Chapter 15-11 Portrait

Chapter 15-11 Portrait

POTENTIAL OPERATIVE AVO HAS BEEN CLEARED FOR INTERVIEW.

RECRUITMENT EVALUATION FOR OPERATION REVISIONIST NOW PENDING.

-Aegis

15-11

Portrait

COG-CAP: 99%

SESSION LOST

SESSION LOST

SESSION LOS

SESSION LOST

WARNING: HEAVEN DETECTED

WARNING: HEAVEN DETECTED

WARNING: HEAVEN DETECTED

WARNING: HEAVEN DETECTED

UPDATE: SESSIONS TO ALL MEMBERS OF SQUAD TETON; SQUAD ASGA; SQUAD VENNO LOST

SESSION LOST

Myong woke to the ringing of lost sessions echoing through his Metamind and found his thoughts slippery to grasp. Cold winds lashed like bitter whips striking him to the accompaniment of ceaseless squealing. As his attention wove together from frayed strings, his cog-feed loaded and he found himself beholding a portrait of damnation from within the mangled remains of his golem.

A shallow swamp of gore stretched beyond veils of crimson haze. A layer of dead insects floated upon the still, red waters, and the swarms that remained alive sang their droning tune as they spiraled over unmoving bodies.

S-shit, he breathed. Shifting to loosen himself from his gimbal, he hissed as agony flared around his ribs. Looking down, he found a scab-coated furrow arcing inward along his midsection. Whatever tore through his Sangeist had taken a bite out of him as well. Some of the ribs on his right were missing. Not broken. Not shattered. Gone entirely.

Thank Jaus he had that platelet breeder valve grafted under his heart. Wouldve bled to death otherwise.

He moved and bit back a snarl of pain. His rig sparked and whined from its own damage, but the power grid remained stable and systems were still functioning. With a flex of augmented strength, he tore the warped metal of his hexagonal gimbal and pushed free from the claustrophobic confines of his vehicle.

Another wafting chill washed over him and he felt the unnatural sting of the cold. He felt it even inside his armor. Something was wrong there. Something

Wait, did his Metamind say something about detecting Heavens?

Drawing up the information again with a thought, a spike of sobering fear shook Myong out of his pain-drunk stupor and he found himself blinking out at the hellscape outside his golem. The platform looked like an aluminum can twisted to the point of tearing and cast carelessly aside thereafter. Stranger yet, blood was dripping from the jagged lips of the damage.

Had he cut himself on the edge somehow? No. He was secured in the gimbal. Someone else then?

Swallowing, he studied the ankle-deep pond of red that awaited him outside.

Burning drones and collapsed figures formed distant waypoints in his attention, and through the haze came flashes of gunfire and bladder-softening screams. Remains of Warwights were scattered in shredded pieces. Peeking out cautiously, he checked his rig-mounted weapons and found only his shoulder-mounted KM-20 autogausser operational.

Alright, he winced as he placed a foot on the opening and stepped out. Come on, Myong. Come on. Stepped over, he slammed down upon the pool of gore with a rising splash and tried to wrestle his rising panic under control.

Something terrible happened earliera fragment of memory he was missing right now. The last thing he remembered before coming earlier was scrambling to assist knot two just as knot one came under fire as well.

And then

And then

HEAVEN DETECT

His Metamind went quiet. A spike of emptiness pulsed in the core of his mind. Something was coming back to him. Something

Other Heavens. He remembered getting run down by other Heavens.

He didnt see them. Not directly. But over the sessions, he caught glimpses of what smashed into him immediately after.

An enormous pillar of glass somehow turned the corner of the Exorcist station and slammed down behind his moving knot. Around this time he also realized the new guythe pilot of the Snake-Kinghad their Metamind off or something. He was too busy casting at the half-strand to activate their session to notice the attack himself.

Pain tore from his mind as he felt his memories rattle like loose fragments of shrapnel. His cog-cap only just dipped below ninety-eight percent and the very act of thinking made his brain throb with soreness.

You deserve this. You deserve to burn.

Think of never seeing your family again, Myong. Think of everything you leave behind.

