Shadowbane

... Looks like this is the end of the line.

I scanned the room ahead of me, counting over one hundred Warriors, two Observers, and three non-stealthed Stalkers that appeared to be turned off. I had seen images of the Stalkers before, but they look far worse in person. They look like horribly disfigured metal panthers.

I had followed the train tracks northwest for over fifty miles until I finally reached this room. It was directly below the 'safe' area Maya had pointed out to me before. She said that people do plenty of ruin diving in this area because the machines are surprisingly scarce here, but it looks like the underground is still flourishing with them. Except uh, don't most ruins lead underground? That's what it looked like on the videos I watched.

I turned around and ran back several miles before punching into the ceiling. At this distance they would probably still hear me, but I wasn't worried since I knew I'd reach the surface before they managed to follow the loud noises back to their source.

It took me about five minutes to reach the surface, which looked like the area I was in before albeit with way more open space. There were still destroyed buildings everywhere, but there was plenty of space for people to move about, which was proven by the tire tracks I could see in the snow. There were also prints following behind the tracks, and judging by the size and distance between each stride, I felt like the prints belonged to a Butcher. It was probably chasing after one of the vehicles out here.

I brought the console up to confirm, and it showed that I had about seventy miles to go. A shame I couldn't... Wait, can I still take the tunnels? All I need to do is avoid that one room where the trains converge, but the problem is that the tunnel turned quite a bit, so guessing where to punch into the ground could take some time... Ahh fuck it, I'll try advancing above ground for now. This is supposedly a somewhat safe area after all.

I ran northwest for quite a while before coming upon a dead Butcher. Part of its torso had been completely melted while its head and right leg were missing. Feels nice seeing one of these fuckers turned into scrap metal.

It was really far away, but I could hear the echo of both physical and energy weapons being fired from somewhere in the direction the tracks went. I followed them until I found an armored vehicle parked outside of a mansion. The gunshots still sounded really far away, making it clear that they had descended underground from some place within the mansion. I figured I'd talk to them for a bit since I'm here, but looks like that aint happening if they're already underground.

I circled around to the front of the vehicle and removed my invisibility before giving the vehicle a thumbs up. There, now I'm recorded on the vehicle's cameras. I'm making history out here, and I just gave these guys a little bit of footage of it. Aren't I kind?!

Supposedly my console was recording everything too, which is how I had seen videos from other people's missions. You're paid by how valuable or interesting your footage is, so mine better bring in a good amount of money...

I restarted my journey to the northwest, running through the snow-covered open area, avoiding all of the buildings as I advanced.

The air is getting thin... Not a problem for me thankfully, but there's something really unnerving about it. I knew this side of Caedrus eventually hit a point where there was no atmosphere, but coupling that with the fact that there is a bunch of unknown monstrous machines over here is frightening. Even for me.

Another quick glance at the console told me I had three miles to go. Through a miracle of some sort I hadn't run into a single machine outside of Snipers and Lobbers(both hiding in or on top of buildings) for almost thirty miles. The group who tried to acquire Inoue's emblem disappeared about forty miles east of here, so this is all unknown territory.

I chose to walk instead of run while keeping an eye on my surroundings, but I had barely passed the first mile when I heard a familiar sounding alarm.

Looking in the direction of the alarm I saw hundreds of orange lights ascending from the ground up into the sky. This is that same alarm tower I saw when I first arrived in Caedrus... I forgot to look into it back home.

I brought the console on my left arm up and searched the database for tall towers with orange lights. There was a few mentions of it in a database, but nothing of value was said. These were towers near the dead zone that wailed and lit-up from time to time, that's all they knew. Far from helpful, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised if they're only near the dead zone.

The problem however, was that my destination was in the direction of the tower. I walked toward it while praying it was nothing more than some abandoned tower that was unrelated to the machines, as unlikely as that was.

Along the way I did notice something that stuck out. The sniper far behind me was now looking in the direction of the tower, and a Lurker(or Stalker) ran out of a building ahead of me directly toward the tower. Is it calling for them?

