Kamcy

  After clearing enough of an opening around her, I spun and stopped with my back pressed against hers. My breathing was becoming labored, and judging from the heavy rise and fall of her shoulders, she was practically already out of breath.

  “You alright?” I asked, closing my left eye instinctively in a bid to stop sweat from running into it.

  “Hehehe... You don’t have to worry. Just a slight graze on my thigh, nothing serious,” she said with a bright smile on her face, completely unfitting for the situation we were in.

  Even as we spoke, we moved. The Swarm didn’t seem interested in granting us even a moment of rest.

  Claws lunged toward us again.

  “You, on the other hand, look like you're running out of steam already. I expected better stamina from you, troublemaker,” she joked as she cleaved through a creature.

  “I can’t say I know how to respond to that,” I replied, piercing straight through a Wolf caste before kicking its corpse off my weapon.

  The body spun away, spraying a thick arc of black blood as it crashed into the creatures behind it.

  Then we descended into another frenzy.

  A mad slaughter.

  Creatures hurled themselves at us from every direction. Bladed limbs, snapping jaws, twitching antennae. Their bodies slammed against ours, claws scraping armor, teeth clattering against reinforced plating.

  We shredded them.

  When I cleared a path, she ran ahead.

  When she carved space through the horde, I followed her through the gap she opened.

  Again.

  And again.

  It became a rhythm. A vicious cycle of slaughter as we cut through the swarm, each covering the other's blind spots.

  Our boots activated their gliding function as we moved, allowing us to skim across the ground with bursts of speed. Sparks flared beneath our feet as the mechanisms compensated for the uneven terrain.

  We vaulted over fallen bodies.

  Slid across blood-slick asphalt.

  Kicked off chitinous carcasses.

  But no matter how many we killed, their numbers refused to drop.

  Every creature we split apart began to regenerate.

  It was like fighting a living tide.

  Spinning my glaive, I hurled it forward like a boomerang.

  The weapon tore through the air.

  Its rotating blade screamed as it cut through the creatures in its path like a chainsaw through meat. Limbs exploded into fragments. Torsos were shredded apart, their innards spraying across the ground as the weapon carved a crimson tunnel through the swarm.

  “Gotta ask,” she said between breaths, decapitating a creature that had lunged toward my ribs, “why’d you come after me anyway? You don’t exactly strike me as the heroic type.”

  “What can I say? Just my conscience, I guess,” I replied.

  Unclipping my Z30 from its holster, I fired.

  Plasma blasts ripped through the swarm, leaving smoking cavities through their torsos. Some creatures staggered as the superheated energy vaporized chunks of their bodies, slowing their regeneration.

  I weaved between lunging attackers, firing again and again.

  The shots punched glowing holes through chitin and flesh alike.

  “Not gonna lie,” she said casually, “I was hoping for something more romantic than ‘my conscience,’ honestly.”

  “I don’t think I’m much of a romantic,” I replied.

  An insectoid caste opened its mouth to release another shriek.

  The sound died in its throat.

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  My glaive returned at that exact moment, slicing straight through its open mouth and exiting through the back of its skull before snapping back into my hand.

  Perfect timing.

  My ammo counter flashed low.

  “Is that so? Yeah, I figured as much,” she replied.

  She suddenly dropped into a split, sliding beneath a Wolf caste that had leapt at her.

  Her axe flashed upward.

  The creature split cleanly in half.

  Blood cascaded down around her as she spun with the momentum and rose back to her feet.

  “You don’t sound particularly scared,” I said. “Already prepared for death?”

  I probed her carefully.

  Even while fighting, I pushed my àse outward slightly, sensing the rhythm of her heartbeat.

  Nothing.

  Just controlled exertion.

  “Hahahah,” she laughed. “Fear? That’s funny coming from someone who looks just as calm as me.”

  I didn’t answer.

  Instead, I holstered my Z30 and shrank my glaive into a dagger form.

  An insectoid lunged.

  I vaulted over its head and drove the blade straight through its skull.

  It collapsed immediately.

  Her words lingered in my mind.

  She was right.

  I wasn’t scared.

  Why?

  Was it because somewhere in the back of my mind I still believed this was a simulation?

  Or was it because I believed that if things truly went wrong, I could escape?

  That if the situation became hopeless, I could abandon everyone and retreat on my own?

  The thought sat in my chest like a weight.

  That’s a messed-up way of thinking.

  Was that what I had become?

  Someone who helped others only because I believed I had an exit?

  Someone who fought not because I truly intended to risk everything, but because I wanted to absolve myself of guilt?

  To pretend I had tried?

  The thought disgusted me.

