Knights Apocalyptica

Chapter 24: Experiment

“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.”

- John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men (1937, 2nd Era)

The gathered initiates marched to the southern side of the Academy, where all four Orders lumped their forces together. There was a contingent of Errant Knights and any else who happened to be at the Academy itself. Once the confirmations went through that everyone had assembled, the group rushed into a forced march to the southern wall.

Erec kept close to Garin and Olivia as they jogged down the path.

But his eyes couldn’t help but wander to the other initiates lumped up in the Academy’s forces.

Of interest were obviously the two other basic Armor designs he’d yet to take a close look at. Those of the Silver Flames had a crown-like structure to their Armor, ringed around their heads. They also possessed thick plating, surpassed only by the thick shell-like steel of the Azure Tower Armor. It seemed the two Orders tended to a heavier style.

Some of the second years had already made modifications. Swapped out plating, weaponized their gauntlets, or added mechanisms to the legs. Frames were adaptable if you managed the effort and resources—or made an engineer friend.

Then there were those with custom Armor. Designs that took a wide variety in shape and purpose but united by the painted crest of their Order on the plating.

The Order of the Crimson Lotus generally led the jog; their sleeker base design made them a natural fit to run ahead.

Somewhere up there. Bedwyr was in their group. Even if he couldn’t tell the difference between them in the Armor, his brother was ahead, hidden amongst their number.

Erec ran harder.

The group sped as quick as they could through the wastes, and reached the wall in thirty-minutes time.

— - ☢ - — - ☼ - — - ☢ - —

Near the wall, the initiates remained tensed but in position.

Above them, at the top of the giant steel curtain, rained a hailstorm of fire, lightning, and smoke. Spell after spell discharged as stronger Knights fought above.

As Erec discovered, war sometimes held quite a bit of uncomfortable waiting.

He winced as a blob of green smashed into a Knight far above—catching the unprepared man and hurling him from the wall. A couple of seconds later, the poor bastard crashed into the ground with a shower of dust. Erec’s heart kicked up a notch.

What was going through that guy's head as he suddenly found no more ground underneath him? During the fall?

“Initiate Gwen, retrieve that Knight, and give emergency treatment if required.” Their Commander called. The girl Erec had met earlier nodded—soliciting the help of another initiate before scrambling off in the direction where the man cratered. Armor could prevent a lot of damage—and if the man’s Blessings were high enough, he’d survive a fall like that. But if they weren’t—well, there might not be anything left to issue emergency treatment to but a corpse.

They’d been like this for thirty minutes—with their Commander on edge as they watched the desperate fighting close to them. Whatever was assaulting the wall managed to scale its sheer steel surface—a terrifying proposition. Erec’s eyes ran down the length of the miles-long arrangement of steel plating and reinforcement that kept most everything out. But apparently, not whatever horrors spewed from this Rift.

The largest reinforcement was still about thirty minutes out.

It took time to gather their forces, arm them properly, and then mobilize. The Academy had been closer. Still, small contingents of higher-ranked knights kept trickling in while the main force of Knights gathered with the army.

They wouldn’t be content to fend off the invasion when they arrived. No. They’d cut back into the swath of horror spawning from the Rift. Then they’d close it and stem the tide of terror.

Though Erec didn’t know the details, he did know closing a Rift wasn’t a trivial task. It took specialized equipment and a lot of preparation to pull off.

All the while, their Commander looked on. Determining whether or not they’d need to make the call to have the initiates begin evacuation of the fields and farmers who lived close to the wall.

A massive fleshless creature with four massive wings and a long pointed snout shot up past the wall—streaks of lightning trailed it and slammed into its side. It let out a massive roar that Erec felt in his chest. A second after, the thing dived forward, descending past the wall even as more bolts of energy crashed into it.

“Ready yourselves.” The Commander called, drawing her weapon. Even though the flying beast was taking in a constant stream of damage—it’d cleared the wall. Their attacks managed to damage its thin membrane-like wings but didn't stop it from increasing the distance. The beast headed right toward the kingdom.

A figure leaped from the wall—a bright chain erupted from a glyph and speared into the flying creature. After hooking into the monster, the glowing chain constricted and yanked the Knight to the beast. It let out another earth-shaking roar as the two changed direction towards the ground.

Erec drew his war axe. His eyes trailed the flying figure of the Knight tangling in the middle of the air with the crashing flyer. There were more flashes of white as they landed blows with their prayers, even as the two death spiraled toward the ground.

Greenish-yellow globs rained from the wounded creature above and landed inside the walls.

Then the globs moved.

“Hostiles! Engage!” The Commander shouted. Hundreds of the things were dropping all over. They’d run loose inside the Kingdom walls if they weren’t controlled.

This wasn’t a matter of evacuation anymore. They were the last line of defense.

Erec charged with Garin at his side—a field of greenish-yellow condensing fluid began to amass. Amid them were little dots of reddish white. The ooze began to center around the white—forming into a blob with a single bloodshot eye.