I walked through the snow, listening to the wailing sound drone on and on until I finally reached my destination, which was in fact a building next to the tower according to my console.

While the car maker factory had a large open parking lot in front of it, it was nothing compared to the open field in front of me now. There was at least a mile of open field between me and the tower in this direction, but on the other side it looked like there was nothing but open plains full of snow. I couldn't see a single intact or ruined building.

And as for the building next to the tower, I realized it was more like twenty buildings that were all surrounded by a tall fence. Half the buildings looked like long elongated domes, while the other half were made of concrete and still in good condition. There were also watchtowers placed around multiple points of the area near the fence that had three meter tall guns placed on each one. Is this a military base...? It sure looks like one.

It had begun snowing hard again, so it was hard to see far out, but it looked like several different machines were running toward the west. The alarm is obviously a call for them to do something, which would normally suggest enemies of some sort, but the database for these alarms didn't even theorize about such a possibility. It does seem far fetched after all.

Upon arriving at the fence I saw a little building behind it and an intercom on my side of the fence. I suppose this was how you gained entry normally? But there obviously isn't any guards around, so...

I jumped over the fence with ease, doing a quick scan around me and the watchtowers upon landing to make sure nothing was reacting to my presence, but aside from the towers wailing, I couldn't hear nor see anything change.

After that I ran up to one of the domed buildings on the left. The door was open and inside was quite literally just a very long row of bunk beds. Yep, definitely a military base. This is really well designed too. It all looks so sleek and minimalistic with no wasted space.

I looked through the entire bunker for the emblem, and after I was certain it wasn't there I moved onto the next one, and then the next. I was on the fourth bunker when the alarm finally turned off.

... Nothing. It was too much to hope that it'd be in one of these empty bunkers huh?

I left the last bunker and made my way over to one of the concrete buildings. There were no doors so I walked inside unabated.

The inside was dark. Really dark. But even then I was still able to see my prize. The emblem and a horde of other items was sitting inside of a glass case that extended from one side of the room to the other. The room itself, which made up almost the entire building, had four long tables in it that also extended the entirety of the room. It was obviously the mess hall, but... That's one big fucking trophy case. It kind of feels out of place in this sleek environment, but they had their reasons I'm sure.

I walked up to the middle of the case, the part holding the emblem and quickly found the latch that opened this part of the glass. I lifted it up and then stared at the emblem.

"......."

I picked up another object that looked like it weighed the same amount as the emblem and placed it on the hooks the emblem was on as I picked it up. The new object was a little heavier, but all the same I didn't hear any clicking noises like last time.

Even so, I hid near the corner of the wall for ten minutes, listening for anything that might be out of place. But no matter how long I waited, all I could hear was the sound of the strong winds outside.

I eventually came out of my corner and left the building while shoving the emblem in my backpack. Could it really end this easily...? I expected far more resistance than the Hothgar's emblem provided, but yet again I have my invisibility to thank. It makes certain insurmountable tasks much easier than they have any right to be.

I left the building and took one last look around the base before deciding it was time to return.

I probed the slight connection I had to Arkaios(the little blip on my soul where the reset curse was residing), and I felt the curse begin to activate, however, it was cut off right before it was going to bring me back.

What the---

Before I could finish my thought a machine warped into the area in front of me. It was fifteen meters tall despite the fact that it was hunched over. It was looking away from me so I could see the long black cape draped over its back, and in the center of its back was a large red eye. As I looked down at its hands, which held five extremely long claws, the eye on its back focused on me.

Something happened in that moment that felt disturbingly magical in nature. A red mechanical eye appeared in the air about twenty meters above the machine. Eight long bands of black that looked like tentacles extended out from the eye that all had eyes of their own spaced out along the bands. The moment all of those eyes looked at me I felt far more than just being seen. I could tell that they were all trying to curse and debilitate me in a myriad of different ways. None of them had succeeded yet, but I knew it was only a matter of time before they pierced my veil.

