Knights Apocalyptica

VAL raged in Erec's mind, demanding that he run into the building ahead of him immediately.

Behind him, the Knight Lieutenant cocked her head. His heart raced. Was there a way to explain? What reason could he give to go off charging into an unknown building like a fox chasing a squirrel?

No, there wasn’t a good reason, at least any he could come up with off the top of his head. There wasn’t a solution to the problem, and the knowledge that their entire goal was being destroyed above meant that every second spent lingering down here held a steep cost.

So he didn’t explain.

Erec took off running, his steel boots slamming against the lobby's wooden floor. His group cried out in alarm behind him, and he let out one wild, “Follow.”

[Ahead.]

Erec slammed a shoulder into the locked door ahead. His momentum in all of the Armor and his natural strength shattered the hinges and sent the wooden door flying to the ground. He climbed over it easy, listening for VAL to tell him which direction to head next.

The machine could process faster and determine the layout of the building from the signs more quickly than he could.

All he had to do was run and listen.

Erec was climbing it a second later—dimly aware of the cussing behind him as his group drew their weapons. They’re following, good.

One flight, two flights; they flew by two steps at a time, his breath quickened as his heart sped. The inferno inside started to spark and flicker, but he kept it from igniting.

The third story brought him skidding to a stop. Balls of silver-like metal clung to the stair and walls—thick enough to be a serious concern as the insects squirmed. Each had six legs and used those thin, wiry limbs to climb upward.

They noticed Erec as soon as he saw them but appeared just as startled.

Erec sat still for a long second as he really took in the mass of metallic insects. He’d expected a fight on the roof.

He’d been paranoid about what they might find but needed to get up there.

The last thing he’d thought to encounter was a mass of bugs. Regardless, he yanked his war axe free as they erupted into a chorus of shrill whistles. Some of them turned; they’d decided to deal with the intruder.

Erec’s axe slammed into the nearest one—it met heavy resistance. But a second later, the dented metal carapace gave, followed by a nasty sound as its gut blew out of the joints of its metallic armor. Its insides stained the concrete stairs purple as the dying thing twitched.

Two replaced the spot of the one, flinging themselves through the air in quick jumps. They each hit with a heavy blow, like a lead ball tossed at him; their pincers tested his Armor and scraped its surface. He yanked one of the bastards free, chucked it off the gap in the stairway, then grabbed the other and bashed it against the wall. Once. Twice. Three times. He smashed it until it twitched and gave up fighting, then dropped the poor thing and retook a dual-handed grip on the war axe.

Five replaced the two.

Too many. There were too many ahead to blaze past. Not like this.

Anger flickered and tried to catch fire as the rest of his party came up behind him.

I can’t. His grip on the axe slackened as he fought to quell the rage inside.

If he let fury loose right now, he might never make it the rest of the way up those stairs. He worked his jaw as he backed up—out of reach of the five flinging bugs.

As badly as he wanted to let loose, it’d be abandoning the mission if he did so.

For the first time since having this Divine Talent, Erec realized he was in a situation where he couldn’t afford to use it. What if VAL was unable to direct him? Nobody else on the team knew they needed to get to the roof.

One of the metal bugs reached him; he snatched it out of the air and caught it in his gauntlet. He tightened his grip—trying to thread the needle and pull on enough extra Strength to crush it without digging deep and letting the beast out of its cage.

Could he only use some of the power?

It failed to give. The bug squirmed in his grip as another leaped and latched onto his arm, its pincers scratching against the steel plating.

Behind him were a cry and a gasp as Colin rounded the corner and saw their enemies.

Robin crashed into the swarm next to him; her arm seemed to melt as she moved—sliding on her skin and revealing sections of flesh.

Alister joined the fray, then Olivia, and lastly, Garin. They rushed in from his sides as he back stepped—pushing on to join the fight on the staircase as Robin led the charge. Erec flung the insect in his hand down the gap in the stairs and shook the other loose.

His axe smashed it against the ground.

Cold panic welled in himself as he looked up at the fighting, as he felt that inferno burning inside and wanting to go loose.

I can’t keep myself together.

Colin shook behind him, trying to stay as far from the bugs as he could.

The poor boy couldn’t control his fear; those things terrified him.

But he needed to join the battlefield. Or…

Colin needed to step up to the plate, if he couldn’t fight, fine. Then he’d have to do something else for the war efforts.

The metal coating Robin whipped around—flowing smooth like natural extensions of the woman, sending tens of the bugs to death.

The higher they got, the thicker the infestation grew.