  I didn’t get the chance to think further.

  My dulling senses suddenly flared.

  I raised my weapon just in time to block a downward slash from a Wolf caste.

  The impact rattled my arms.

  I twisted my body and deflected the claw before driving my heel into its ribs.

  CRACK.

  Bone snapped.

  The creature flew backward into the swarm behind it.

  My shoulder radio crackled.

  “Kamcy, we’re a minute from our target destination,” the captain’s labored voice came through.

  I turned briefly.

  Our transport was getting further away.

  Every second we wasted meant losing them.

  “Please,” the captain continued, struggling to breathe, “if you’re making your escape, now would be the time.”

  “I understand, Captain.”

  Decision made.

  I raised my glaive overhead.

  Pouring every ounce of killing intent I could muster into the blade, I swung downward.

  àse flooded the weapon.

  The moment it struck the ground, gravity itself seemed to bend.

  Every creature around us was slammed violently into the earth.

  Bodies crumpled.

  Bones snapped.

  The ground shook as dozens of swarm creatures were crushed beneath an invisible force.

  “That should buy us some time,” I muttered.

  When I turned back, I noticed my control hadn’t been precise enough.

  Ijeoma had been affected too.

  She staggered slightly. I still had to get better.

  But there was no time to dwell on it.

  “Brace yourself!” I shouted.

  She didn’t even have time to react.

  I grabbed the back collar of her vest.

  Poured àse into my muscles.

  Calculated the angle.

  Then I spun.

  And threw her.

  She launched into the air like a bullet.

  Not toward the vehicle directly, but ahead of it.

  High enough that gravity would slow her descent.

  High enough that my teammates could catch her.

  Worst case?

  Maybe a broken shoulder.

  Shrinking my glaive, I grabbed her axe.

  The moment I gripped it, I fed a small amount of àse into it.

  The hollow edge on the back roared to life.

  Thrusters ignited.

  I swung.

  A wave of energy blasted outward, shredding the swarm creatures that had begun filling the gap left by their fallen comrades.

  Bodies disintegrated.

  Chunks of flesh scattered across the ground.

  I activated the axe’s second skill.

  Electricity flooded through the weapon.

  The next swing released a crackling arc that tore through the swarm and cauterized the wounds it created, leaving charred, smoking corpses behind.

  Have to admit.

  This is a pretty neat axe.

  After creating as much chaos as possible, I hurled the weapon toward the vehicle.

  Like its owner before it.

  I didn’t bother looking back.

  I trusted my teammates to handle the rest.

  Then I grabbed my glaive again.

  I poured my remaining àse into it and hurled it into the distance.

  When it reached far enough ahead, I activated its skill.

  [Homing Signal]

  Instead of the weapon returning to me...

  I was pulled toward it.

  My body lifted from the ground as I was dragged through the air toward the glaive flying ahead of me.

  This was something I had only theorized after studying its abilities.

  That was why I had poured most of my remaining àse into it before throwing it.

  As I was carried through the air toward my team, exhaustion finally caught up to me.

  My limbs felt heavy.

  Without an àse core, using intent-based attacks drained me far more than it should.

  I was running on scraps.

  Then my senses flared again.

  Dread flooded my chest.

  Even with my sluggish reactions, I tried to defend myself.

  Too late.

  Something tore across my back.

  Pain exploded through my body as something like blades carved a deep gash from the top of my back downward.

  Hot blood spilled instantly.

  I swallowed the scream clawing its way up my throat.

  Instead, I twisted and kicked backward.

  My foot connected with my attacker.

  Using the impact as leverage, I launched myself forward and crashed onto the roof of one of the vehicles.

  The landing sent agony tearing through my back.

  I forced myself to roll upright, gripping my glaive for support as blood ran down my spine.

  A heavy impact followed.

  The creature that had attacked me landed on the vehicle roof.

  The metal caved beneath its weight.

  Only then did I finally see it clearly.

  It was a Swarm caste I had never encountered before.

  But I recognized it instantly.

  Mr. Adeyemi had shown it during our briefing.

  It stood upright on two legs.

  Its arms were unnaturally long, ending in massive blade-like fingers that glowed faintly in the dark.

  Its lower face was disturbingly human.

  Handsome.

  Perfect.

  But above that...

  Its skull opened into a grotesque crown of fungal growths and flower-like petals.

  From its back extended four massive tentacles that draped behind it like a cloak.

  Jagged spikes ran along their length, pulsing with slow, sickening life.

  It had no eyes.

  And yet.

  I felt its gaze lock onto me instantly.

  The same presence.

  That same thing that had been watching me from the mist the entire time.