Spires

Alin woke up.

Threnium plate, energy shield, impact dispersion and absorption. Temporary superhuman strength.

These things in combination saved his life.

Bruised, but unbroken.

“Closer than I had intended,” Suiteonemiades mused. “Nila Cruces. Surrender and no one else dies. I will swear an oath that you will be treated honorably under my aegis.”

“Your word is only good if you’re in control,” she replied.

“That won’t change. I hold the reins. The Americans do what I say.”

“And when you’re replaced?”

“A risk, but isn’t it worth taking? Refuse and I shall kill them all.” The demigod’s eyes flashed.

Gold beams zigzagged through the air, passing each person before they could react. If felt like standing too close to a suddenly opened pizza oven.

“After these ones I move on to the large number of non-fighters down that tunnel.”

The beams screamed past Alin and down the open doorway before suddenly winking out.

“Won’t you trade your potential suffering and death for the certainty of theirs? Surely, you believe in them enough to come rescue you later? Then there is your husband. Unless, I’ve miscalculated his ability. My cousins are weak, but battles, by their nature, are always unpredictable.”

Alin checked what weapons his armor had left available.

“What’s the oath? And I want exact wording.” His mom played for time.

He found none.

Multi-weapon strapped to his wrist.

Pistols in compartments of holding on his waist.

Random assortment of throw-able items in the same compartments.

All useless against the demigod.

“Surrender. You will be imprisoned. You will not be mistreated. You will be treated according to your stated standards. Yes, in my gracious magnanimity I will allow you to set the terms of how we will treat you during your stay as my hostage. It’s a common practice for the powerful in my culture as a way to preclude clashes that would see entire cities razed as collateral. In my brief study of your world’s history I found that similar practices were typical in your pre-democratic systems.”

“Well… lay yours out first. Then I’ll decide.”

“No, child. You’re dangling a strip of flesh in front of a— what’s an equivalent you’d understand? Ah! You hold a strip of flesh in front of a tiger to distract it from you while the hunter sneaks into position for a shot. No more delay. I will count to 10. You will say ‘yes’ or I will hear ‘no’ and they all die.”

The demigod began the count.

Frequency hit him on 9.

Tabitha dropped the Threnosh out of a shadow on the broken ceiling.

Sound waves distorted the air.

A silent cone to all but the demigod caught in the center.

Frequency floated above on anti-gravity tech.

Speakers detached from their trueskin.

Small hexagons roughly the dimensions of a human palm formed a dome-like cage over the demigod.

Suiteonemiades grimaced. Gold began to drip from his nose and ears.

“Moving!” Howard snapped. “How much time you got on that, Frequency?”

The others hurried past.

Alin’s mom reached for him, but was pushed past by Kelci.

He lingered.

Instincts made him stay.

Frequency’s sonic field bounced the waves back and forth, intensifying with each pass.

“Hours,” they said. “If he does nothing but stand there.”

“Commander, hold the rearguard,” Kynnro said as they pushed the unconscious Cammi into the tunnel.

“Acknowledged,” Commander West Stream 1009 said. “Deploy shield emitters. Heavy weapons.”

The remaining Threnosh soldiers pulled large matte gray cubes bigger than their unarmored bodies from bags of holding.

The equipment exchange wasn’t entirely one-sided.

The cubes unfurled at the speed of cybernetic thought, revealing a variety of Threnosh weapons and Earthian magitech weapons.

“I’ll set up the BFG in Chamber 2,” Hayden said.

Dayana followed her, leaving Alin with Howard, Frequency and the Threnosh squad.

“No reason for you to be here if the gray stuff ain’t working good, eh?” Howard said.

“I got a feeling. What’s your excuse?”

“Healing factor.”

“He vaporized Ibra and Primal.”

“Aw, shit,” Howard sighed. “This is the real deal then, eh? Figure I can make him take his time doing that to me. Give the cavalry time.”

“They’re jamming us somehow, but I sent Candys south to get word to the rangers and my aunt.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Less than 10 minutes, but it feels like hours ago.”

“You’re a combat slows down time kind of guy.” Howard nodded. “Bad luck that. I’m the opposite. Always figured that was better, eh.”

“Energy surge!”

Frequency picked it up first in their sonic field.

“Acknowledged. Confirmed,” Commander West Stream 1009 said.

The Threnosh’s last words.

Gold light flashed.

