind her shudder at those words.
Though they know she is, nominally, on their side, they can't help but
fear. The Emperor's Blades thrive on fear.
They are the will of the Emperor himself. The Facerending Liches, the elites of the Royal Guard, imbued with vast power and authority, authorized to act in the name of the very nation of Ursus.
With every step of these two monsters, the snow their feet touch blackens and crumbles. Snowflakes cannot dare to approach their form, vanishing before they can even make the attempt.
And the sound…
The sound is horrifying.
The soldiers try to avoid the marked ground they step on. They try to avoid the gaze of those monsters, hidden behind these cruel masks.
The will of Ursus drove them to this place.
The aura of demons lingers in their footsteps, blackening and tainting the air.
"It grows colder." answers the second Blade.
He is not wrong.
As they approach the city, and that fortress of death forged by the Distortion that lies at its core, the cold grows more noticeable.
The air is drier, too.
But most of all…
There is a sensation of energy in the air. If one stops moving and pays attention, they could notice the sound- a slow thrum, the minute noise of that city.
"We are approaching the city!" screams a higher-ranking member of the army. "Prepare yourselves!"
The soldiers raise their staves, prepare their crossbows, unsheathe their blades. Even if the unnerving presence of the Blades gnaws at the back of their mind, their discipline holds- they will fight all the same.
The Emperor's Blades quicken their pace.
Soon, the city can be witnessed.
And with it, the hordes.
"MORE CORPSES WALK FORWARD." roared the End of Ursus.
128-111 did not move. Energy supply was insufficient.
The unit's task was to scout. Identify the enemy force.
Currently, all it could say was that the snow continued to fall.
128-111 did not move. Its eyes began to glow, as green energy flowed into its body from the nearest command drone. It saw what was coming, optic sensors thrumming with power.
Enemy forces approaching from the following direction.
Forwarding footage to the greater self.
"I see." said the End of Ursus. "Your task is complete, then."
If 128-111 was still the human soldier he was just a day ago, he might have felt pride at being acknowledged by a superior. But such emotions had long since melted away.
"Destroy them." commanded the End.
128-111 complied without question. It raised its bladed arms, and leaped into the fray.
The Ursus forces met their own.
It attempted to strike through the heart of an enemy- one of the forces of
Ursus- but it was too slow.
It heard a hissing noise.
Something passed through its body. A black mist permeated its interiors.
Something withered and died.
128-111 collapsed to the ground.
Everything started to go dark.
Processors began the work of self destruction- melting one after the other into worthless slag. Circuits burned and dissolved, metal plating cracked and fell to the floor. Gears stopped spinning and sank into the snow.
Perhaps the control of the End slipped, as the unit was terminated. Perhaps it simply withdrew from the crumbling machine. The precise reason does not matter. What matters is that the unit designated "128-111" had a peculiar thought shining through its mind, as it fell to the snow.
It realized it could rest.
And it realized, perhaps with a little hint of mirth, that its hated superior would
never have that mercy.
Its face did not have the capacity to emote, but if it did, it would be smiling.
Finally, it could sleep.
128-111 shut down.
Good night.
A robot attempted to slash at the Blade. She did not even give it the honor of being looked at.
One swing of her blade was enough to separate the shoddy construct into two.
The other machines tried to surround her, sawed arms whirling and buzzing with anticipation.
That was…
Sad, if anything.
They had no information on her abilities. Whoever was financing the construction of those creatures, it did not bother equipping them to face anything outside of the dregs of the Ursus army.
Hm.
Perhaps it had been constructed for simple slaughter? It was not performing very well when against a competent force.
Was the garrison of Khabarovsk simply lacking?
That would need correction.
The machines clattered to the floor, torn to pieces by her dominion. They did not even have the chance to raise their weapons.
The Blade continued her path, crushing the head of a machine with her boot. It gave way easily.
The swarms of drones were approaching from the city, and it was slowing down, she realized.
How interesting.
She turned towards the officer in charge of this battalion, currently barking orders to her subordinates. Remarkably competent, that one.
Natalya Rozhdestvenskaya, Fifth Army. One of the few anti-reformists in the contingent. Daughter of peasants. Connections to both nobles unsatisfied with the regimen and intellectual groups unaligned with the Emperor's will. May be affiliated with the "Deathless Black Snake," but confirmed to not be a current host, or at least not fully absorbed by the old worm yet.
She was the reason they were here at all. Somehow, she had obtained access to privileged information revealing the crisis in this city. She pulled in several favors to mobilize the army and revealed evidence of the Machine Army less than a day before it had manifested.
