Godslayer 1.28 Factory

“Dis is de factory,” says Valen as he, Drakvar and Karola stand on a rooftop overlooking the middle in question.

“Right in the heart of the quarantined Thirteenth District,” muses Drakvar thoughtfully, “Where no one will be stumbling over it. Clever.”

“Despicable is what it is,” growls Karola, “Using de deaths of countless people to cover up their misdeeds. How dishonourable are dese Southerners?”

“Not particularly,” replies Valen, “On a small or individual level, yes it is dishonourable. But when it is a major organisation like a government or an Order? Sometimes dese things happen. Often for good reason.”

“I doubt this is one of those occasions,” says Drakvar.

“Oh, I have no doubts dat it isn’t,” agrees Valen, “Otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”

“Any idea on what we’ll be facing?” inquires Karola.

“Probably any more of the machines dat have been constructed,” replies Valen, “And Kith guards as well. Might be some hired muscle, but it could easily be local police or military forces. Perhaps some Ti’darkei Knights if we are unlucky.”

“So are we just going to stand here or are we going to go in?” demands Karola, the Forge-Knight suddenly sounding impatient.

“With stealth or force?” asks Drakvar, interceding before Valen can make a snappy retort, even as the Archmage opens his mouth to speak.

“Neither,” says Valen, “We won’t try to draw attention to ourselves, but I don’t feel it is worth de effort to avoid detection. Especially since we intend to destroy de place anyway. Plus stealth will be pretty much impossible with Karola here and would have been blasting hard even if it was just me and you.”

“Shall I make us an entrance open den?” inquires Karola as she aims her shoulder mounted autocannon at the building.

“A large one if you would,” replies Valen with a smirk.

Karola’s cannon fires once before loading another shell and repeating the process three more times. In a series of explosions, the four shells rip apart the wall and a decent part of the interior, leaving a gaping entrance for the three attackers.

Without another word, Valen and Drakvar both leap from their positions on top of the roof and into the burning and crumbling hole. Despite the weight of her armour, Karola is easily able to follow them via the usage of her exoskeleton for it easily counters the heaviness of her armour in this particular situation.

Cautiously, Drakvar takes a few steps forward, drawing all four of his blades. His vigilance is for naught as he hears two loud cracks and Valen shout, “Light Shield!”

A thin barrier of white light appears between Drakvar and the shooter, barely appearing in time to stop the two bullets aimed directly at Drakvar’s head.

By the Four Divines, those would have killed me if it wasn’t for Valen. The Monster’s Curse is useless if I got two bullets lodged in my brain.

Acting quickly, Karola turns to aim her autocannon at the shooter and unleashes two shells. Racing into the dark halls of the inner factory, the shots miss the shooter with the tall Kith barely dodging each explosion.

With the light of the explosions, Drakvar is able to get a good view of his attacker. The Kith is almost as tall as Valen and Sir Galamin with what appears to be black fur. Their foe is heavily armoured in the white and gold plate armour of the Ti’darkei Order with the red shield and gold cross on his chest.

Two pistols are held in the Knight’s upper hands, but these are over an unknown make to Drakvar. They look like revolvers, but lack the cylinder and instead have a long, thin barrel. He opens fire at Drakvar and bullets are fired with every pull of the trigger in a way that reminds Drakvar of Karola’s cannon.

The Ti’darkei Knight unleashes another seven bullets from each pistol before he ejects two empty bullet containers from the handles. But Valen’s light shield holds just enough for it only shatters as the last bullet hits it.

Not one to stand around as he is attacked, Valen is already on the offensive.

“Fire Lances!” chants Valen, aiming his hand at the Ti’darkei Knight and a dozen lances of fire form around Valen before launching themselves at the hostile knight.

But this knight isn’t so easy to beat as he easily avoids the fire lances with great skill and agility as he reloads his pistols.

Annoyed by his uselessness in the fight so far, Drakvar sheathes two of his blades in order to draw his revolver, taking aim at the Ti’darkei Knight as his foe opens fire and Valen summons another light shield.

But before Drakvar can open fire, Karola beats him to it as her autocannon fires once again. The shot is a direct hit, slamming into head of the Ti’darkei Knight as it pierces the armour before exploding.

“Will dere be more?” inquires Karola.

“Yes!” yells Valen, “Wall of Light! Seeking of Jakcar!”

The glowing light-wall forms just in time to block several bullets coming at the trio. As Drakvar looks for their attackers, the fire left over from the explosions and the fire lances flies off into the darkness, seeking out of the flashes of gun fire.