A small body, like an Earthian 12 year old thumped on the cold floor.

Smoke wafted from the commander’s neck where their head used to be.

“Fire!” Frequency said as an explosion of gold vaporized their drone speakers.

“Back down the tunnel, you two!” Howard barked, pulling Frequency behind the blue shields and thrusting them toward Alin. “Sonics worked. They need to come up with something stronger. Can’t do that if they’re dead. Noticed you’re boosted. Means you’re the only one fast enough to maybe get them out of here to do that.”

Alin didn’t hesitate because that was the worst thing he could’ve done.

“Tell Hayden there’s nothing but death back here, Boy!” Howard called out.

Boots thumped.

Frequency was as light a small child in his arms.

The tunnel shook, showering them in dirt.

Violent cacophony nipped at his heels.

He could see, hear and almost feel the individual instruments of destruction through the gray in a way that he couldn’t when listening to an orchestra.

What did that say about his life?

Sad?

Unfortunate?

Threnosh cannons thumped.

Explosive shells boomed.

Howard’s viral pistol cut sizzling green tunnels through the gray and smoke.

A magitech lightning gun scorched the air, filling the space with an acrid stench.

The demigod’s golden blasts and beams blinded with their power, dwarfing the rest combined.

Alin could almost see the battle playing out.

Golden magic shield glittering with scrolling symbols standing impervious to everything Howard and the Threnosh poured into it.

Golden beams struck back in turn.

The demigod smiling.

“I’ve not encountered many species that can collectively stare in the face of overwhelming death without flinching. I could almost commend you Threnosh for that. Yet, I judge you flawed warriors. For where is courage without fear? It’s easy to die when you value your lives as much as the dirt beneath your feet. You are lessened without knowing it. Perhaps, in the future I may teach your people.”

He swept his hand across.

A golden arc, blade-like cut through the Threnosh energy shields, blowing up the emitters.

The Threnosh didn’t flinch as he had stated.

They kept firing.

Howard barked a harsh laugh.

“That warrior-philosopher shit’s garbage. Fancy words can’t cover up the screaming and crying. We’re warriors… we’re monsters. He kill. We destroy. Can’t pretty it up, eh? When it’s all about bleeding, shitting, pissing and dying in the mud.”

“Ah! The feral-type. It’s easy to throw yourself into battle when you can heal from almost any wound in weeks, day or even less if you’re an exemplar. Do you have courage?”

“Why don’t we find out?”

Bright gold violence filled Alin’s senses.

He stumbled.

“Boy. Faster,” Frequency said.

They deployed speakers to attach to the tunnel’s surfaces.

The doorway to Chamber 2 loomed ahead.

Gold light flashed, filling the tunnel.

“Boy, you better jump your ass as high as you can,” Hayden said.

With the stolen strength from the monsters he leapt as he cleared the doorway.

3 meters at his highest point and nearly 12 meters distance.

He landed behind Hayden and her BFG.

Less a gun and more an artillery piece.

The prototype had been anchored to the metal floor with spikes.

Hayden was plugged in by several cables snaking from the weapon into her armor and hidden behind its Threnium blast shields.

The firing apparatus was a large concave dish set in a wide, stubby barrel.

It glowed bright blue-white.

“Now!” Dayana snapped.

Hayden fired.

The blue-white beam was pure, destructive energy powered by her electric power.

Electricity had counters, could be taken control of by the right spells or Skills.

Blue-white met gold at the doorway.

The collision resounded across Chamber 2.

Metal, concrete and the earth beneath melted.

Chamber 3 was only about a hundred meters down the tunnel.

“Put me down,” Frequency said.

The Threnosh levitated. Distortions in the air emanated from the speakers all over their trueskin. They gathered the sound waves generated by the clash of beams, bouncing them back and forth between themselves and several floating drone speakers. Building to a crescendo.

Unlike Alin, Frequency could discern the separate instruments.

Music and ice cream were their two favorite things from Earthian culture.

Alin met his mom’s eyes.

She scowled at him.

He could only shrug.

The defensive formation looked textbook.

Shield generators.

Physical Threnium walls pulled from beneath the floor.

Automated weapons emplacements all over the chamber.

His mom all the way in the back near the doorway.

Kelci shielding his mom with her heavily-armored bulk.

The only problem was that Kelci was their only true tank.

Sure, they all had Threnium, but the demigod had shown that wasn’t the guaranteed protection they had gotten used to.