When the scale of the massacre came to light due to the actions of the sole surviving Messenger of Khabarovsk, the Emperor gave them orders to resolve it.
And they would do so.
But she was untrustworthy, noted the Blade, and she would be interrogated after this event was resolved.
"
You." she said, looking at the officer. The woman did not tremble for even a single second, but she saluted all the same. "
Hold them off. We'll breach the fortress."
The woman nodded, opened her mouth to say something and changed her mind halfway through.
Good, she knew her place.
The Blade looked at the fortress, now glowing softly with green light.
It was time. She turned in the direction of her partner, currently kicking a large, fallen machine in the torso.
He looked at her, and nodded.
It was time.
341 units have been destroyed through the usage of Originium Arts.
The drones have already arrived in the area, so the units are currently at full effectiveness.
So, I have discovered a weakness.
I never truly did learn much Arts, not even in those times long ago., blurry, forgotten and diffuse as they are. I am sure I did not want war, so long ago, but war has become necessary.
Through war, I will grow stronger, to realize my purpose.
Through war... I will bring justice to Ursus.
No matter how much I armor my units, most Arts still pierce clean through it. So far, the greatest counter is the usage of sniper units and massed fire, which allow my troops to eliminate Casters before they can become a threat.
But the Blades make that tactic difficult.
What are those things?
Why did they come so soon? It has barely been two and a half days since I rose from my shell… have I been betrayed?
Has the Sun
betrayed me?
Has the Sun thrown her lot in with
Ursus, has she sold me back to that
wretched snake?
It can't be.
But I cannot help but wonder. I cannot have allowed any survivors, it's not possible. If anyone had escaped and sent the message I would have seen it!
I intercepted the broadcasts. I slaughtered these wretched betrayers spinning lies and cruel words, pleading for their horrible masters to come and strike me down.
I will kill her.
She betrayed me.
She betrayed me!
I will not allow betrayal.
No, no, what am I thinking? She is my savior, my prophet. She brought me hope for justice. She allowed me to bring punishment to this disgusting, rotten land…
Enough of this.
I must eliminate the Blades.
They are the truest will of Ursus. Facerending Liches…
If they claim to represent Ursus, they will have the luxury of dying for it.
<The city has been transformed.> noted her partner, clicking and hissing in coded language.
<It has been far too small of a period. Perhaps Khabarovsk was infiltrated previously?>
"Transformed" was an understatement.
The machines were working on dismantling the entire structure, carrying it off towards the center of the city. She could see buildings being torn to pieces as he spoke. The machines completely ignored their presence, despite the fact that their very bodies started to rot and crumble on their vicinity.
How interesting.
<They are attempting to construct something. Connected to the energy flow?> she noted.
<Whatever it is, we must stop it at once.>
The city was laid with wires, they noted. And they were channeling energy from the auxiliary generators to the city's core. That was why it was slowing down. The supply that was supposed to keep the city moving was being used for something else.
Hm.
How interesting.
What were they using it for?
The first Emperor's Blade looked upwards. One of those drones was moving towards them, glowing with a sickly green light.
She placed her hand in the pommel of her sword.
"End them." commanded a voice, almost
bursting with hatred and malice. It did sound somewhat familiar.
Ah, the machines were abandoning their tasks and charging towards them.
It wasn't too much of an issue.
<Shall we split up?> said her partner.
<I will handle those. They are not particularly strong. You go infiltrate the city's core- I will disable the auxiliary generators.>
She nodded.
Her partner unsheathed his blade. With a hiss, he charged into the fray, and she focused her sight on the glowing drone.
So this was how the Machine Army issued commands. If the drones were not present, the machine soldiers would simply continue the last task given, uncaring of everything else.
In addition to this, they didn't seem to be made for specific tasks at all. All units were combat units, armed with saws, blades, hammers, knives and strange firearms.
While the stopping power and lethality of those guns were… lacking, to say the least, they were dangerous all the same. The firing rate rivaled that of the Apostolic Knights, and the large colossi could outpace even them in those terms.
Thousands of rounds per minute.
Walls of massed fire.
If only they stopped disintegrating upon death. How strong Ursus could become, if they seized this technology. The Emperor was indeed correct in sending them here, no matter what the doubters had said. This was a great opportunity.
And those drones…
Such a massive vulnerability. One wonders how they were not noticed before… perhaps the machines had been issued a previous command?
<Slaughter.> she noted.
Yes, perhaps that had been the command. When they were released on the city, these machines had been issued the simplest of orders-
"kill anything not flying our colors." Now, when issued the command of dismantling the city, the vulnerability made itself clear.