Valen’s efforts are rewarded with a single scream of pain as one of their foes is engulfed by flames while the gunfire stops as their unseen opponents have to deal with the fire magically seeking them out.

With two of her own revolvers drawn, Karola opens fire at the closest foes while Drakvar takes aim at another collection of flames and the figure trying to avoid them.

He doesn’t get the chance to fire as Drakvar spins around in response to a worp behind him, his super adrenaline kicking in. His motions are just in time for the bullet hits his shoulder rather than his jugular.

Two more Ti’darkei Knights have teleported right in behind them. While the teleporting one with the new handguns engages Karola, a second one with wired gauntlets attacks Drakvar.

Red energy beams fire from the Knight’s hand, slamming into Drakvar’s chest, but have no effect beyond burning holes in his shirt.

Finally, a foe that my powers will be useful against.

With a ferocious smile, Drakvar fires his revolver into the Knight’s gut whilst bringing his two blades down. Unfortunately for Drakvar, he is rarely so lucky.

The bullet only dents the plate armour while the Knight proves herself to be a more skilled opponent for she easily deflects one of his attacks whilst blocking the other with only a bit of difficulty.

Snarling, Drakvar takes a back, putting away his gun as he draws his other two swords.

The Ti’darkei Knight lets out a quiet laugh as the battle rages on around them. She fires at Drakvar once again with her energy blasts, the red beams flying from all four of her hands.

But unfortunately for the Ti’darkei Knight, Drakvar has the power of the Monster’s Curse and the Pakdar has grown confident in his total immunity to direct supernatural attacks. As a result, Drakvar makes no effort to defend himself, focusing solely on attack.

The Knight realises her mistake too late for she is only able to block one attack and parry another with her gauntlet. Of Drakvar’s other two blades, one is rammed into in her cut, the enchanted blade piercing the metal plate while the final sword hacks her lower left arm in half.

Howling in pain, the injured Ti’darkei Knight reacts instinctively, slamming one fist into Drakvar’s head whilst grabbing him and throwing backwards. As he soars through the air, Drakvar flies through the Wall of Light, nullifying it as he makes contact.

“Idiot!” Drakvar can vaguely hear Valen shout as he slams into the wall, his head crashing into it hard.

As he drops to the floor, Drakvar’s head is bursting with pain while his ears are ringing. It doesn’t help the dazed Pakdar when the weaken floor gives way beneath him, sending him crashing down another level.

Feeling on the verge of throwing up, Drakvar rolls over and groans in pain before his world fades to black.

Godslayer Arc 1.27 Shopping

Miskara scowls as she glares at the dress in her hands.

That stupid Pakdar. Just staring at me because he only just realised how beautiful I am. I can’t believe him. As if I would ever be interested in dishonourable scum like him. I certainly don’t want his attention.

“Are you okay?” asks Sirakor as she notices the expression on her friend’s face

“Yeah,” replies Miskara as glances back over at Sirakor, “Just thinking about a certain person.”

“Whom?” inquires Sirakor.

“Just a couple of guys down in the Twelfth District,” answers Miskara, thinking of the Archmage Valen, “I ran into them whilst I was investigating something and I did the same another time. At that point, I did some investigating into them. Then I found out while they aren’t exactly the sort of people that folks like you or I would associated with, but they are loyal, reliable, trustworthy and competent. To the point that despite their many flaws, I would trust them with my life.”

“I see,” says Sirakor, “So dey are the ones you go to see?”

“Part of the time,” admits Miskara, “They are useful to be around. Their different viewpoints and perspectives to my own, along with their willingness to speak their mind, means that I get exposed to things I wouldn’t have thought of on my own.”

“Who are dese people?” inquires Sirakor as Miskara puts the dress down.

“They are called Valen and Drakvar respectively,” answers Miskara, “If there is an emergency, those two can be depended upon. Even if they aren’t the most respectable fellows.”

“If dey aren’t respectable, why would you even consider associating with dem?” asks Sirakor, sounding genuinely confused, pausing as she tries to figure out her best friend’s reasoning.

“Because while they aren’t respectable by our standards, there are other standards in the world that would consider them respectable,” explains Miskara as she begins to look at a shirt that has caught her eye, “And some of those standards are the standards that they hold themselves to.”

“But,” starts Sirakor, still sounding baffled by Miskara’s words, “But if dey aren’t respectable by de standards of the Ti’darkei Order, why should we, you, especially you, care if dey are respectable by other standards?”

In response to her friend’s question, Miskara laughs, leaving Sirakor even more bewildered.

“Knight Sirakor,” says Miskara, slipping back into the formal tones that she uses almost all the time as the Champion of the Ti’darkei Order, “The Ti’darkei Order might be the greatest Knightly Order in the South and one of the greatest in the world, that doesn’t mean that it is the only great Knightly Order on Lyatar.”

