Chapter 47

Chapter 47

1st POV

Sweeping my head to the side, the beam—like light out of a torch—carves a deep path through the planet. It stops when it reaches the eldritch monstrosity at the centre of the planet, where a giant sigil appears and temporarily blocks the attack.

Pushing on, I shove more energy into the attack, the shield sigil cracking beneath the torrent of unrestrained power. Cracking further, the sigil flickers before exploding into a cloud of yellow particles with a sound like reality rending itself apart.

Tearing through the cloud, my beam continues onward straight towards the core. Screeching in pain, the eldritch monstrosity's tendrils retract as it uses the energy to stabilize its core. Growing exhausted, I cut off my beam, snapping my jaws shut as they glow ominously from psychic residue.

Continuing to fly forward, I wait for the cloud of debris blocking my view to clear. Idly humming, I look around at the clouds of debris surrounding me. Noticing a flickering blue flame zipping randomly behind, I focus my eyes, slowing my perception until I can see it perfectly.

The object in question is a single pitch-black spaceship, the only part of it visible against the backdrop of space being the thick trail of energy—reminiscent of flames—propelling it forward.

Following the ship's path with my eyes, I notice the very faint light of a drone's visor. Smiling, I chuckle slightly. 'Dang, I'm surprised they survived that.' Turning back to the planet, I look at the flickering yellow sphere the size of a moon.

Across the orb, a deep burned trench glows crimson red, leading to a thick hole that fights against the encroaching tides of yellow energy attempting to restore the eldritch creature's shape.

Around it, the tendrils rapidly pull in more matter as miniature singularities consume it and add it to the mass at the core. Screeching loudly, space ripples from the force of the thing's cry. Pulling in a few large asteroids, the absolute solver smashes them into a large platform, shearing off the top to make a dense, sturdy platform held in place by the creature's tendrils.

Pulsing brightly, a single tendril touches the top of the platform. Separating from the larger mass, the tendril condenses into a humanoid form, a sword flying into their hand as they spin it and stab it into the ground—waiting.

Chuckling, I decide to humour Cyn. While flying down towards her, I shift back into my base form, internally suppressing my mild displeasure at not getting to use my dragon form for longer.

Landing on the large platform, it cracks slightly under the force of my impact. Dusting off my shoulders, I walk out of the rising dust cloud and approach until I stand about four meters from Cyn.

Standing barely over four feet tall, the tiny zombie robot is barely half my height. Looking down into her yellow eyes, I chuckle at the disparity. "So, what's the plan? Do you want to duel it out or go back to a kaiju battle?" Joking around with the eldritch robot, I casually spin my scythe around my hand, the blade whizzing through the air.

"That hurt." Looking at me with an emotionless expression, the eldritch monstrosity makes the conversation pretty awkward real quick.

"Ugh, it was meant to hurt? You started this; I'll claim self-defence in court."

"No. I did not." Looking slightly confused; the solver absentmindedly plays with her sword.

"The fuck you mean 'No'? You started this little fight by wanting to eat me. I'm just defending myself." Baffled, I'm surprised Cyn is trying to shift blame when it was obvious she started this.

Looking confused, Cyn taps her chin as loading symbols spin in her eyes. Glitching slightly, she rests her hand back on her sword—pulling it from the ground. "I suppose I did say, 'tis a shame because you're similar to me. We could have been friends."

Shrugging nonchalantly, I swap my scythe for a pair of chain daggers. Spinning them around, I perform a few tricks with them as I look around. "We still could be friends, of course that would be after we fight. I don't really care for the drones as they're quite boring, so they could die and I wouldn't care, but I loathe your earlier comment about eating me—it really triggered my prideful instincts."

Nodding, Cyn looks up at the rocket zipping around above us, the pilot obviously trying to gather their friends from their directionless path into the void. "Fair. Let us fight then."

Smiling, I shrink down to my human height to make the fight fairer. Spinning my chain daggers by my side, the reinforced metal sparks along the ground as my form oozes down the chain, reinforcing and improving the weapon as my Mechamorph traits are properly used.

Slashing forward, one of my daggers flies out at high speed, accurately aiming for the zombie drone's head. The chain extends as the air hums in the blade's wake. Raising her sword incredibly fast, she spins it and deflects the knife.

Flicking the chain, the connected knife rotates ninety degrees, and with a hefty yank, the blade flies back towards my opponent's back. Spinning, she knocks the blade into the ground, a small crater forming from the impact.

Chuckling, I throw the other blade out, pulling back the other blade at the same time. It takes me less than a second to get it up to speed and launch it behind the first. Deflecting the first blade, Cyn charges forward, tilting her head to the side to dodge the follow-up attack as she gets in range.