I turned to run while activating my halo but the machine whipped around and swiped at me with its right claws. It was abnormally fast. The old me (before I absorbed Rai'ga) would've been dead before I even had time to move.

I jumped toward the machine and kicked off its forearm directly at its torso, which looked an amalgamation of steel wrapped together in a way that made no sense. There was no head, just a bunch of red eyes so I wasn't entirely certain of where to attack. With no specific point in mind I punched a random spot as hard as I could, sending the machine reeling back as its clawed feet slid along the snow.

Its torso had whipped back and almost hit the ground as it slid, but once it came to a halt it righted itself before immediately launching another attack on me. I was going to leap back this time, but I saw its claws extend outwards for several more meters, so I tried to jump forward again instead but this time the machine corrected course. It was making sure its claws weren't going to miss their target a second time, but I just barely managed to kick myself forward enough so I'd land in its palm.

I didn't have time to protect myself as it smashed into me, sending me flying through the air toward the south. I heard the tower alarm begin to blare again as I exited the base, and I could see the machine running along the ground below me with both of its hands at the ready to shred me the moment I landed.

I had time before I landed though, the damn thing had sent me flying fast through the air so I made the best of the situation by meditating. I managed to regain the mana I lost from the attack(over half my max) before I began to slow down and lose altitude.

That's when I saw them. I had vaguely heard what sounded like combat in the direction I was flying, but I was still surprised at what I saw below me. Xerath were flooding out of one of the ruined homes, attacking all of the machines around them. Or I should say that they were trying to attack them. The two Lobbers were making short work of most of them by continually bombing both sides of the home they were coming out of, while the Warriors melted the remainders. There were also a few Butchers standing by with some Xerath corpses at their feet, but they clearly didn't have much of a purpose in the battle.

As I flew over them I saw all of the Warriors looking up at me as they continued firing at the Xerath, but none of them turned to shoot at me. They kept to their current mission; eradicating the faceless creatures.

For a while the eyes in the sky didn't move from the military base, but as soon as I began to descend they warped to an area behind me.

Right before I fell low enough for the machine to attack me, I flew up into the air and punched at the eyeball, but the eye warped fifty feet away just before my fist connected with it.

As all of the anti-air machines(that were strangely absent after the machine hit me) came to life, I noticed that the dreadful aura emanating from the eyeball had dissipated quite a bit after it warped. That's when I saw that two of the tentacles had disappeared, leaving only six remaining.

The machine picked up a massive chunk of cement and whipped it at me. Again, it was way too damned fast so the only option was to destroy it. I pulled both my feet back and kicked down at the cement as it hit me. The damage done to my mana was almost as high as when it had punched me, and I could see the machine turning around to grab another chunk of cement already.

I turned and flew toward the eyeball, forcing it to warp away again before I reached it. Two more tentacles disappeared as I heard a weird sound behind me. I glanced back and saw the machine drop the cement as it buckled at the knees, but it managed to catch itself just before it fell down.

Annoyingly, barely a second passed before it was grabbing for the cement again.

The bullets ripping into me from the anti-air machines were a problem, and the missiles two of them just released were an even bigger problem, but I had to take this eye out here and now. My instincts were telling me it was the only way to get away from the machine on the ground.

I flew toward it and punched at it again, but this time, it connected. It had tried to warp away, but it was just too slow this time. The eye shattered and disintegrated as the machine fell to the ground again. This time a mechanical scream of anger erupted from it as it struggled to stand back up. I wasn't able to look at it for long, but I could tell that the mechanical eye on its back was now dimmed and barely visible.

Wasting no time I flew toward a ruined building between me and missiles. I was planning on entering the building and 'weathering the storm' so to speak, but another idea came to me as the missiles lost sight of me behind the building. I removed my halo and turned invisible before running toward the south.

As I had hoped, the missiles didn't continue tracking me. They instead flew into the building that I was planning on entering beforehand.