“So what other Knightly Orders could rival our own one?” demands Sirakor, both affronted by the idea that the Ti’darkei Order isn’t the only worthwhile Knightly Order in the world and shocked at its very own Champion suggesting such a thing.

“The Knights of the Good Sword, the Jord Order and the Right Hand of Farkas,” answers Miskara without missing a beat, “All of which are at least as great as the Ti’darkei Order. Actually, I would personally say that the Knights of the Good Sword are the superior and are the greatest Knightly Order in the history of Kith.”

“Miskara!” exclaims an outraged Sirakor as she glares daggers at her friend, “How can you say such terrible things!”

“Because I’m not blind to the truth,” retorts Miskara, “As the Champion of the Ti’darkei Order, it is my responsibility to not only acknowledge its grandeur, but also its short comings.”

I am so glad that I have had Sir Galamin to point that out to me. It made things so more clear for me. For that matter, I am glad that I have someone like him to act as mentor for me.

“Let’s move onto a different subject?” suggests Sirakor tensely.

“Yes, let’s,” agrees Miskara as she moves onto inspecting another shirt, a pale blue one with white linings, before picking it up, “I think this shirt would look good on me.”

“I concur,” says Sirakor after getting a look at the shirt, “But...”

“But what?” inquires Miskara as she cocks her head at her best friend.

“Isn’t it a bit big?” says Sirakor bashfully as she blushes slightly.

“Ah,” replies Miskara, the girl also blushing as she feels embarrassed at this turn in the conversation, “As you might have noticed, my size has increased somewhat.”

“How did dat happen?” asks Sirakor.

“Because I hide the full extent of my growth due to how...generous nature has been to me,” explains Miskara, “But not it has gotten to the point that it is too inconvenient and somewhat painful to try and pretend otherwise. You know about me getting some new armour right?”

“Yeah, dat makes sense,” agrees Sirakor before frowning, “But what I don’t get is why you tried to die any of it in de first place.”

“I didn’t want to get additional attention for my good looks,” answers Miskara with a sigh, “I get enough as it is and my beauty isn’t exactly something that I earned so I really don’t want any unnecessary attention because of it. But that is going to change now unfortunately. At least, it might help people take me more seriously if I look the part of the Champion.”

“Many people would want to have beauty like yours,” notes Sirakor.

“Most people wouldn’t want to be judged on their beauty instead of their hard work,” replies Miskara.

“I feel dat way as well,” agrees Sirakor, “Not dat I wouldn’t mind to be half as good looking as you are.”

“My apologises for that,” says Miskara for she can easily think of the two reasons for why she is so beautiful.

“Dat isn’t your fault so don’t worry about it,” replies Sirakor with a dismissive wave of her hand, “What I really want to do is see you wearing something other dan dat armour of yours.”

“Now that is something I can arrange for you,” promises Miskara with a smile at her friend.

Update & New Story.

Alright, I was going to post another part of Godslayer today, but I decided that I wanted to start posting my new story, Sword of Utopia. It isn't about superheroes like Legacy and League of Heroes and is more an alternate history fantasy with some urban fantasy and sci-fi bits on the side. I can't seem to keep sci-fi out of my stories for some reason.

As for Legacy, I will continue over time by posting what was going to be the start of Book 2 before switching over to short stories set in this universe. With Godslayer, I will post more of it over time. I will finish the current Arc before writing the whole "Godslaying" bit.

Godslayer Arc 1.26 - Questions

“Forge-Knight, that is a most useful set of powers that you have,” says Drakvar as he sips at his cup of tea.

“As are your own,” replies the Forge-Knight in question as she sips at her own tea, “It must be useful to remain unaffected by magical attacks.”

“It is very much so Karola,” agrees Drakvar.

“This tea is very good,” says Valen as he also sips his tea.

“I concur, but I will admit that I prefer coffee to tea,” says Karola.

Drakvar is silent as he considers the powers of Forge-Knight Karola Manlin. The young woman has received an enhanced body much like Drakvar, Jordis and Shocker, but her own powers are different to any of theirs.

Now I think about it, I don’t even know what Shocker’s powers are.

But Karola’s are interesting to him. She has two minor powers of being able to identify any material that she can sense while also being able to analyse anything that she can sense. Admittedly those powers are rather weak, but even then, they would be extremely useful on their own.

No, it is Karola’s third power that has Drakvar’s attention. The ability to create powerful weapons, armours and gadgets. Such as her mechanised heavy plate armour and shoulder-mounted autocannon.