Flicking my wrists, the two daggers change directions mid-air. Crossing paths, the chains entwine as, with a slight movement of my arm, the chains rapidly retract. Dragging along at ground height, they quickly approach the back of the solver's legs.

Lightly jumping, she lands on the high-speed chain, using it to boost herself towards me. Flying through the air, she slashes down diagonally across my body. Flicking my wrist, I wrap a chain around my knuckles and use it to punch the flat of her blade.

Spinning from the attack, she uses the momentum to transition into a horizontal slash. Catching my blade in a reverse grip, I block the attack by reinforcing my stance with my other hand. Bouncing off, she barely hesitates before moving into a flurry of blows.

Grinning wildly, I deflect each strike with superhuman precision, my grin growing with each exchange. Not liking being on the back foot, I start my counter-attack. Hopping into the air, I tuck my legs against my chest as her blade sails below me.

Looking her in the eyes, I chuckle before rapidly slamming my legs down on the blade, embedding it into the ground. Flipping over the momentarily disoriented AI, I land behind her and, planting my feet, kick her square in the back.

Her back arching, her feet leave the ground as she goes flying off the edge of our multiple-kilometre-wide fighting arena. Casually kicking the hilt of her sword, it flies into the air, spinning as it rises. Waiting for it to fall far enough, I spin on the spot, roundhouse kicking the sword's pommel and sending it flying like a bullet from a gun.

Rising up from over the edge on a yellow tendril, Cyn steps back onto the arena—a wide smile splitting her stolen face. Reaching up, a sigil appears in her hand, and the sword stops millimetres from piercing her face.

"Fun. Let's ramp it up." Smiling widely, Cyn lightly chuckles before flicking her wrist. Appearing in her hand, a small black hole floats innocently. Tossing it into the air, she grabs her sword and, like a cricket player, hits the flat of the blade against the controlled black hole.

Instincts blaring with danger, I form a hole in my chest microseconds before her sword hits the null. Instantly, a hazy black streak appears to mark the path of the black hole. Chuckling, I look down at the trail heading straight through the hole.

Looking over my shoulder, I watch as the black hole—traveling at the speed of light—impacts the planet. Instantly, an area the size of a small continent disappears, shockwaves traveling across the surface of the planet.

Grin splitting my face, I break into a sprint as Cyn teleports towards me. Meeting her in the middle, our blades clash in a test of strength, the impact of our attacks causing a shockwave that sweeps the area and clears any leftover debris.

Being able to easily overpower our little struggle, I decide to have fun. "This is fun. There are actually proper stakes to this fight."

"Yes... I've never had this much 'fun' before."

Chuckling at her mechanical response, I drop my blade not directly in contact with hers. Catching it with a third arm, I stab it towards her chest.

Dashing backwards, she abandons our little test of strength, circling around me as she seems to look for a break in my guard. Eyes lighting up briefly, she glances down at her blade, a solver symbol flashing in her eye.

Then, appearing around the hilt of her sword, another of the sigils begins to rapidly spin, a black glitching sheath slowly extending over her blade. Waving her sword testingly, she looks over at me with a grin.

Dashing towards me, she thrusts her sword. Not wanting to get hit with what looked like a black hole sword, I dodge. Spinning my blades around, I attempt to attack her from behind, only for another sigil to appear and complete reverse my blade's direction.

Sighing, I continue to dodge while rapidly thinking of a counter. Letting myself get nicked slightly, I test a theory. Smiling afterwards, I continue letting myself get nicked, each new cut triggering my ability to adapt, each cut struggling more than the last.

Grinning widely, another idea comes to mind as I consider something I'd forgotten. Channelling energy into my blades, the universe suppresses any potential effects while eroding it. Unperturbed, I channel more energy, willing it to force itself into the universe.

Flickering slightly, a small explosion reverberates along my blade's edge as my adaptation kicks in and a tiny amount of energy breaks through. My grin spreading further than I thought possible, I speed up my energy as I continue to adapt, more energy seeping out of my blade to the displeasure of the universe.

Cyn, seeing the weird effect, temporarily steps back to watch. Focusing on my blades, I watch as my energy leaks out, only for the universe to instantly erase it. The ensuing explosion is similar to the collision of matter and antimatter if magnitudes weaker.

Chuckling loudly, I spin my blades as explosions echo off the back, each one speeding up the blades even more. Looking a bit worried, Cyn steps back, bringing her black hole blade up in case she needs to guard.

Chains groaning from strain and blades traveling faster than most items in orbit, I dash forward. Arriving by Cyn's side, the blades shoot forward. Lifting off the ground from the force, I'm slightly stunned.

Hitting Cyn's sword, a huge explosion rocks out as her sword instantly fully absorbs the blow. Below her, the ground fractures as a large trench forms and the metal of her arms cracks.

