The Last Dainv

Chapter 244

The group exited Protection Sector's lobby. Everyone had their new arm and shin guards equipped. Half the gear they had were put into Ollie's storage box and half were in Gale's space storage. Examining everyone's condition, they looked like they were in their best shape since even before they entered this Tomb.

Lily walked beside Rachel with a huge smile on her face. "There's this gelato place on Queen Street West called Mizzica. Have you been? It's probably the best pistachio in Toronto."

"I haven't been yet. I don't really know much places... maybe just places around Yorkdale or Eaton," Rachel glanced over her shoulder at Gale, who was talking behind them. "Wanna go when we get back? All of us could go."

"Fuck yeah, I love that place," Kyle said. "I busted a witch trying to do some voodoo shit to some mundanes who rated them low."

"Me too. I'll go," Clyde said.

Lily looked back at Gale. "Have you been? Like, ever?"

"I've read about it on the internets. Never actually had it though. Is pistachio like peanut butter?" Gale asked.

Kyle laughed. "It's a totally different ball game, man. You can't even compare them."

"Pistachio?" Clyde grinned. "Think of it like peanut butter except laced with shit that'll make you think about your life choices after eating ten tubs in one night."

"Are you bullshitting right now?" Ollie said. "Did you actually do that?"

"No."

"So you actually did."

"So what?" Clyde shrugged. "We've all done it at least once. Eat ten tubs and then hate life after."

Lily and Rachel both stopped walking and turned to stare at him.

"No one has done that," Lily said.

"Literally no one," Rachel said.

"You're all just weak," Clyde muttered. "I could probably eat 20 boxes of Twinkies by myself!"

"Silence." Erin cut through the conversation as loud mechanical steps approached them from the side. "A Guardian approaches."

Everyone fell quiet as two Guardians entered their view and stopped right in front of them. Compared to the other Guardians they'd encountered, these were the same white ones that they met when they first entered Protection Sector. The difference was they now had a complex circle etched into their front legs for translation. Erin said it was more convenient due to their stay at the sector.

The larger Guardian crouched down. "Grand General Grand Researcher of the Weber Conglomerate, Erin Weber, greetings. We are reporting to have captured Clarity and Serenity Sector, which houses battery containers that can power the Tomb for 37 stars."

Erin nodded once. "Good work. Now what is the issue that requires you to meet me face to face?"

"No issue, Grand General Grand Researcher. We wished to congratulate you on your victories across multiple fronts. At this rate, we will secure the entire Tomb in under 100 stars. Your tactical coordination has proven invaluable."

"I expect nothing less from the Cyril's valour," Erin said. "Your dedication to the cause is noted."

"We are currently on standby awaiting your next directive. The abominations have captured Courage Sector and established multiple hatchery hives due to the available biomass. Intelligence suggests the abominations will expand from that sector within the next few cycles," the Guardian said.

"Maintain your positions. I shall issue new directives when necessary. You are dismissed," Erin said monotonously.

Both Guardians stood up from their crouched positions and turned their bodies, walking back the same way they came from.

Erin continued walking first, and the rest of the group stopped gawking at the Guardians before proceeding to follow her. The elevator came down quickly enough and everyone entered.

As soon as the doors closed, the elevator ascended, soon to go to the inner defense hall of Protection Sector.

Kyle leaned against the back wall, looking at Erin. "Kinda feel bad about this whole thing, right? They're treating you like the Grand Commander of the Doom Squad."

"My title is Grand General Grand Researcher," Erin said sharply. "Do not get it wrong."

"Close enough," Clyde said.

"Hmph. Do not be deluded by their actions. They care only for results. Should the results cease, they shall return me to the essence extractor without hesitation. Their respect is conditional upon my continued utility."

"Still bad feels though," Kyle muttered.

"Your feeling is irrelevant."

The elevator arrived at the top, and the group walked through the corridor and entered the inner defense hall. Thousands of panels covered the sides which would've turned into turrets and shredded them if they didn't have Erin.

Arriving at the Core Chamber, Kyle cracked his fingers. Gale nodded to everyone, taking positions.

Clyde and Ollie stood by the door, taking firing positions. Lily stayed close to either of them to provide defensive support when needed. Rachel and Gale were just away from the door to avoid the oncoming fire and close enough to take on the brunt of the force. Kyle walked over to the house-sized cylinder porcupine looking orb on the platform in the middle of the Core Chamber.

"Erin, how long till the train arrives?" Gale asked.

"Exactly T-minus 600 seconds," Erin said.

"Can't we just wait until 180 seconds, and I jack this shit so we don't have to deal with the tachikomis?" Kyle asked.

"Do not risk it. The Protection Sector's material on the Core is different. You must use more force," Erin said.

"Great. Everyone ready? I'm going now," Kyle said, pulling his dagger from his belt. He drove the dagger into the Core. However, the blade scraped against metal with a screech, unable to pierce. Pulling back, he tried again, same result.