These weapons are not of magic and yet surpass any conventional counterparts.

“So why are you here?” asks Drakvar as he decides to get to the heart of matter.

“What do you mean?” replies Karola.

“Kar’mire,” clarifies Drakvar, “You hail from the West, but here you are in the capital of the South.”

“Ah, I am looking for my brother,” answers Karola as she puts down her cup of tea, “He is three years older dan me and moved down here when I was just turning sixteen. About three, no four years now.”

“Come to tell him about your new abilities in person?” inquires Valen.

“Yes and no,” says Karola, “I do wish to show him what I can do, but my main reason is dat I haven’t heard from him in a while. It was only a few days, but we were in regular contact using an old radio system dat I fixed up. So I came down here a few days ago to meet him only to find dat his district was quarantined.”

“The Thirteenth?” guesses Drakvar with a sinking feeling.

“Yes,” confirms Karola, “I suppose it is de only district dat has been quarantined recently and as I’m sure you know, nobody has seen or heard from anybody in de Thirteenth District since it got quarantined. So in de meantime, I put together a small forge, dis armour and de cannon.”

“We know why de Thirteenth District was quarantined and why nobody has been heard from,” says Valen darkly as he throws a grim look towards Drakvar which Drakvar has no problems returning.

“Why is dat?” asks Karola.

“A god-like otherworldly being who is responsible for your powers showed up and killed everybody in se Thirteenth District,” answers Valen bluntly, “It took Sir Galamin, se Ordic and Sentinel Dorrin to drive it away from our world.”

Drakvar grimaces as he watches Karola gape at Valen, her face locked in an expression of horror. But that expression soon changes into one of cold fury.

“Tell me all that you know,” demands Karola in a solemn voice, her face hard, “I need to know it all.”

And so they do and between them, Drakvar and Valen fill in Karola up until the part where Valen got his arm ripped off. At that point, Drakvar instinctively raises his arm just in time to block Shocker’s electric bolt.

“Hello Shocker,” says Drakvar as he turns to face the Champion of the Ti’darkei Order.

“Don’t call me that!” shouts Shocker as she blasts him again, but Drakvar is too stunned by the sight before him to even bother trying to blocking her latest assault.

In Drakvar’s eyes, Shocker is the same as before, but just more beautiful. He had realised that her Manifestation had increased her already good looks, but is it only now with her new armour that he has realised how gorgeous and alluring that she actually is.

Shocker is now just over two metres tall, but still not quite as tall as Drakvar. Her brown fur and hair is silky while her bright green eyes glisten. Her armour is the same gold and white plates with the Ti’darkei symbol, but has been reshaped to accommodate for her new and most magnificent curves and Drakvar can’t help, but stare. Her cloak hangs loosely around her shoulders while headset is still in place even if it isn’t turned on.

Oh, she is truly beautiful.

“What are you looking at?” demands Shocker as she blasts Drakvar again.

“You,” answers Drakvar, again not bothering to block the latest attack as he is still dumbstruck by Shocker’s beauty.

Meanwhile Valen begins to laugh and Shocker turns her glare on him and blasts Drakvar again.

“Who is this?” asks Karola as she watches the scene unfold.

“I am Champion Miskara Stormmistress of the Ti’darkei Order,” Shocker introduces herself, “And who might you be?”

“I am Forge-Knight Karola Manlin,” replies Karola.

“A Forge-Knight?” repeats Shocker in an inquiring tone, “And what exactly are you wearing?”

***

Drakvar smiles at Jordis as he looks at the young girl sitting on his lap as she reads one of her books.

He treasures the young Kithen greatly and enjoys spending time with her. Just as he enjoys spending time with Shocker and Valen.

“Family is a wonderful thing to have,” says Sir Galamin from next to Drakvar and he jumps in surprise.

Where did he come from?!

“Yeah,” agrees Drakvar as he looks over to where Valen, Shocker and Karola are explaining things to each other, drinking some fresh tea that Drakvar prepared for them, “Do you want some tea Master?”

“No thank you Squire,” replies Sir Galamin, “But thank you for the offer.”

“So why are you here?” inquires Drakvar.

“The Forge-Knight,” answers Sir Galamin, “Her creations are not the first of their kind to exist on Lyatar.”

“What do you mean?” asks Drakvar.

“The Knights of Deltae that brought about civilisation so long ago used technology not magic to achieve their miracles,” answers Sir Galamin, “Now Squire, I would like a combat analysis of the Revenant Mechanical Units.”

Godslayer Arc 1.25 Second Wave

Both of these new mechs start the battle by each unleashing about a dozen of the exploding projectiles.