Erec pulled away to jog to Colin—taking a deep breath to fight away the burning in himself. The desire to fight. His hand slammed on Colin’s shoulder.

He wanted to let go, so bad, to join the fight ahead. His irritation at the situation stung, and his instincts screamed. He fought to suppress them; thankfully, VAL went dead quiet. Perhaps it detected that internal struggle and reached the same conclusion as him about what triggering Fury would lead to. He’d be unreliable to fulfill what they needed done.

But there was someone who could.

“Colin,” Erec commanded, his voice loud and strained.

There were more shrill whistles from above and the sound of crunching and metal striking against one another.

Colin shook his head, trying to wrest free and back away.

“Colin!” Erec screamed, part of his mask slipping. Part of that anger found a grip and yanked at his control. How dare this coward retreat from such a glorious field of battle? Pathetic.

Colin was shaking as Erec’s grip tightened.

[Control.] VAL burst through the hazed and heady emotions roaring to life.

It was a lost cause. He couldn’t do this. It wasn’t in him to keep the beast caged; it was too strong. The bars were bending, and soon it’d be free. It smelled blood. It wanted to taste a battlefield and leave corpses behind. His fingers dug into the metal—even with the superior model, Erec’s Strength began to strain Colin’s Armor; small divots formed from where he gripped the duke’s son.

“Colin. I need you to do something.” Erec almost growled. Fighting for that last inch of sanity. “You need to do it. Nobody else can.”

“I-I can’t—get me when they’re all done with—“

“No!” Erec yelled, his voice loud enough to cause the other boy to flinch. “You need to push us up to the roof. All the way up. Keep us going up.” Erec commanded, each word pried from his rapidly deteriorating mental space.

“W-why me?”

“Everyone else is busy! Be useful! You wanted to be strong? Change!” Erec screamed the last word as more of the metal critters broke past the assault—three were skittering towards them. Perhaps they were fleeing from those in the lead or trying to get a shot in on them.

He let go.

It was like holding a rope slicked with oil; impossible. Even if he was clinging to it with his life, the best he could hope for was to retain enough of his sanity to listen to VAL warn him about attacks. Colin would have to pull through.

Otherwise, all of this fighting would be for nothing.

Erec tore away from Colin; with glee, he yanked one of the insects from the railing and slammed it into another—using the two to smash and break one another into a fleshy paste of purple.

His war axe was delightful; a scythe that careened into the creatures as more of his Strength came to his arms. He caught up to the group on the stairs. Robin led the charge but met a pure metallic mass of the creatures, pushing back against them but unable to make any headway.

She wasn’t Strong in the same sense as him. Or perhaps she was holding back. Those floating tendrils of metal around her sliced the insects apart with ease. She moved slickly through space, none of the insects could land on her due to her pure speed.

If this were a game for her, then it would be to Erec too. His war axe tore through his enemy like harvesting a field. Their metal membranes were hardly challenging for the weapon enhanced by his Strength.

Not when he was all together again.

The inferno raged inside and pumped him full of that beautiful, addictive power.

He joined Robin at the front, and the woman got slightly more serious. Strands of metal twisted around her skin, forming into a second layer and coating her arms, only to extend outward to create vicious points that jabbed in and out of the creatures like needles. She killed tens of them in a second with quick bursts of speed—an angel of precise and targeted death.

Erec smashed them into one another and destroyed them in clumps. Why bother with precision?

They reached the fourth floor. It was clear that bugs had made a home on this layer; somewhere past the open doorway lay their nest.

More to slaughter. He loved that they grouped together to make it so easy.

[Up! Wrong way!] VAL called as Erec began to cleave into the first mound of the creatures stemming from the fourth floor. The annoying mechanical voice was good at alerting him about incoming blows, where he should guard, and where he should strike.

But it didn’t know how to track down satisfying fights as he did. How could it tell him to go somewhere else when so many here wanted to taste his axe?

He readied to throw himself into the fourth floor to kill, and a glyph spread out in front of him. Erec pulled back, prepared for some attacker as a wall of pure ice sealed off the entrance to the fourth floor.

Who dared?

Erec looked around, eyes filled with hate. The other humans behind him seemed equally surprised. They’d been willing to join him on the battlefield, to conquer this new host of enemies.

At the back of the crowd was a shaking man in light blue Armor—vanishing cerulean lines of a glyph still hung in the air from where his hand hovered.

There was panic to his voice as he yelled, a shrill, strained command. “Go up! We need to go up! Go to the roof!”

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