"Fuck," Kyle muttered, stabbing again.

From what the tendrils showed Gale, the sphere this time had a similar appearance to the one from Harmony sector, but it had the feeling of rock. No seams, panels, or obvious weak points. It was just one solid rock, as if the thing inside was never meant to be taken out.

"How long?" Gale called out.

"Give me a sec," Kyle said. This time, he pushed ether into his dagger and stabbed. A rock chipped from where he had hit. Smiling, he did it again and again.

Erin moved closer to Core. "The outer shell is reinforced with something similar to concrete from your world. Make haste. Break the Core."

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"Could've told me that before," Kyle growled, now putting elbow grease into his hits.

An explosion echoed from somewhere below them. From the hallway of the inner hall, they saw the elevator shudder and dislodge, creating a gaping hole to the atmosphere of the sector.

Kyle had made a pit after a couple more seconds. Digging his dagger into it, he twisted the dagger, creating a crack that webbed along the surface of the core. Again, he made these in two more areas that would finally make a triangular hole.

"How are we doing, Kyle?" Gale said from across the room.

"Working on it. Give me a couple more seconds," Kyle stabbed again, slowly creating another pit for the 2nd point.

The first spider mech pulled itself up through the destroyed elevator shaft, its four legs gripping the edges of the hole that was blasted through. Unlike the massive six legged Guardians, these were the familiar four legged version that was more human size, faster, and fortunately easier to kill. Multiple more pulled up behind it, flooding the corridor.

"Contact!" Ollie opened fire with Prudence.

The first round punched through two of the spider mech chassis, exploding spectacularly, though the explosion didn't seem to have any area of effect.

Clyde also opened fire. His amplified rounds cleaned up the whole small corridor, smashing and crushing the spider mechs against the walls with the trailing shockwave.

Ice spears and blue lances cut through the smoke as more spider mechs came into the hole. Each one exploded upon contact with the point of the spear or the lance of light.

"Kyle!" Gale shouted.

"Almost got it!" Kyle stabbed again, third point this time. Another stab drove the dagger deeper into the concrete.

One twist, and the triangle fully cracked. Using his already wedged dagger, he pulled out the piece of dagger and immediately stuck his hand in there.

One pull, and the Core showed itself, a slimy spine with transparent connections still hanging on the bones.

More spider mechs broke through the elevator shaft, covering the walls, the ceiling, and the floor. All of them rushing through. Clyde had to reload, and the Guardians took that advantage.

A couple of spider mechs passed through the door. All of them went straight to Kyle, ignoring everyone else.

Erebus materialized in Gale's hand. Launching himself into a spin, he cut multiple spider mechs in half that were aiming for Kyle.

"Transit hub, NOW!" Gale shouted.

Kyle wasted no time. He threw the Core to Ollie, who caught it mid air, dematerializing into the storage box before it could touch him. Dagger flew to Clyde, and the next moment, both of them were by the outer defense hall already running to the transit hub.

The rest of the team broke into a sprint. Gale and Rachel held the back as the flood of metal came at them. Rachel did the most work, as her explosions actually caused mayhem amongst the spider mech lines. On the other hand, whenever a spider mech would rush at Ollie, Gale would cut them in half before they got through the front line.

The group burst through the outer defense hall and into the transit hub platform. The combat model train sat waiting exactly as Erin said it would. Its doors hissed open the moment Kyle and Clyde neared the front door.

"Everyone in!" Gale shouted.

Lily, Erin, and Ollie followed after, all 3 firing to support Gale and Rachel from the backline.

"Gale, go first! I got this!" Rachel shouted.

Gale dashed into the train. The next instant, Rachel wound up her fist to her back. One foot forward. Punch.

The heat caused by the explosion turned the concrete walls of Protection red hot. All of the spider mechs in front of her and in the outer defense hall exploded all at once. Rachel jumped into the train next, and the doors closed immediately.

The train shuddered, and the train began to pick up speed. Once it was airborne, everyone didn't bother taking a seat. As the train ascended, the howls and screeches could already be heard.

Looking through the window, they saw hundreds of the winged abominations flying in their direction.

"Get in position!" Gale shouted.

Tapping on her bracer control panel, the two hatches on the ceiling popped open. Erin said, "Do not let them penetrate the train's hull."

Ollie and Lily went to the first hatch while Kyle and Clyde took the second hatch.

"Light 'em up!" Ollie shouted over the wind.

All three aimed at the swarm of winged abominations in front of them, though aim was secondary. They just needed to keep pulling the trigger and reloading.

Multiple guns barked. Each bullet punched through multiple abominations every time someone pulled their trigger. Whenever Clyde fired, it would punch a hole through the dark swarm, temporarily lighting up the surrounding area.

A low hum charged up from Lily's deagles. Pressing the trigger, a blast of light exited the barrel, converging into one blue lance that looked similar to the Blue Moon's lance. As the light faded, no bodies could be seen falling from the sky from where she had hit.