Using the enhanced reaction and analysis times that his powers grant him, Drakvar swiftly works out that wide spread of these explosive projectiles will cover the area he is in along with the street behind and in front of him. He can’t avoid getting killed or severely injured by moving backwards or forwards.

So I’ll just have to move sideways instead.

Drakvar darts to the side and jumps up at the side of a building. He runs up it for a couple of moments using his momentum, but it doesn’t last forever. So he is forced to stab one of his blades into the wall and pull himself up. A couple more times and he is able to make up to the roof.

He crouch rolls away from that side of the street. With the distance behind him and the street along with his prone position, Drakvar is confident the mechs no longer have line of sight to him.

Now I can just make my way out of here and I’ll be...oh, I forgot Jordis. Damn it!

Drakvar scrambles to his feet and in a running jump, he leaps from the rooftop and down to the utterly destroyed street.

One of the mechs is moving towards the building, likely trying to pursue Drakvar in whatever way it can and he aims for that one. It turns to face him, but it is to slow as Drakvar brings down all four of his blades at it.

One black blade tears through the rotary gun while another hacks the elbow joint of the spear arm. The third blade hacks the trio of glowing red eyes, taking out two of them even as the final sword stabs into the joint of the sword arm.

But the mech still has its fair share of tricks left open to it and its starts off with unleashes its flamethrower at Drakvar’s feet. The flames tear at his lower legs and feet and Drakvar’s face twists in a grimace of pain as he desperately scrambles away.

He runs down the remains of the street despite the pain with his adrenaline is dulling most of it. Bullets from the rotary gun of the other mech follow him and Drakvar is glad that he can outrun the barrel of the gun.

But his good run lasts only briefly as Drakvar is hit in the back by an electro-bolt. He trips and stumbles, ending up on the floor in a heap. The bullets whizz over his head with one actually grazing his fur.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

Drakvar backflips off of his feet and take in the situation in the brief second that he has.

Wrecked street, no Jordis in sight, one mech that is completely undamaged while the other has lost half its arms and two of its eyes.

I can do this. I’ll finish off the damaged one first and then take out the second one. Then all I’ll have to do is find Jordis.

As Drakvar takes a battle stance, the first mech charges straight at him, its flamethrower and electrocannon ready to fire while the second one heads parallels Drakvar on the other side of the side. 
It is aiming all of its ranged weapons at him, but is holding fire for now.

Let’s do this. I don’t know how, but I will.

Fortunately for Drakvar, he never has to find out about how he will do this. A three beams of blinding white light slam into the main body of the second mech, tearing gaping holes into it.

While he still flinches from the light, Drakvar notes that he isn’t affected as he should be.

A magical attack with light powers. Most likely either Valen or Sir Galamin.

With that mech dealt with, Drakvar focuses on the damaged one coming his way, but it jolts forwards a couple of times with a pair of heavy thuds before stumbling and crashing into what remains of the street, coming to a halt just before Drakvar.

Knowing what comes next, Drakvar runs away from the mech, not eager to get caught in the following explosions.

The predicted blasts fail to touch Drakvar as the injured Kith was able to put enough space between him and his defeated foes.

Staggering to his feet, Drakvar ignores what injures he has gotten and looks down at the other end of the street.

He can see three figures, two tall and one small. The first he recognises is the welcome sight of Valen and Drakvar lets out a sigh of relief as he spots Jordis clutching at the duster of the Archmage.

The final figure isn’t someone that Drakvar recognises, but is an equally odd sight as someone like himself, Valen or one of the mechs.

The female Kith is of above average height like Drakvar, but her stature is increased by the mechanicalised set of heavy plate armour that she is wearing. Making its wearer about as tall as towering Valen, it has several tubes and pipes as part of it, primarily being attached to the various joints of the armour.

Furthermore, there is what is clearly weaponry attached to the overly bulky armour. A small cannon with a long, but thin barrel is attached to the left shoulder while a sleek blade is part of the right underarm.

“You alright idiot?” inquires Valen as Drakvar strides toward him.

“Yeah,” answers Drakvar as he sheathes his swords.

He doesn’t know who this woman is or that she even a woman, but if Valen is cool with her, then he is cool with her.

“So you took out one of dese things already?” asks Valen as he surveys what remains of the street.

“I did,” replies Drakvar, taking another glance at the armoured woman, “Those mechs are tough.”

“I have already taken out nine of dose things,” says Valen with a grin and Drakvar blinks, almost coming to a halt.

Nine! I had trouble taking out one and I had no idea how to handle those other two! How on Lyatar could Valen take out nine! Oh yeah, he is a badass Archmage. Sometimes I forget that given how ineffective his powers are against the Monster’s Curse.

