Chapter 2: TERMINATION

///ALERT: ENERGY AT 30%

//DIRECTIVE ACKNOWLEDGED

I stood, my damage fully repaired, core charged. The gaunt man stumbled backwards away from me — at my full height, I stood 8 feet, well enough to tower over most regular humans. This one seemed short — malnourished even. He looked away from my head display as I directed it towards him. It didn't host my full suite of sensors.

With a pulse, I sent out a burst of radar waves that rushed down the tunnels. My sensor suite super imposed a 3D render of the cave layout at the top of my vision. A second sweep pulsed out. My scanners automatically cross-referenced the data. This identified three moving targets.

//REQUESTING SITUATION BRIEFING

"Briefing? Oh, fuck. What were you? Some kind of soldier…" the gaunt man mumbled and bit his lip. "There's three of them. Templars — chased me out of the village, followed me here. They're probably running into the caves right now."

//ACKNOWLEDGE. REQUESTING TARGET DESCRIPTION

"Oh fuck, I don't know man! Uhhh, they wear white! All the Templars wear white!"

//QUERY: ELIMINATE ALL TARGETS IN WHITE?

"Yes! Yes!" the gaunt man said.

The three figures charged into the open cave room before stopping to gape at me.

"Oh fuck, they're here— "The gaunt man said, at the same time as the man leading the charge of Templar's spoke:

"Surrender yourself — what… is that?"

//QUERY: USE OF LETHAL FORCE AUTHORIZED?

"Yes! Kill them!" The gaunt man said, his face a mask of panic.

The two Templars in the back drew their swords. One of them held a hand over the blade, and as he began whispering, it glowed. "Oh Goddess Seela, may I walk in your light— "

/ENERGY WEAPON CHARGE DETECTED

My arm rose, locking onto the target instantly — the first movement I had made since standing — and my plasma shot split him in half. The world erupted in light and sound as the Templar was pushed against the wall, body bursting open. The two other Templars stared at me in mute shock.

///XP: 100/100

///EXCESS XP DISCARDED

///LEVEL UP: LEVEL 2

"Captain— "one of them began.

"Shields! Now!" a visible force field erupted around them.

//ENEMY LEADER IDENTIFIED: PRIORITIZING

I fired a round directly into the force-field of the captain, blinding my visual sensors.

Radar reported the entire force-field as a solid object. It was completely unscathed. The wall behind it shook, pieces of dirt and melted stone slag falling from the wall. The heat inside of the cave rose considerably, but not enough to pose a threat to my directive.

//ENEMY POSSESSES EFFECTIVE ANTI-ENERGY SYSTEMS. CHANGING PRIMARY ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

My left hand moved sideways, wrapping around my wrist and exposing the opening at the termination point of my arm. My hydraulics activated, releasing the 4 foot, telescopic, sharpened prybar stored in my arm.

I took one step across the room and arrived at my target, prybar passing through the anti-energy field.

He deflected my prybar with a deft stroke, metal clashing in the cave. The captain swung his blade at me, sparks flying where it impacted my metal chassis.

"It's a fucking monster!" The man behind the captain gasped.

"Shut up and flank it! Do you want to die here!?"

The man rushed me, swinging his sword at my side. I blocked with my gun-arm, stabbing with the prybar, but the captain focused on deflecting me while his second slashed and cut at the blind spots in my side.

///ALERT: HP AT 50%

///ALERT: ENERGY AT 9%

My new sensory suite activated an alarm, informing me.

I would end this now. I kicked, pushing the Templar captain backwards. He gasped.

"Get back!"

Too late. I rotated my torso on my legs, spinning a full 360 degrees. The second Templar's head went flying.

///XP: 150/150

///EXCESS XP DISCARDED

///LEVEL UP: LEVEL 3

I took my second step since I reactivated, leading forward with my prybar. It pinned the Templar captain to the wall.

The captain clutched at my prybar, embedded in his neck, but my sensory suite reported his vitals weren't failing despite that he should choke on his own blood.

//QUERY: TARGET VITAL SIGNS ARE NORMALIZED DESPITE KNOWN HEALTH DIAGNOSTICS INSISTING THAT TARGET SHOULD BE DEAD.

The gaunt man was sprawled against the wall, arms pressed against it. He looked at me with eyes full of fear. My chassis sensors, oddly enough, reported that my chassis was slowly repairing.

I repeated my query, keeping my head pointed down at the Templar captain as he bucked and kicked at me, trying to pull the prybar from his neck.

//QUERY: ASSIGNED TARGET VITAL SIGNS ARE NORMALIZED DESPITE KNOWN HEALTH DIAGNOSTICS INSISTING THAT TARGET SHOULD BE DEAD.

"He — he probably has a ton of his points into vitality. The System is keeping him alive."

I switched through the known information in my storage to process the gaunt man's statement. My new sensory suite was called System — I labeled it before analyzing its data. I switched through the full data transmitted, gaining information on vitality and the other core stats of the system.

//ACKNOWLEDGED. TERMINATING TARGET.

I kicked the captain's heart, raising my foot to the full level of his chest — I had pinned him to the wall several feet off the ground. I crushed it in a single blow. At this distance, radar penetrated his flesh, giving me an active, if fuzzy, analysis.

The captain lived, despite my sensory suite showing most his chest was now just mashed organs and crushed bones.

The heart and lungs were both inadequate targets for direct elimination. Next test — the brain.

I kept the captain pinned to the wall with a foot, then removed the prybar from his neck. He gasped, choking on blood that poured down his face, down his neck, and pooled around me.

"Please— "he sputtered, coughing blood. "Don't!"

I stabbed the prybar into his eye, and he stilled.

///XP: 200/200

///EXCESS XP DISCARDED

///LEVEL UP: LEVEL 4

In my internal notes, I added that the brain was a sufficient target for elimination as I let the body drop to the floor.

"Let's fucking GO! I knew it was possible!" The gaunt man said, a manic look in his eyes.

My head snapped to my new charge, the gaunt man I had been set to protect.

I needed information in order to determine and eliminate any potential threats.

//QUERY: WILL THERE BE ADDITIONAL KNIGHTS TEMPLAR?

Even as I asked, I routinely launched radar scans from my sensory suite. They reported no additional moving objects. Now that combat had ended and my directive was, for the moment, fulfilled to the best of my ability, I could get a better look at the gaunt man. His neck featured a dim marking, like a faded tattoo. It was cryptic, made of layered complex and ornate patterns not dissimilar to the symbols the man had carved into my exo-skeletal frame. I recorded them, as well as the symbols carved into my frame based on my radar scan information.

The gaunt man wore clothes that looked like they were, at one point, regal. They were flecked with complex patterns and ornate stitching, which required highly advanced robots to automate the production of. Additionally, they showed rich, vibrant colors— or they would, if they weren't faded and covered in mud.

"Not for now. That was just a scouting party. Their disappearance will cause the Church to send a major force soon…" the gaunt man hissed, pacing. "Carry their bodies. Let's go. Follow me."

My sensors scanned over the corpses. My second set of articulated fingers locked in place over my gun arm as my prybar retracted and my wrist snapped back into place. I grabbed two of the corpses by their arms, wrapping a hand around them, and dragging the other by digging into its flesh to secure a hold.

The gaunt man stared at me analytically as I worked to secure a hold and follow him. My head rotated, meeting his gaze and waiting for instructions.

He grimaced at the sight before leading us out of the cave.