I turned toward the east, heading back to the 'somewhat safe' strip of land I was in earlier. Even though the mark is still there, the connection to Arkaios is gone, so using him to return is no longer an option. Not that I'd want to try it again after what just happened... Seriously, what the hell was that?!

"Y-You really made it back?! No, there's no way you got them both, let alone one... Right?" Maya's subordinate said to me after I ascended the long ass slope up to the fort. The guards said they were informing her of my arrival, so it wasn't much of a surprise to see him.

"I did. Now show me to your... Whatever that room was called. I'll show you the emblems and then I need to eat and sleep. Thanks to that fight I had near Inoue I'm past my limit, I really need to recover."

"......"

He stared at me for a moment. He clearly wanted to say something but he thought better of it and decided to just lead me to their units room.

Upon arrival there were four people in her squad waiting for me, while Maya stood there with her eyes narrowed. Instead of speaking, all she did was motion with her palm for me to place something on the mission table.

I pulled out both of the emblems and set them down on the table. Maya put her hand over her face and shook her head while the silent squad members went wild. They bombarded me with questions as I pulled out some more cereal bars and a bottle of soda.

"Hang on I'll be more than happy to answer you after I've eaten. But I only have time for a few answers right now. I need to sleep as soon as possible."

The female in the squad was saying I should just show them my console's footage when Maya smacked her in the back of the head. "Idiot, you know better than to ask that."

"Is that really a bad question?"

Maya quirked an eyebrow at me, "So strange to hear that from someone who so easily accomplished..." She shook her head and laughed, "Fuck it, this is no time to be so uptight. What you did was amazing, Reimia! And yes, it's a bad question. Your footage is your footage. It's bad form to be asking someone to show their recorded video to others. Offering money for it is fine of course, but generally the owner should be the one to put the footage up for sale. Either at the mission building, or by putting it on the auction site."

I just nodded while scarfing down the last of my bars as fast as I could. I then downed the last soda and looked at the group who was waiting for me to say something.

"Err, I said I'd answer questions but the more I think about it, there's a reason I can't show my footage or really say all that much about how I acquired the emblems. However, I can tell you what I encountered at each of the emblem's locations." I looked at Maya, "Uh, is there a way to show only specific parts of someone's footage? There's a few moments I'd love some outside opinions on. Including machines not in the database."

I thought that part would surprise them but Maya merely nodded and then laughed when she realized that I was confused by their lack of reactions. "It's kind of a given that you may have seen unknown machines over there! And as for your footage, it's possible, but it'll take time to show you how to do that so you should get some sleep for now. We'll get it all setup when you're refreshed, yeah?"

"Yeah, sounds good..." I said exhaustedly. There were only a handful of times in my life my core had been begging me to sleep like this, and while the fight was obviously stressful, it was still surprising seeing how tired I was.

I'm beginning to suspect it has something to do with the way that thing messed with my soul. It struggled to pierce my veil but it had access to my core for a split second when I tapped the connection to Arkaios. I didn't feel it do anything in particular, so the way it destroyed my connection must've done more damage than I thought.

I thanked Maya and walked over to the bunk I slept in previously. After laying down on it I couldn't help but chuckle after seeing the state of my armor.

That smack from the machine put some cracks into my armor, but that's it. That's honestly amazing when I compare it to how much mana I lost from the internal damage I sustained from the attack. That's just how powerful the impact was. But enough thinking, I need to pass out and then head home after a little bit of resting. Except there is one thing bothering me...

I thought back to the machine as it appeared in front of me. If I have one regret, it's that I wasn't able to finish the fucker off. I obviously made the correct choice by fleeing, since I don't know if it was only temporarily disabled after I destroyed the eye, but even so, while I'm used to running away, I really wanted to kill that machine. Next time... Next time I'll finish it to the end. Which is a really stupid pledge to make since there could be hundreds of the damned things in the dead zone for all I know.

I briefly laughed which I'm sure looked odd to the others, but I didn't care. I was feeling great after acquiring both emblems.