“Well done,” Drakvar tells Valen, being sincere in his words, “So, who is this?”

“I am Forge-Knight Karola Manlin,” answers the armoured woman in a heavy, distorted voice as she turns her head to look at Drakvar, “I am an independent Knight and I hail from de Western Mid Coast.”

“A Forge-Knight?” repeats Drakvar as he tries to place the term.

I don’t think that I have heard of that particular term before.

“Just as you wield the power of a Curse, I myself wield the power of a Forge,” explains Forge-Knight Manlin and Drakvar’s mind clicks in understanding.

Ah, Forge-Knight Manlin is a Parakith.

Godslayer Arc 1.24 Assassination

“Look!” says Jordis as she forms a ball of light in the palm of her head using magic.

“Yes, that is good,” replies Drakvar, but the older Kith is distracted by his thoughts.

When Jordis manifested her Entity Powers, her appearance changed radically. Where she once had pale white fur with long, sleek golden hair and blue eyes, Jordis now has blue fur with silver hair and eyes.

And while it wasn’t so noticeable and can be written off as her maturing, Shocker became significantly more attractive once she got her own powers.

As of such, I can’t help, but wonder if my appearance changed upon getting the Monster’s Curse. Grey eyes and spikey hair aren’t exactly traits I have seen on any other Kith that I have met.

But I simply don’t know myself and I don’t know anyone else who might know. Perhaps I should ask Shocker next time we meet. She seems to be the most knowledgeable on my past life.

“You’re not paying attention,” Jordis accuses him and he gives her a pat on the head.

“I am little sister,” replies Drakvar affectionately, “But I am also thinking about other matters at the same time.”

“Oh,” replies Jordis, “Okay Drakvar. Can I have another book please?”

“What is it with you and books?” asks Drakvar in a weary voice, “At some point, the world is going to run out of books.”

“Then I’ll just make people write more!” replies Jordis happily.

“Or you could write some yourself,” mutters Drakvar under his breath.

“Maybe when I’m older...” agrees Jordis thoughtfully.

Drakvar is about to reply when his fledgling combat instincts kick in. He tackles Jordis out of the way as two thin, razor sharp spikes whiz through the space that they previous occupied.

Almost instantly Drakvar is back on his feet, drawing two of his black blades as he scans the area for his attacker. Said attacker is easily spotted by him as the hulking brute marches through the scurrying bystanders, heading straight for Drakvar.

The metal monstrosity is ten feet tall and extremely heavily armoured with smooth grey overlapping plates. It has two legs, but six arms rather than the usual four. It doesn’t have a head or neck, but an enlarged torso with three red glowing dots near the top. The board shoulders have several small holes to them while each arm has various weaponry and assorted tools built into them.

His opponent is silent as it approaches Drakvar, but suddenly speeds up as it nears, moving faster than Drakvar would have expected from something of its size.

But having trained daily under Sir Galamin for a while now and seen more than his fair share of battle recently, Drakvar isn’t caught off-guard and it will take more than unexpected actions to surprise him in any meaningful way.

With the sword built into its middle right arm, the mech stabs at Drakvar, but he deflects it with one of his own blades. But even as it does that, the mech aims it lower left arm at Drakvar’s legs and unleashes a blast of flames from it.

But enough time around Valen has given Drakvar enough exposure to flames to realise what is going to happen and the Pakdar darts back, barely avoiding being roasted alive. Even so, Drakvar still gets a few sparks on him and they burn him slightly, it reveals something very important to Drakvar.

This thing isn’t supernatural. It isn’t supernatural and the Monster’s Curse won’t help me in this battle.

As Drakvar backs up, the mech aims its upper left rotary gun hand at him. Needing to close the range, Drakvar runs forward as the mech opens fire. As he closes the gap, Drakvar is very aware of the deadly metal projectiles whizzing over his head and shoulders.

He stabs at the glowing red eyes of the mech with his top two blades, but the mech bats them aside with its sword. But Drakvar hasn’t put all of his eggs in one baskets as he uses the swords in his lower hands to hack open the barrel of the flamethrower.

This time it is the mech that backs up, moving inhumanly quick as it rolls back up the street and firing its rotary gun all the while. But Drakvar goes give it the chance to do so, chasing after it. Despite having the opportunity to attack, Drakvar ignores it in favour of avoiding getting shot to pieces.

Drakvar stabs forward, piecing one of the three red lights, whilst also slashing at the rotary gun, cutting into the spinning barrel and almost slicing it in half. But to Drakvar’s misfortune, the mech still has another couple of tricks up its sleeve.

