Chapter 453 - Far Future Ch. 163 – Now, Let’s See Some Oil (1/2)
The shockwave of disruption dashed across the field, and even the holos broadcasting overhead fritzed for a moment before cameras out of range picked up the views from new angles.
The charging manrippers locked up and folded over, crashing and tumbling. Four Swords rose in clarion unison, and we charged for ten seconds.
That dispersed everyone the full length of the fighting field. I cleaved into power supplies and operating systems as I went by, since it didn't slow me down, and drone bodies shrieked in protest and spurted oddly motile nanite-infused black sludge as they exploded open under Chalice's edge.
Ten seconds, and we were spread through over half the length of the dead manrippers that had charged us, as their systems strove to reboot, and the carnage began.
Everyone killed everything all around them, and the more it twitched, the faster it died, spurting sparks and lubricants. Everyone had experience killing machines in fights by now, knew where to deduce operating systems and batteries were at, and they plowed in with psychic weapons, power blades, vibroknives, disruptors, lightning hammers... whatever worked to kill the manrippers as fast as possible.
More of them came surging over the hill, ignoring the others of their kind twisting on the ground, moving with precision and agility over the twitching mechanites scattered over the ground, and this time more lancers, as well as crab-like scuttlers and rolling crushers were with them. If they happened to grind down some of their own as they came forward, or impale them on razored legs, it certainly didn't bother them.
”Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Fire Two!”
The human cyborg and the urgob were on the ridgeline, using it for cover from the first EMP, and had advanced as far as they dared. The human's defensive ring pulsed, and the EMP fired off, sweeping over this new flood of mechanites, and even if the heavier ones were insulated, they still shuddered and stopped for a few key breaths.
The fastest and sharpest gladiators raced up to deal with the big ones that were the biggest threats. Jensa called out kill points on the scuttlers, crushers, and lancers sharply, and weapons plunged in to crush, cut, and make sure these creatures did not fire back up, as the rest of the force surged forward to try and kill as many manrippers and lancers as they could before they all got back up.
That left the urgob, and we'd see if enlightened self-interest or a stupid gamble in his own skill would prod him more. The last of the mechanites were rolling forward to attack, the gore and sheen of sanguine fluids on them indicated that they'd already attacked something else and succeeded admirably.
We didn't have any living creatures with enough mass to contest the scuttlers or crushers in brawn, but there were still those who knew how to fight and lure just enough, and then pull back desperately as the last remnants of the mechanite force rolled, bounded, and skittered over the hill, ready to continue the killing.
The girls and I made sure to kill at least one active mechanite of each kind, just to make sure we could, ripping through movement pulleys, cables, tension bars, and sockets to cripple their movement, weapon limbs flying off with sharp ringing protests of metal, and then ripping into them as Banefire, Crushing, Sundering, and Lightningphasing blew out their internal systems violently... and explosively, in a couple of cases.
The third EMP came down, and the final rush of the mechanites stalled. The Rune-reptile man ended up closer to the command turtle, and heaved it up over on its side as it lay paralyzed. Before it could reboot, his glowing claws had torn into his command systems and shredded first its coms, then he was joined by Keva in tearing apart its decentralized processing before it could de-link, separate, and try to flee.
The cyberized people rebooted as quickly as they could, while the rest of us shredded mechanites, and surrounded those that managed to recover, tearing off weapon limbs and mobility modes, upending them, and carving them open where needed.
It was a not-bloody mess, but it was also over with remarkable speed.
The cybers and power-armored guys rebooted, and came into motion again. The trio up high paused for a second before coming down, and...
The blast of purple, pink, and puke-green fire soaring up to the southeast a quarter-mile away wasn't missed by anyone.
I looked down at the scattered, destroyed machines around us.
”AXIOM EVENT INCOMING!” I bellowed out. ”MOVE! MOVE! GET TO THE EDGE OF THE FIELD AND KILL THEM AS THEY TAKE THE MECHANITES! ALL CYBERS STAY OUT OF THE MANIFEST ZONE UNTIL THEY COME!”
Curses in thirty languages arose as all the gladiators hurried back to where the cyber-types had just entered the ruined killzone, and were now hastily turning around and getting the Law out of it.
Everyone knew what a Warp Event looked like. C'mon, we were in a drow city, and the Warp was on everyone's minds here. Warp Events occurred everywhere, all the time, and you either fought them off, or you died.
But we were sitting in the ruins of a high-tech AI dronemind, which was like perfect resonance for an opposition Axiom Event to occur.
The shattered and carved remains of the mechanites around us began to twitch, and shift, and there was more swearing.
”PREPARE TO KILL THEM AS THEY ASSEMBLE! KEEP MOVING!”