Chapter 10-16 Interrupted Deception

Chapter 10-16 Interrupted Deception

Do you have any idea how close you came to dying now, girl? Do you? When I say Zero-Burn, I mean go Zero-Burn! Zero-fucking-Burn!

Y-yes, Instrument

[Echo of a slap; a yelp]

No. Not yes, instructor. Stupid. Stupid fucking half-strand. You wanna know why you arent dead? Because it cant find you at Zero-Burn. Because that thing that you made? That was an Anathema of Anchoring. A Daemon. Trying to pocket it with your Heaven wont do anything because it is the literal antithesis of your Heavenof your fuckin being! Did you pay any godsdamned attention to anything I was trying to teach you? Did any of you?

[Silence]

What? Are you all mute now? Did you?

This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.

[Chorus of negatives; Mondelles sighs]

Class dismissed. This is going on your Merits. All your merits. Her for this mistake. The rest of you for failing to adhere to protocol. Assist your allies. Dont just stand there and gawk. Osjane.

... Yes, Instrument?

Im sorry I hit you. My control over my temper... slipped. It was unbecoming. Include that in your report too while waiting for the Daemon to rupture. Small failings go next to the big ones. My Merits need to be docked as well. Dont forget.

I yes, Instrument Mondelles. Blessed be the worthy.

Blessed be the worthy. Class dismissed. Learn from her, do not mock her. I saw how the rest of you were performing. She just made the mistake first. See that the rest of you dont do this.

-Exchange between Aspirant Osjane Callawanies and Instructor Santanado Mondelles, Axtraxis Academy of Highflame

10-16

Interrupted Deception

An infection was spreading through the plascrete, and its name was Avo.

Like parasitic growths sinking past the depth of flesh and entwining themselves within bone, threads of blood expanded outward, branches slithering between the walls and floors of the megablock. Reclaiming the loci he formerly subverted was a paltry task, the three major lobbies falling back under his control within an instant.

Guided by blurred accretions and rooting along the spines of the structure, Avo infused a nervous system of his own making, its design one of solidified blood and phantasmal circuitry. Using the shaft of a long abandoned elevator, he inflicted his changes, Echoheads holding him in place while the Blockcrawler scanned and revealed the nature of Confluxs troop compositions.

When his Rend was full, he assisted in its ascent creating new points of access, his entropic expulsion shearing with an efficiency superior to that of the vehicle.

Even with his perception accelerated, wrapping the entirety of the structure in the grip of his network consumed precious time. Twenty-five minutes passed before he completed his act of subversion. Leaving the outer walls mostly untouched, he regardless left four haemokinetic spikes jutting out, each pointed in a different direction to allow him nigh-instant awareness of the surrounding area beyond the block should something unexpected follow.

Scrying at Nu-Scarrowbur from their tips, he tried to gauge his time. Zeins obfuscation blanketed the district still, but he could see mottled gaps from along the outer layer of darkness. Faint flashes and volume-twisting quivers slipped through like drips leaking out from a faucet. Whatever thaumaturgy at play was still in effect.

Time was still on their side, for now, but the culmination was fast approaching from all ends.

Spinning the final strands of his influence to form a roof over the topmost floor still filled with Syndicate presence, Avo invoked the Canon of Linger and left them embedded before withdrawing his Heaven. Speed shot back to normalcy. Quelling his reflexes, he took a moment to take in his work.

He found the Shadowcrawler placed along the tracks leading out into the Underways. Directing his ichor to trail past the edge of the medical floor down across its exposed overlook, Avo stretched his reach through cracks and crenulations running along the plascrete. Enforcers passed his presence, ignorant to the thin lines of red gliding toward the crab-like form of the eighteen-foot-tall golem.

With six legs connected to a vantablack dome, strips of lighting basked the ground beneath it in a focused shower of light.

A tinge of annoyance crossed Avos mind as he realized with everything that had happened, he forgot to ask Kae about the golems he encountered.

