novelraw Chapter 240: Under the cover of night
Chapter 240: Under the cover of night
I don’t like this. It’s way too dark, and I’m running out of shit to throw. A full minute passed with nothing. Was he gone?
No, he’s here. I can feel it in my-
One of the lights in the room suddenly flickered off
"That’s disturbing."
And it wasn’t because he’d destroyed that light,it was because he hadn’t. I could still feel it. It was active and should be working normally but the light just disappeared, like it got swallowed.
Making sure to watch my steps I creeped closer and tried turning it back on, obviously without touching it but nothing
"What is it with you and the dark anyway? You can’t try to kill me to my face? Huh?"
What a creep
I tried taking another step but I suddenly felt like my leg was a bit heavier, almost like it was being pulled down. I looked down at my feet and saw nothing
That didn’t make any sense though,I felt -
I suddenly noticed something. My shadow.
Wasn’t his ability messing with darkness and shadows?
’Hopefully I’m right about this’
I thought, dropping one of my devices. It resembled the explosives I used before, being around the size of a golf ball but looked nothing like one , completely chrome in appearance. I threw the device into the shadow, hoping I wasn’t making a mistake. Lucky for me it started sinking like a stone in mud, and once it was halfway through I detonated it
*Boom!"
A sudden flash of light filled the room, flooding every corner and almost immediately I felt my movements become normal again
Lucky me,I don’t was right about the ion purge. Too bad I only have a few of these le-
"Ugh!"
I felt something slam into me from behind, making contact with my forcefield which manage to neutralize the force. I was still sent flying into a wall and onto the ground
"What the -"
I immediately detonated another purge, preparing for him to attack with the shadows again before getting back on my feet
"Cheap shot!"
Though I’m not exactly one to talk
What kind of attack even was that. A laser? No ,too much punch, not enough heat. What’s taking it so long to analyze?
"You’re probably trying to make this whole thing as clean as possible. No DNA left at the scene. No cameras either. You don’t have to worry about those though..."
I looked at my feet again. He wouldn’t try the same thing twice... but I would.
"I already got rid of the cameras,at least most of them. I’ve got no intention of turning you over"
I armed three more purges and threw them around the room. The resulting flashes of light were almost blinding, but I got what I needed
"There!"
I threw a regular grenade this time at the weak spot that they’d highlighted. There was a loud boom followed by... nothing
I sighed, hands on my knees, breathing heavily . I don’t know why, but for some reason I feel like I hit him
"How do you do that? With yourself and my tech. I can feel it but i also can’t"
I asked with genuine curiosity
"Space folding? Breaches? It’s like you’re right here but we can’t interact with each other"
I took a deep breath, standing straight again
"And the lights too. Super creepy"
...
...
...
She talks more than i thought
I muttered to myself, watching her from the shadows.
One thing about her was certain. She was clever. This was far harder than originally expected. That last attack had almost blown us in half, and somehow she’d defended against the soul slash and somehow was able to repel his shadows
Enough of this
Dash
My figure flickered as I left the shadows, my hands flashing with light as an arc of energy almost unnoticeable in the dark room materialized before spiraling towards her at full throttle.
It struck her side but that familiar translucent barrier appeared again to block it, making sure she only stumbled a bit.
By the time she’d turned around I’d slipped back into the shadows
"That barrier can’t last forever"
"But neither can our energy"
Both voices reminded me
Of course we couldn’t do nothing
Dash
Again and again I slipped in and out of the darkness, hurling attacks at her from each and every angle i could find, making sure to give her no patterns to follow but she held strong.
Perhaps it was time for something stronger?
She was right in her previous observation. We were trying to keep this as clean and quiet as possible, and anything more than this would draw more attention than we were willing to allow. I hadn’t expected her to be so much of an issue.
I suppose this frustration we currently feel is the punishment for underestimating one’s opponent.
I prepared for another attack but suddenly stopped. For a fraction of a second my eyes met hers and i didn’t see the eyes of someone who’d been getting thrown around since the beginning of the fight. There was intent behind those eyes... but what?
...
...
...
Come on, just one more. My analysis of this weird energy isn’t complete but I have enough data to at least change this stupid situation. Come on, let’s shuffle the deck.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
Seconds passed, quietly,every single one carefully catalogued
I didn’t notice when but at some point I’d started holding my breath, alongside the entire room. Just as i reminded myself to breathe
.