“I’m… losing…” Hayden said through grit teeth. “Running… out…”

Of enough electricity to power an old style American state? And not one of the tiny ones.

Blue-white pushed against gold.

Each thick beam pulsed, but the latter inched forward while the former retreated.

Closer and closer to Hayden’s BFG.

“Pull her out, now!” Dayana screamed.

The light blinded.

The explosion deafened.

Glowing shields took the shrapnel from the BFG’s destruction.

The smoke lingered.

Alin didn’t see Hayden.

Just the blackened stump left of the BFG.

Suiteonemiades stepped into Chamber 2, climbing up the sizable crater where the doorway had been.

Metal glowed red and viscous, burning through newly-made glass as it seeped to the lowest point.

The demigod stepped through without care as if he wasn’t practically barefoot.

The man was cutting through them like paper while wearing sandals.

“Energy is energy. It cannot be destroyed. It can be transformed. Your world has knowledge of this.” He held a blue-white orb in the palm of his hand, contemplating it for a moment before absorbing into his deep black skin. “I’m pleased with your tribute. It is why I shall grant you the honor of a clean death. A warrior’s death. Ibra, Primal, Howard and all the others. They met me with truth in their hearts and minds. You would do well to follow their example.”

“I’m attacking,” Frequency announced.

They unleashed the soundwaves they had been gathering, amplifying.

The demigod pulsed his golden forcefield out from skintight to a dome about 3 meters with him at the center.

Frequency’s waves splashed against the shield, tearing into the surrounding floor.

The distance of his forcefield gave the demigod greater protection unlike earlier. He didn’t falter nor grimace at the distraction.

Tabitha’s monster-hooded head peaked out of a shadow on the floor… inside the forcefield!

Dayana flickered into reality, stabbing a pair of daggers into the demigod’s large shadow. “I’m not going to be able to hold him long!”

Out behind one of the Threnium walls, Marloes, Super Happy Sparkle, which she had made emphatically clear was not to be used by anyone not in Japan or a local to Japan, pointed at the demigod.

“.50 Caliber Burial Coffin!”

Saying the words was a sign of weakness, of a lower level.

Higher level, which meant stronger, people could do it all without vocalizing. Saying it in their heads was the next step up. Doing it as an expression of will, as subconscious an act as moving a finger or blinking was the pinnacle.

Saying the words also meant one couldn’t concentrate.

Saying the words wasn’t always a negative.

Saying the words could give it greater strength if one did it intentionally.

Alin supposed that was the hardest of all.

At least that’s how the classed had always described it to him.

Fear.

He felt the fear through the gray in Marloes’ words.

They were all afraid.

And yet they acted.

Thousands of tiny twinkling stars erupted all over the demigod’s perfect physique.

It was looking at a distant galaxy through a telescope.

Bright yellow against deep black.

.50 caliber bullets hit the demigod from every direction, covering every centimeter of his body.

Alin searched for the flash of gold, but couldn’t tell.

“Clean hits. No forcefield!” Marloes said.

Suiteonemiades was partially obscured by the smoke from the barrage, but he gave her a slight nod.

Behind him, Kynnro popped out of Tabitha’s shadow.

The Threnosh shot a cloud of glittering confetti, covering the demigod.

Their pink laser lanced out of the concave emitter set in the middle of their helmet.

The laser hit the reflective particles, bouncing to others in a near instant, creating a thick web of cutting light that crisscrossed the demigod.

“Negligible damage. Scratched skin.” Kynnro sank back into Tabitha’s shadow.

“All guns fire on my target. Continuous pattern,” his mom said.

Automated weapons obeyed.

Flechettes streamed. Each gun timed reloads to avoid interruptions.

Minimissiles slammed into the golden dome.

“Deploy drones on my target.”

Matte gray orbs the size of a human head flew out of the walls.

They spat flechettes, thumped grenades and blasted spells. Multiple varieties to seek out a weakness that just wasn’t there in the demigod.

“Halt fire with all except for kinetic weapons,” Frequency said.

The V.I. obeyed.

The drones in question ceased fire and withdrew to a holding pattern near the ceiling.

“Scanning… inconclusive… false god energy is as vexing as magic,” Frequency said. “I can’t determine if his forcefield is affected.”

“I concur,” Kynnro said as they climbed out of a shadow. “Scanners are unreliable.”