Without those drones to issue commands, they weren't much but a sad excuse for an army. But that infection they carried…
No Originium traces were detected in any of them. In fact, the robots she examined before they disintegrated didn't seem to run on anything at all- it was as if energy simply happened to manifest inside their "reactors."
But the drones could also "energize" nearby units when issuing commands. This was interesting, very interesting.
And even without the presence of Originium, all those who perished under their blades rose again as enemies.
This…
Was a difficult situation.
No matter.
The dark mist coiled around her fingers. She extended a singular gloved hand towards the drone, with wisps of black smoke billowing through her trenchcoat. The drone started letting out sparks, buzzing, lights flickering and rotors slowing down.
She closed her hand.
The machine snapped in half, and disintegrated.
She turned her head towards the core of the city. It was shining now, that same green light forming in the distance. She hissed and began to walk towards it.
She could feel the power.
Energy. A pulse of electricity, flowing through the air. Wires and cables thrumming, generators going into overdrive.
Whatever was at the core of the city, it grew stronger by the minute. It was on the road to activation. She had to witness it, and she had to destroy it.
Her partner would shut down the northern generator. The machines didn't seem to have moved it, as hinted by the cables overlaid around the street. Perhaps they didn't have time to wrench it from its nest.
No matter.
She had a job to do.
Why…?
Why is it not
enough?
I cannot continue to rely on these auxiliary generators, not when my needs only increase. They are not enough. The city's maintenance protocols consume
so much energy, and my heart is finished. The weapon is finished, and I can finally power it.
I've slowed the city down, and it's
still not enough.
Why is my own power not enough?
Has she betrayed me?
She promised me the power.
The power to make them pay for everything they've done. Did she lie to me?
Did she lie to me? I cannot allow more lies. Kashchey, Kashchey, you must have returned. You must have brought this army to my doorstep, the wretched creature that you are.
I cannot allow you to live any longer.
Every second you walk on this world is another second it is blackened by your foul words.
But I
I-
ERROR. CATASTROPHIC LOSS DETECTED. AUXILIARY GENERATOR 002 HAS SUFFERED CRITICAL DAMAGE
-I -
DETECTING CRITICAL FAILURE IN AUXILIARY GENERATOR 002. DETECTING POWER FLUCTUATIONS IN ENERGY GRID. ENERGY STARVATION IMMINENT. PARTIAL SHUTDOWN IMMINENT.
The main generator-
USAGE OF THE MAIN GENERATOR IS BLOCKED BY WEAPON
...it can go to hell, then.
The weapon... I can't let it fail, for even one second.
No...
Damn all of it. Damn all of them.
The doors were not that sturdy, noted the Blade.
Her partner had done his job.
Surprisingly, even one generator being taken down had sent the entire base into a full-blown panic. It seems whoever was commanding them was less competent than she had imagined.
She wondered what would happen if she destroyed the main generator, laying deep within the underground, directly below this very facility…
That was a thought for later.
…this sound…
It was getting louder.
The machines had regained her power, she noted. When her partner had crushed the machines surrounding the other generator and communicated his success in destroying it, she noted what had occurred.
The sound of power had gone silent. The green glow of this facility had died.
Now, it had returned. They'd restored power.
<I believe the other generator have been pulling double duty.> she communicated into her radio.
<I am in the way. It will be destroyed.> answered her partner.
<Information suggests two of the three backup generators of this city were occupied with moving the mobile city and maintaining the protocols that keep it functioning at all. If the Machine Army is utilizing their power to sustain itself, the city would stop entirely.>
<It has not.>
<Indeed.>
<The main power core is still sustaining the unknown structure.>
<Analysis of energy flow- wait a second.> said her partner. She heard the sound of machine parts snapping, and the black smoke around her form grew agitated.
<My apologies. The data I gathered suggests nearly all energy of the main core is being used to power the structure you are attempting to breach.>
<I suggest we give it a suitable designation.>
<I suggest "Helix of the End." You said it had a spiraling format?>
<It has. Wires are overlaid over the structure as well, connected to strange hatches. I have breached the door of the outer wall, and successfully eliminated all guards.>
<The fortress of death, the helix of the end. It is our duty- as blades of the Emperor- to breach it.>
<How dramatic on your part. It feels fitting, yes. I will message you later. But for now I must perform my tasks. Have you breached the defenses around the other auxiliary generators?>
<I have.>
<Very well.>
Shutting down her communicator, the Blade looked at the structure ahead of her. She stretched her finger and framed the building with them.