.
.
"... now"
The sides of the room suddenly lit up with an eerie glowing, certain sections popping out of the walls before slamming back in, releasing a custom energy frequency wave
"Phase two"
I muttered as I felt a thud on the ground
...
...
...
[Error! Anomaly detected]
I didn’t need the system to tell me that. I felt it. Like all my energy had suddenly went rouge, imploding before it all suddenly went up in smoke. I felt the shadows receding. All those low level cores I’d used to sustain it were officially a waste.
I looked up and only caught her back as she sprinted out of the room
Where is she going. This is her greatest opportunity. Why would she-
The next thing I heard answered that question for me
Was that... metal?
Shuffling into the room she’d just left was the familiar frame of the machines that had been used to attack the expedition, though they looked slightly different
I remembered her studying something when Aurora took me and her to leave. Had she reverse engineered them?
Impressive
The effect of her last attack might have been temporary but I was still completely drained of energy and injured. Meanwhile I’d barely laid a hand on her.
She wanted to make sure i was completely crushed. How cruel.
I considered using a few bullets to clear this area easily but refrained
I brandished my sword, the blade crashing into the metal frame of the closest one, getting stuck halfway through. The rest quickly surrounded me from all sides.
I grabbed the hilt of the sword with both hands, ripping it out of the frame and taking out a large piece of it’s body. So far these things were far less durable, and overall less useful than the originals, though being surrounded by over a dozen still posed a problem.
I kicked off the ground, reaching as high as possible and looking down at them. In a breif few seconds I’d made a complete mental image of the entire situation. I landed at a corner in the room, throwing the blade in my hand, impaling one to the wall before putting up my hands,a black bone like structure coating my hands with visible thin thread-like tendrils poking out of them erratically
I threw a punch at the closest one,my armored fist caving it in with the tendrils slipping in through the cracks, hooking itself into it’s insides and ripping them out as i pulled my fist back.
I threw another punch but noticed something out of the corner of my eye. The first one I’d taken down. I watched in fascination as the broken pieces of it’s body joined back together in a horrific mess of metal and wires. It wasn’t pretty or even decent, but it was enough for it to get back on it’s feet as if the previous damage never happened
"Nanites "
I muttered in recognition
This was going to be harder than i thought.
Reacting to my thoughts, the tendrils on my armored gloves started lashing and whirling more aggressively,a familiar voice coming from them
"THEY GET BACK UP. WE RIP THEM TO SHREDS, UNTIL THEY DIE"
Simple yet effective. Let’s do it. Nano machines required power as well, meaning they had to stop eventually
...
...
...
I watched from outside, although I couldn’t see what was going on with my own eyes,the sensors in the robots were more than enough
Within the first ten seconds, one of them recieved critical damage, requiring the emergency nanites to activate to put it back together. Two seconds later, another had gotten damage that suggested it had been impaled, and the adequate protocols had been taken.
By now he should have realized what’s happening, right? I couldn’t do anything about their durability in the time I had so this was the next best thing
Seconds passed,then minutes. The damage readings I was getting from the sensors barely made any sense. The sounds of metal crunching and breaking got louder and louder and one after the other I felt my creations fall permanently. Every final punch or stomp carrying a finality that made my heart clench
Until finally... silence.
I felt a cold wind against my form and chuckled, my figure relaxing against the desk I was leaning my back on
"Damn,you couldn’t spare one of them?"
Silence
She finally looked over her shoulder at the figure crouching on the desk, turning around to face him
"That was fun"
...
"But you’re still worried I have defensive measures left, right? Not to mention, you’re tired, weak, injured. Any more robots and I could crush you, right?"
A bluff. She was completely out of those, but she didn’t show it on her face or in her posture. She looked as pridefully indifferent and unbothered as always
He didn’t reply but by now she could tell as they stood face to face
"Why don’t you find out? I’m right here. Try to take me,you won’t,at least not tonight"
She finally let out a small smile and repeated
"This was fun"
"..."
"..."
"I will continue to hunt you for as long as you live"
She shrugged , and leaned in close
"I’m counting on it"
Before he could react,her arm hooked around his neck. His eyes flickered behind the darkness concealing his face as she pulled him down and their lips met under the cover of his hoods shadow , sealing his promise and her challenge