Looking shocked for a second, her expression quickly changes to a bloodthirsty grin. Mirroring her expression, we get back to our fight.

3rd POV

Watching from afar, the sentient robots could only hold their breath as the casual exchange between the two relatively unknown creatures reshaped the surface of the planet with ease.

Turning to N, Uzi has a small bit of fear leaking into her digital expressions. "Omg... how long have they been at it, N? I think it's been around six hours. I can only imagine what it's like down there." Looking at the sorry excuse for what was once a planet, Uzi could only think of her father and friends.

Suddenly, an alarm snaps the drones from their reverence as a large piece of the planet drifts towards them. Rushing to the controls, N quickly twists the steering wheel, shooting to the side as the ship rapidly avoids getting crushed by the debris.

Looking at the screen, Uzi's mouth opens as she grabs N's shoulder, jumping up and down and pointing. "N, N, look! It's the colony!" Pushing Uzi out of the way, V looks straight at the screen, her usual indifferent attitude slipping for a second.

"There's no way! How?!" Looking at the screen for a second, N mirrors the expression of the other drones. Expression shifting to a smile, N grabs the controls and steers the ship closer to the sealed doors, matching the debris' speed. N clicks a button, and the ship's door opens.

Floating over, he uses his wings to manoeuvre through the gravity-less environment. Grabbing hold of the door, he gently knocks as the other drones watch on. Hissing silently, the door cracks open as a worker drone floats by the crack.

Kicking off the roof, the drone moves back to the crack. Moving his mouth, no words come out without air. Mirroring him, N also attempts to speak before realizing the futility. Instead, words appear on his visor: 'Can we come in? :)'

Tapping his chin in thought, the worker gives it a bit of consideration before shrugging and clicking a button. Hissing, the doors open fully. Smiling, N moves back into the ship and steers it into the colony.

Slamming shut behind them, the doors hiss slightly before pressurizing. Stepping out of the ship, the drones idly chat. Leaving last, Doll and J awkwardly stand to the side, unsure how to interact with the others.

1st POV

Smiling widely, I catch a weak punch. Holding Cyn by the fist, I look over her battered body. Hours of continuous fighting had done a number on her as oil and blood leaked in equal measures from cuts across her body.

Below her scorched and torn skin, deep dents caused sparks to arc off her internal circuits. Grin still splitting her face, she attempts to punch me with her other hand. Catching that one as well, I look into her glitching visor. "Time out?"

Nodding, Cyn relaxes before sagging to the ground. Pulling back my blades, I briefly look them over. Calling them blades would be a disgrace to blades—they were barely held-together shards of metal.

I suppose even when I reinforce them, normal materials aren't durable enough to withstand my attacks. I reckon constantly exploding them didn't help. Shrugging, I toss them to the side before sitting on the ground opposite Cyn.

"Well, that was a fun fight, but I reckon we should call it here; I've got to get home to my girlfriend." Her face briefly flickering with disappointment, she perks up again when I mention going home.

"Home? Where is Home?"

Humming, I consider telling her. Shrugging, I decide 'Fuck it'—there are beings strong enough to deal with her if she somehow makes it to my universe.

"My home's in a different universe. I came here for fun."

"Can I come?" Eyes flickering with hope, Cyn looks around at the ruined planet before looking at me.

"Why? From what I know, you'll just try to kill everyone there. I reckon it's best you stay here." Her posture slumping, she acts like a kicked dog as she looks at me.

"But friend?"

"No. You literally destroyed the entire human race in this universe." Quickly shutting down her argument, I vehemently deny her pleading. I make some pretty silly mistakes sometimes, but I'm in no way stupid enough to bring a genocidal eldritch zombie murder drone to Earth.

Falling into thought, I could tell Cyn was trying to think of a way to convince me to take her back to my universe. Sighing, I stand up and dust myself off. "Well, as I said earlier, 'It's been fun, Cyn.' I'll probably drop by again sometime in the future to visit, so see you then."

Saying my piece, I access my system to conjure a portal back to my universe.

"But wait! Bring me with you!"

Sighing, I look between her and my portal, feeling a small bit of pity for her. Coming up with an idea, I decide to find another universe to test her with later. For now, I want to go home.

"No, Cyn. I might take you with me next time, but I don't trust you. So bye for now."

Not wanting any more of this, I step into the portal; Cyn's pleas get cut off behind me as a kaleidoscope replaces my vision.

 {A/N: Okay I've got a few things: First donate some stones so more people can find my story. Second the usual patreon plug @patreon.com/TheFudgeNPC. Third, I used a new ai tool to edit this chapter, let me know if its better or worse than before. 

Finally Four, I've written a new story! It doesn't have many chapters yet but check it out if you want. Anyway thanks for reading this far, and till later.}