As he reached ten feet from one, it suddenly split. Creating two. One of the slimes slid towards Garin; the other targeted him.

More were forming nearby. Splitting, combining. A mixture of chaotic evil that only intended to consume.

Initiates crashed into the ooze, weapons hacking away and spewing murky putrid green into the air. Their fleshy appendages grasped at the Armor. Smoke rose from the point where they made contact. Corrosive. Erec hefted his axe above his head—slamming it down a second later in a wide arc that capitalized on its long range to hit the eyeball inside the ooze facing him. The eye tore in half.

As the eye ripped apart, all of the surface tension holding the putrid yellow-green slime gave way. It spilled into a puddle around the twitching and bleeding eye halves.

They die rather—

[Left.]

Erec turned in time to meet the impact of a crashing ooze full force. It threw all of its weight on him—he pushed back. In the process, he lost hold of the war axe. Erec doubled down and shoved his hand through the slick insides of the thing—reaching toward the eye in the center.

Another ooze joined the first—doubling its size and increasing the weight. As it did, the eye slipped further back, the membrane began to absorb Erec.

[Armor sustaining consistent damage. It’s targeting weak points to erode quickly.]

Erec dug both hands in, temper flaring as yet another ooze joined this host. Merging to overcome him. His arms strained as the pressure inside of the creature doubled. It could exert more force within its domain—it was becoming hard to move.

A long time ago, Erec worked around a cistern filled with aerated water in a bio-cavern. He’d been warned to stay far away. One day a rat fell into it. No matter how hard it’d tried to swim out, it made no headway. And it drowned, unable to swim. If he’d fallen in, he’d have met the same fate.

As the ooze closed around him—joined by yet another—the picture of that drowning rat haunted his mind. The pressure doubled again; it was hard to make any headway with the pure slickness of the interior. Not with all of this increased force. Every inch he got closer to the eye in the middle of this monster slipped just out of range.

Frustrating.

Erec saw red.

His hands yanked forward in a rapid flurry—clawing through the muck like an animal through mud, displacing and fighting against that impossible constriction. His fingers brushed the eye's surface, and a second later, he took a handful of the soft interior and tore at it.

The mounting pressure around him dispersed like a popped bubble. Acidic slime spilled all around him like water released from a dam.

As it flowed away, he didn’t hesitate; letting out a growl as he leaned down and yanked his war axe back into his hand—eyes scanning for the next target.

[Ah, you’ve far surpassed your natural adrenaline threshold. Administering sedative as requested—]

Erec was already sprinting towards another large mass of the ooze. It was harassing Garin and Olivia, targeting them with blow after blow of its flailing slime limbs to soften them up for consumption.

[—Withholding sedative. Commencing experiment.]

The machine's noise in his head was little but an annoying buzz. Erec lept forward with his axe raised above his head—reaching a good seven-foot vertical by using the superior strength of the Vallum model and the pure energy thrumming through him.

Like butter to a hot knife, the edge of his axe used his downward momentum to cleave its way through the ooze. It tore into the eye and slaughtered it in a single violent act.

As he crashed back into the ground, Erec was already turning.

“Erec—“ Garin called from behind his back.

The words meant little. Erec rushed toward the next ooze. All he heard was the sound of blood running through his veins; he only saw the red. Wholly given to a force that compelled him forward.

Strength.

This was the Strength he needed to win the fight.

He could slay them. All of them. No one could stand in his way.

Ooze after ooze. His axe swung through them as he cleaved into the battlefield. They were but wheat to his scythe.

Initiates fought their fights in groups around him, yet he didn’t need a team. All he needed was his two hands. The energy bubbled forth from a never-ending well. He’d never need to stop fighting.

He fought until there were none left. Until the oozes were all gone, and an armored figure approached him with a massive blade resting on their shoulder. Were they challenging him? Did they want to taste blood too?

There was an annoying blinking in the corner of his vision. But Erec ignored it, tensing as the figure came closer, step by step. He tasted a battle in the air. Felt his heart stir to do combat and test this challenger.

[Experiment completed. Administering sedative now. You’ve done excellent, intern. Time for a well-deserved rest—]

Erec swung the war axe at the approaching figure as they got too close, confident they were coming to test him. His limbs were starting to feel heavy and slow, yet he still managed to put force into the blow to deal a mortal wound.

[—Sedative failed. Oh no.]

In an instant, the Knight jerked their sword off their shoulder—caught the blow mid-swing, and threw the axe wide with ease. They barrelled in and rammed Erec with their shoulder.

Erec flew back and smashed against the ground. The Knight was on top of him in an instant, yanking his helmet off even as the Vallum protested. Their Strength was too much for the Armor to resist.

Not with this leverage. Not with Erec’s body shutting down. His limbs shook from the after-effects as his mind bled back into normalcy. Horror grasped his heart. He’d just taken a swing at an ally.

The Knight paused as Erec’s helmet flew free in one last screeching groan.

“Erec?” Bedwyr asked.

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