The mech’s middle left arm flashes forward, a trio of metal spears striking out of it. Drakvar attempts to block and while partially successful as he cuts a spear in two, one of the remaining spears cuts the flesh of his arm, leaving a light cut behind.

And while it was distracting Drakvar with the spears, the mech has also aimed the cannon built into its top right arm at the Pakdar. The barrel fills with electricity and its fires it out in a beam. The bolt of electricity hits Drakvar in the chest and unlike all of Shocker’s attacks, he is actually affected by it.

Arrgh!

He yelps in pain as the electricity flows through his body, stunning him. The mech slashes at him with its sword, but despite being stunned into non-motion, Drakvar deflects the attack out of instinct.

Now in pain, Drakvar’s enhanced adrenaline kicks into action. As the mech fires more of its razor spikes from its lower right arm, Drakvar does his best to intercept them with his swords, using all of his skill and unnatural reflexes to do so.

One slash equal one spike taken out. A stab misses, but another slash cuts another spike in two. Two more spikes and swipe takes out one and knocks the other off course so it only grazes Drakvar. A fifth spike is knocked off course with a mere flick of the blade.

As Drakvar prepares to make another attack of his own, the Kith barely has time to brace himself before the mech slams into him. His foe uses its superior mass to slam Drakvar backwards, sending him flying through the air.

Despite a rough landing, Drakvar is quickly back on his feet with all four swords in hand. Meanwhile, the mech has already backed off, putting a good amount of distance between it and Drakvar. Drakvar begins to run at the mech, but as he does so, several long and thin cylinder projectiles are launched out of the mech’s shoulder holes.

They fly towards Drakvar using some sort of fire-based mechanism at the rear and Drakvar notes they are too slow and large to be effective as bullets.

They must serve some other purpose to harm me. As a result, I should try avoid getting hit by those things.

Even if I that was what I going to in the first place.

Drakvar dodges the first two and tries to cut the third in two, but stops as he it is at that point he finds out what these projectiles do.

Just as his blade is about to make contact with the third projectile, the two behind him explode as they make contact with the ground. As Drakvar is jolted forward, he tries desperately to twist his sword so it doesn’t detonate another of these bullet-artillery shell hybrids.

He is barely successful and throws himself out of the line of fire. As the explosive projectiles slam tear up the ground where he once stood, Drakvar staggers on his feet as the nearby explosions rock him.

Another bolt of electricity comes his way, but Drakvar deflects it away from him with an instinctive flick of his blade. Eager to end this fight, Drakvar charges the mech once again.

For its part, the mech counter-charges, firing its electro-cannon again and its last few spikes at the oncoming Kith. Drakvar skilfully avoids or blocks the incoming attacks before stepping to the right as he reaches melee range.

As the mech stabs its two remaining spears at him, Drakvar cuts him in two even as he slashes at the elbow joint of the sword arm, damaging it quite a bit even if he doesn’t fully disable it.

The mech swings said sword at Drakvar, but he ducks. The sword and the lower arm it is attached to are both flung free of the mech by the force of the blow and Drakvar seizes the advantage.

He swipes upwards, taking out the barrel of the electro-cannon before hacking away at the main body of the mech, his black blades tearing through the arm.

Now defenceless, the mech stares at Drakvar with its glowing red eyes and Drakvar suddenly feels uneasy. Despite having no solid evidence to suggest this is the case, Drakvar is certain that the mech still has one trick up its sleeve and it is about to use it.

Drakvar jumps backwards, eager to put more space between him and the mech so he has more room to maneuverer. And a moment later, Drakvar is extremely grateful that he did so as the explosion from the self-destructing mech sends him flying through the air.

Drakvar lands halfway down the street, his back hitting the ground with a heavy thump. Drakvar grunts in pain as he lies there for a moment. With a weary sigh, he gets back to his feet and winces in pain.

That battle took a long out of me and I got pretty beat up. And while I will heal quickly, that will still take some time.

And so, Drakvar feels extremely annoyed as he spots two more of the mechs at the other end of the street.

1.20 Aftermath Part 4

“Go for it,” replies Leo, “But why haven’t you done that yet? It isn’t like you to not do something like this, especially considering this is Scott’s daughter we are talking about.”

“If I made one power nullifier, I would have to make more or share the technology to do so or people would just take Alice’s,” explains Legacy, “We could stop them, even if it was the government or some other official group. But that wouldn’t be a good option.”

“I understand,” says Leo with a thoughtful expression on his face, “Nuclear war is also an option, but that doesn’t mean anyone is going to take it. So basically you don’t want to release game-changing tech into the world without informing me first?”