At least we wont be killing anymore kids, am I right?

With each passing second, more and more bodies emerged to join in on a long deafening laugh track, and in the end, hollowed by strain and stress, Myong heard himself chuckling along with them, hopelessly wanting to be part of his own festivities.

In the mix, one voice sounded louder than all the others. Clearer. That hissing voice. That deep rasp belonging to the entity. It drew closer and closer along with all the other bodies, closer and closer as a shadow drifted over Myong.

WARNING: HEAVEN DETECTED

->[WOUNDSHAPER] - FOURTH SPHERE

->THAUMIC OUTPUT: 2144 THAUM/c

And for the last moment, Myong remained himself, he looked up at the face of his killer and exhaled. He came apart at the sight of the tower. He came apart at the district devouring limbs. He came apart at the searing dawn and erupted from the Conflagration crowning the Heaven itself, and between the folds of the fire did he witness flickers of the purgatory he was destined to languish. Other faces formed and dissolved amidst the fires. They stared out at him like prisoners watching fresh meat. They stared and they leered.

+Be proud,+ the entity said, forming a burning tendril from its center mass. +I will make better use of your life and mind than you ever could.+

***

THAUMIC OUTPUT: 6792 THAUM/c

GHOSTS: [71,935]

OBTAINED: SANGEIST x3, SNAKE-KING x1

+Jaus, rotlick, youre becomin more of a diva by the day,+ Draus sighed as Avo finally finished his act of theater. +The fucks wrong with just killing people? You gonna do this song and dance with all your victims now?+

+Eh, I liked it,+ Chambers said. +The revenge vibe is always a neat sell. I can see this hitting silver in the entertainment category for most downloaded vicarity this week.+

+Not gold?+ Avo asked.

+Well, youre not titillating or a nu-cat, so its an uphill fight for you there, consang.+

This city and its many addictions.

Smashing through the knot took little effort but further emphasized the doctrine of Total Domain Warfare. They struck the knot from whatever direction they so pleased with Draus. Nether superiority was lost to the Three-Fingers, rendering their coordination nearly non-existent as they were forced to act in the physical.

All things culminated as out of the three Sangeists he was to face, only one turned to ward off his assault.

One that was promptly frozen and had its pilot turned into freshly cooked slices of ham.

As the formation of the knot collapsed thereafter, the route turned into a slaughter as they were ridden down by the cadre.

All in all, it wasn't worth much as practice, but it served as ample demonstration of what was most essential in a fight between Godclads.

Awareness.

Knowing what your enemy can do, where they are, what they want, and with what would their assault be conducted.

Deprived of the Nether and without scrying capabilities, the fate of the Three-Fingers was sealed with the arrival of the cadre. Yet, it could be them on the receiving end one day should they be faced with a rival with esoteric canons or eccentric Heavens.

To that end, Abrel spoke her peace. [Use your godsdamned demiplanes. You need to have a place that is absolutely secure and absolutely yours. The Twice-Walker and Galeslither both have something for this, but that should be the anchor for your team. The Porter is in charge of keeping prying eyes out and making sure the cadre as a potion of sanctuary even in the worst of the fighting.]

Suppose that was something to develop further then. He needed to expand on redundancies, and so he bade his capable templates to begin running war games.

+So, thats that then?+ Draus muttered. +Wont lie, I expected more of a fight with them, but this batch is as good as done.+

+Not yet,+ Avo said. +Going to use the minds I just took to burn away the rest of the Three-Fingers. Kill them all. Then were done.+

+Disappearin an entire Syndicates gonna be awfully noisy even for you,+ Draus said.

+Will leave a false trail,+ he replied. But before even that, Avo considered the three additional Souls still burning on the borders of his Frame and remembered another of his wants.

Dismissing his Woundshaper, the block-sized extensions of his spire evaporated into air while he poured the remainder of his gore into the darkness as he took his first steps toward the Exorcist station.

+Avo. Avo! What are you doin now?+ Draus asked.

A small but gleeful grin spread across his face as he considered which Heaven to gift his lucky winner. +Just going to light a candle. Throw the Guilds off. Start a fire under this city.+