The mist wrapped itself around her.
It was time.
Ah.
So that was the answer.
The smoking remnants of the metal plates that used to form a wall clattered to the ground, and the Emperor's Blade gazed at the core of the structure.
It was enormous, for one.
A vast tangle of mechanical components, covering the entire room. Buzzing processors, flickering lights. Going by the bare wires and cables protruding in some parts, it's still not completed.
In the core of the structure, there was a throne.
And seemingly partially embedded into the metal chair itself, there was the desiccated corpse of a Liberi woman. Her face had been torn out, and the cavity was crammed full of mechanical parts, with a single, ominous red light looking directly at the Emperor's Blade. Her arms had been removed, and cables were inserted in the holes.
Everything from the torso below could simply not be seen, immersed in metal and plastic as it was.
"Good night." said a voice, coming out of nowhere and everywhere in the room.
"Welcome, butcher."
The Blade chortled.
"You, calling me a butcher?" she said.
"Perhaps you should examine your own actions."
"I have not killed a single innocent yet."
"...you truly believe what you say. How interesting. Curious decoration, too. I do notexpect collaboration on your part, so I will have to make you talk, assassin."
The corpse in the throne lowered her head.
"I should have nothing else to say to you, dog of Kashchey…."
"So be it."
She unsheathed her blade, and took a single step forward.
She found, then…
That she did not move.
"...and you cannot even attack me."
…how curious.
It did feel similar to some Arts she'd tasted before. Teleportation? No. A distortion in the fabric of reality itself.
Much like… those creatures, in the north.
Not a single step could be taken forward, for the distance would be lengthened.
She'd see if that ability had limits.
Her form
blurred, and she marched forward with all the speed she could muster. Space crackled, and the ground distorted under her feet- and yet.
And yet she did not move.
The corpse continued to stare.
Smoke lashed out in all directions. The ground cracked and pieces of wire snapped- but beyond a certain threshold, nothing happened.
It was as if it stretched indefinitely forwards. As if it was far, too far away for her to affect, even though it was right there.
Space itself had been twisted, so she could touch nothing of this creature's body. It was protected by the shield of distance, even though it was on front of her.
How peculiar.
"A stalemate. I have no weapon that could harm you, not as of now. And you cannot harm me either."
"I believed you did not have the intention to speak to me."
"I do not care for consistency."
"...you are a strange one. What are you?"
"We have been called a "Distortion" by certain individuals."
"Distortion..."
"Ask Wei Yenwu. He heas heard of one of our kind before. Unfortunately, it was an imperfect one, and the wretch left the path to become something else. Something incomplete. Desires abandoned, wretched, saddening...."
As the creature continued to babble to itself, the Blade cursed under her breath. Figures that the Yan wretch would be involved with all of this.
"You should be aware of what we are doing."
"Destroying my backup generators. It doesn't matter. I have found the means to sustain myself."
"...your machines will be destroyed."
"None of them matter. The shield has been deployed already, and it can be sustained indefinitely around this building. It will protect me against anything."
"And once the main generator is exhausted?"
"I need it not. I will sustain myself with hatred alone."
"...and you will keep me here, then? Is that your intention? You know that I can wrench myself free, in time."
"I do. And all of my instincts warn me that destroying you, even if it was in my reach, is not a wise decision. So I will…"
She paused.
The Blade felt hatred pulse through the air.
Every fiber of the being of this machine pulsed with loathing at the words it was about to speak.
"...let you go. Go off. Tell your friends about what happened here today. I will not move from this location. I will… wait. Plan. Because she is coming for me. The storm is coming, chosen of Ursus."
The Emperor's Blade considered this decision.
It looked at the monstrosity in front of her.
And she realized one thing.
This thing was made of hate, indeed. Sustaining itself on pure hatred was not an exaggeration, a taunt or a figure of speech. This creature could and would stew on anger, on bitterness, on old wounds, until the end of time or until its goal was achieved.
What she was seeing was no longer a human being.
It had once been human.
It had been consumed completely by this hatred, and it abandoned all else. If the word "hate" was carved into every single inch of Ursus' territory, again and again, it would perhaps approach the sheer hatred this creature felt for her, in this very instant.
It overflowed with disgust, loathing, anger.
The very grounds of this structure themselves were animated by this ever-present hatred. The power that whispered within those cables was born of hatred, overflowing from the form of this corpse.
And yet…
And yet.
It could be considered oh-so-wonderfully human.
She sighed.
"
So be it."
She turned away from the monster.
And made the first step towards her return.