“Pretty much,” agrees Legacy, “Do you have problem if I do this?”

“Not really,” replies Leo, “Just keep it basic. Let’s keep the fancy stuff for ourselves. No need to go around sharing the advanced stuff just yet.”

Legacy nods in agreement before asking a question that has been hovering about her mind, “How is Joan?”

“Good,” replies Leo, “She mainly adjusting to her powers. I would say that her manifestation has changed her personality, but I think it is more that her new powers allow her to act more freely. Joan hasn’t so much changed, but simply has more ability to act in ways that were previously denied to her. Which is good as I’m not sure what I could do if her mind had been altered by her powers.”

“So I’m guessing Joan is a carefree and whimsical spirit them?” says Legacy.

“Yep,” agrees Leo, “Quite like the rest of my family. Actually, Joan is a lot like them. I remember reading somewhere that people are likely to be attracted to people similar to those they grew up with. I guess that is true in my case.”

“So where is Joan currently?” asks Legacy, “I would like to ask her something.”

“Ask away Legacy,” replies Joan as she strides into the base, using the same entrance as Legacy.

Legacy and Leo both to turn to look at Joan as she strides down the base.

I wonder if this is actually her secondary body or if she is still just trying it out.

DD cup breasts, an excellent, but not quite Aphrodite hourglass figure, luscious red hair that goes down to her shoulders, a height of five foot seven, a pleasant feminine voice similar to her original voice and bright green eyes. Joan’s clothes consist of a white t-shirt that shows some of her cleavage, but not overly so. A pale brown skirt goes down just past her knees while on her feet are some black boots with some slight heels to them.

“So what do you think of my secondary body?” asks Joan before twirling around on one foot and dropping into what Legacy assumes is supposed to be a sexy pose.

“Looks good,” replies Leo.

“And you know first-hand that it feels good too dear,” replies Joan teasingly, but Leo just rolls his eyes, “You know, I want to spend more time together with you as a sexy girl. It was fun.”

“I suppose I can indulge you every once in a while,” replies Leo.

“Really?” asks Joan, surprised by Leo’s response, “I expected you to put up more resistance.”

“Physical forms and attraction don’t hold much significance to me,” replies Leo before tapping the side of his head with a finger, “To me, what is up here is what truly matters. When it comes to bodies and whatnot, I’m willing to let you call the shots since it will make you happy. That said, I don’t want to be a girl, I just don’t consider it a horrible thing to be one part of time.”

“Thanks Leo!” replies Joan, “So I am doing for you Legacy?”

“You don’t even know what I am asking you to do,” points out Legacy.

“You are such as hypocrite,” retorts Joan as she sticks her hands on her hips and leans forward slightly, “You’re my best friend Miss I-instantly-agree-to-something-without-knowing-what-it-is because-my-friend-asked-me-to-do-it. So out with it Legacy.”

“I want you to make me more normal,” says Legacy before elaborating, “I want to be able to feel physical attraction. I want to be able to understand things rather than just knowing about them without understanding. I want to be able to interactive with people without completely sticking out.”

“Oh I get that,” replies Joan, “You want to be able to maintain a normal relationship with Nicola right?”

“Half the time I struggle to understand what we’re doing and the other half, I’m just nodding and smiling while trying to keep that fact I have no idea what is going on secret from her,” admits Legacy, finally acknowledging the thing that been bugging her for a while now.

“You’re a space alien Legacy,” points out Joan as she dramatically rolls her eyes, “Tell ya what, I’ll help you out with that stuff. Heck, I’ll even knock your boobs up a couple of sizes at same time given we’re such good friends.”

“I’d rather you didn’t,” replies Legacy, frowning at the idea, “Big breasts would just be annoying to me. All they do is hinder one’s ability to fight and limit their mobility.”

“Alright,” says Joan as she throws an arm around Legacy, “Just come to me whenever you are going out on a date or doing something with Nic and I’ll boost your sexiness until you come back to me afterwards.”

“Thank you Joan,” replies Legacy, “Now if the two of you don’t mind, I’ll get changed out of my armour now.”

“Say, speaking of your armour, have you...” Joan gets this wide eyed look as her voice trails off, “Oh, oh! That gives me an idea!”

“I’ll join you,” says Leo, getting out of his seat as Joan runs off towards Legacy’ lap, “A joint-project using your Gadgeteering power sounds like fun.”

“May I join in as well?” asks Legacy as Leo walks past her.

“Sure thing,” replies Leo as he gets a thoughtful look of his home.

“I’ll help as well!” says Jaylyn using the base speakers.

Enjoying your life Legacy?

Yes, yes I am Mum.