"Use your special mags!" Ollie shouted, ejecting his spent clip and slamming in one of the artificed special mags he'd made last night.

Firing multiple rounds, each round split into 20 smaller projectiles that danced in the air, punching through dozens and dozens in the swarm.

Clyde did the same. Firing Trebuchet, the gunshot sounded like a flak cannon. Again, he fired multiple more. When the bullet reached the centre of the swarm, it pulled everything into an implosion.

However, even with all their firepower, it didn't scratch the sheer size of the swarm.

They just kept coming. A single bullet would have torn through 20 or even 30 abominations at one now that they no longer had a reason to conserve their ether. But what would hundreds mean to hundreds of thousands?

A winged abomination crashed through the side window, glass scattering everywhere. It landed in a crouch and started attacking Rachel right away, shooting out poles from its arms.

Erebus cut five poles it shot in half mid air. And before it could fire a 6th, its head already rolled on the ground.

"Breach!" Rachel yelled.

"Get ready!" Gale said.

More of them crashed through the side windows. The first one ate a fistful of fire as its head exploded.

The third and the fourth were decapitated by Gale before they could even land on the floor. The issue now was that the bodies would pile up.

Gale kicked the three bodies down the car as more abominations crashed through the window. Dashing and spinning through the car, all of the abominations were cut in half.

Poles whistled through the broken glass. The abominations outside were firing their poles. Dozens of their projectiles passed through the seats and into the wall behind. Rachel sent them a timed fireball that exploded just in front of them.

Two more came through on both sides. Gale slid to the one on the right, a blade to the neck. Rachel slid to the one on the left, a kick to the throat.

Five more came through, but this time from the train car behind. They fired poles through the narrow doorways between cars.

Erin sent multiple ice spears down the aisle that stopped the poles from coming through for a minute before more poles came flying at them again.

"Wall!" Gale shouted.

Erin erected a wall of ice between the cars. That stopped it immediately, but now they were piling up behind, and the ice wall was already cracked.

"Too many!" Rachel said, punching through another abomination's skull that came through.

"Fall back to the next car!" Gale shouted.

"Moving! Let's go!" Ollie shouted.

The team at the exit hatch dropped down to the floor right away and went down to the next car, opening the hatch once again. A cacophony of guns barking at the exit started again.

"Another wall!" Gale shouted, blocking the wall again.

Erin once again erected another wall between the cars. A loud thud could be heard from the windows of the current car. The abominations were slamming their own bodies into the windows.

"That won't hold long," Lily said.

"It doesn't need to," Erin replied. "We're almost at the tunnel!"

The window shattered immediately as soon as she finished her sentence. Gale and Rachel took one side each. Dozens crashed into the car, and the ice wall shattered once again.

"Move! Next car!" Gale shouted.

The team moved again to the next car. Open hatch. Fire at the airborne swarm. Windows shattered on both sides, and again the car was overrun.

Two more times this happened until finally, Erin shouted, "The tunnel is here! Get back inside!"

Lily, Ollie, Kyle, and Clyde all got back inside without a question.

Suddenly, all the abominations that were clinging onto the train were sliced in half by the tunnel.

But it wasn't over.

The ice wall cracked, and dozens of poles flew through the aisle of the car. One pole hit Kyle on the thigh and Erin on the shoulder.

"Shit!" Clyde said.

Rachel placed herself at the centre of the aisle and punched. A river of flame flew through the cars, engulfing all abominations down. Poles punched through the smoke. One hit her on the bone of her forearm.

Tapping her bracer, Erin shouted, "Disgusting abominations. Die!" The train car behind the one they occupied suddenly shuddered and then uncoupled.

More poles flew through the air as the abominations desperately tried to shoot at them.

Gale stood at the centre of the aisle. Spinning Erebus on his hands, the poles hit the blade, sparking as they were deflected.

Grating sounds could be heard from behind them as the car behind gradually lost its momentum. The uncoupled train soon disappeared from their view as the tunnel curved.

Turning behind him, Gale materialized 3 gun syringes in his hand. He threw one to Kyle and Erin and held one to Rachel's neck and pressed. Kyle and Erin also used theirs immediately.

"Thanks," Rachel smiled.

Gale nodded. "Everyone else good?"

"Good here," Ollie said.

"Same," Lily said.

"I could heal myself without this primitive object you call a gun syringe," Erin said.

"Well she's good. Me too. I'm good. Thigh's a little sore though," Kyle said.

"Same. Reminds me that epic train fights are not fun," Clyde said.

"Come on, let's get to the front," Gale passed everyone and moved first. "Erin, how long till Wisdom Sector?"

"Five hours. A chance to rest before what the loud one calls the epic final battle," Erin said, following behind.

"You know, when she's the one that says it, it sounds more like famous last words," Kyle said.

"Idiot, just go," Lily said, pushing both the twins to the front of the car.

Watching the group walking in front of her, Rachel really couldn't hide her smile.