+Shadowcrawlers simple,+ Draus said, sensing his wariness. +It makes the dark like water, and can jump into shadows and shit; swimming in the black. It can drown half-strands, but more often than not its used as a delivery mechanism for nukes, explosives, or other nasty shit past defensive lines. Pretty sneaky golemSyndicates like to use it for the smugglin. Got a pretty vulnerable hubris though, seein as theyre old models. If the darkness theyre swimming in gets completely parted by light, things start fryin right-quick.+

The functions and limitations made sense, all things considered. Diverting his Whisper into his seeking trickles of blood, he splashed through the room with his perception and counted forty enforcers stationed around the Underways along with three drone jocks lingering within the vehicle.

Beneath his flesh, he felt the urge of the beast awaken. It wanted him to shred and tear all those present using his own Heaven, to forgo all subtly and close his weave of blood throughout the floor and scythe through all who were present.

It was an appealing desire, to express his power with vulgarity and absolute annihilation. There was a time when fighting just one of them was beyond him. Now, with but a thought

Every article of glass and symmetry in the room rattled. Avos blood, much like all who were present in the room, went still. He sensed Mirorrhead thena felt presence through the tightening of postures and the inflammation of dread spreading through the Confluxers like wildfire. Shards of glass broke free from various surfaces, the fractals snapping into place over the railings of the Underway and melding into a portal.

A rush of light peeled all unevenness from the assembled pieces of glass, and when the shine faded, a portal of gleaming polish remained, forming a gateway into Mirrorheads personal sanctum.

Seated behind his table, an empty bottle was the first thing to catch Avos attention. The next were the amber stains marring the Syndicate boss suit. There was as a shiver to the mans motion now, a lashing rage as their expressionless face jumped from person to person, regarding all who were present with a stare of distrust.

My soldiers, Mirrorhead began, his baritone as deep as the suspicion lining his tone, I have a use for you. A chance to properly convey your loyalty to me. Silence followed. Mirrorhead clasped his fingers together, but unclasped them a moment after as if he couldnt decide on the state of his own posture. Go. Go up. Ascend my block and gather the others. Bring them bring them outside. To the decks overlooking the the circuit. My circuit. My district. There there I will share with you your final tasks in person. I speak to you. And then freedom. You can be free. All can have what they want. Allall we want

The light vanished from the portal, and with it returned all the blemishes. Shards of glass fell, shattering against the enforcers below.

Coldness settled within Avos mind. The Guilder was close to the precipice of losing control, despite how he presented himself. The Mirrorhead Avo knew during his tenure at Conflux would have never allowed himself to be seen in such a disheveled state. Power was being projected still, but there was a pleading nature to itsomething Mirrorhead would have never abided by.

But Jhred Greatling begged quite well.

+Fuck,+ Chambers said, chuckling with surprise. +Boss doesnt look so good. Looks like you really did a number on his mind, eh, ghoulie?+

Avo frowned. He could still jack into the golem, still begin his assault and draw Mirrohead out the way they planned.

But if the Guilder was going to expose himself willingly, then perhaps an adjustment was in order. If Mirrorhead was going to speak to all those present in person, he would be exposing his throat Avos hidden fangs. And through that, the beast might just get the slaughter it desired after all.

Besides, if things came down to it, triggering another surge of civil conflict using puppeteered Confluxers and the golem under the guise of Ori-Thaum Sleepers was still an option.

+Yeah,+ Draus said, agreement coming with no shortage of apprehension. +If he wants to put his head through our guillotine, let em. But youre right: Snuff the techs and jack into the golem anyway. Itll make things easier when we start the killin.+

Avo concurred.

And so, spurring his blood to leap from floor to golem, he threaded his presence inside, and there, drew the thinness of his blood taut into a wire. He pulled it across the necks of three unsuspecting jocks.

THAUMIC OUTPUT - 986 THAUM/c

GHOSTS: [1045]

ACCESSING: [SHADOWCRAWLER]