“You can’t comprehend true divinity with mere machines.” Suiteonemiades spread his arms wide. He managed to turn enough to glance at Dayana. “Your Skill, powerful as it is, weakens by the second.”

“Shut up!” Marloes dropped a concentrated barrage of bullets on top of the demigod. “I think the shield’s weakening.” She squinted. “Look at the writing. It gets shaky and some of it’s faded and there’s gaps.”

“Alright, kinetic damage only. That means physical damage spells and anything else that he might not be able to absorb,” his mom said. “Frequency, your sound worked.”

“I can’t sustain it long enough for lethality,” Frequency said.

“That’s okay, we’re just delaying,” his mom glanced at him.

“Guys! Any day now!” Dayana called.

“She’s losing her hold on me,” Suiteonemiades added helpfully.

“I’ll go!” Bei said.

“Me too,” Blackstar echoed.

Tabitha’s hands emerged from their shadows. Clawed gloves of deep, rich black, almost like velvet grab an ankle each.

The two women dropped out of sight as if a trap door had been pulled.

They emerged inside the demigod’s dome.

Alin didn’t like it.

There wasn’t a lot of room to move around.

The circle’s radius came in at just over 6 meters and the tallest point at the center was just under 3 meters.

Bei went left, edging around the perimeter of the golden forcefield.

Blackstar opened fire, punching her fists out to deliver a rapid-fire barrage with her superpower.

Eponymous blasts strong enough to punch through a bank vault door peppered Suiteonemiades’ broad, chiseled back.

The demigod stood tall, unmoved.

“Have you reached the limit of your power? Would you like to find out?” he said.

She answered by aiming lower.

Two star-shaped blasts as black as the demigod’s skin struck the back of his knees.

They buckled, but Dayana’s knives in his shadow anchored his feet, preventing him from taking a step to regain his balance.

Massive arms windmilled as he tried to straighten.

Blackstar wouldn’t allow it. Alternating blasts created a perpetual cycle.

It would’ve made for a comical display if not for the stakes.

Bei chose that moment to strike.

Haze surrounded her hands, reminding Alin of childhood road trips through the southwestern deserts. Of desolate highways going into the distance where the sun’s heat created shimmering distortions in the air.

The cultivator stalked forward as graceful as a heron spearing small fish out of a shallow stream.

Fingers sheathed in focused Qi stabbed into the demigod’s armpits.

Alin tried to help, wrapping the gray around the demigod’s head as tight and thick as a baby’s winter blanket.

The technique had worked on Level 40 fighter-types in the past, smothering all of their senses regardless of Skill enhancements.

Here? Against a thousand year old demigod?

Failure.

“He’s breaking my Skill!” Dayana warned. “Comet, back off!”

Bei heeded her words.

Respect for a much higher level warrior that had proved her mettle over many years against some of the most dangerous threats across the world.

The cultivator slipped underneath a tree trunk-sized arm that moved deceptively quick, gliding across the metal floor to slam into the golden forcefield.

The only indication that the demigod had been close to catching her was wide eyes behind her faceplate.

Dayana cursed.

Suiteonemiades turned, no longer anchored.

She flicked one knife.

It flickered at the last moment.

The demigod’s head whipped to one side.

He plucked the knife from between his teeth.

It resembled a tiny cheese knife between his thumb and forefinger.

“Interesting. A metal I’m unfamiliar with. An alloy if I’m not mistaken. The gray ones’ work. I shall make use of it.” He flicked it right back.

The crack echoed through his golden forcefield.

Dayana flickered.

Blackstar blasted the knife out of the air before peppering the demigod across his face and even his groin.

He grinned. “Break your limits! For if you don’t…” He gestured.

Bei stumbled forward as if shoved in the back by superstrong hands.

Toward the demigod’s waiting arms.

She rolled, spinning her legs, kicking his embrace away for a moment.

Giant black hands struck like a viper, grabbing her legs.

He held her upside down, peering into her faceplate.

“An artist of unarmed combat. The class name is different, but I’m familiar with your kind. Fought with and against enough to understand your ways across many worlds. Your world has yet to discover the benefits of alchemy to your growth. Powders and liquids to push your growth faster than you can imagine, but as always there is a cost to power gained quickly. Would you like to learn more?”

Bei’s hands blurred. Fingers jabbing at points on the demigod’s face and neck.

The demigod’s hands opened, dropping her to the floor.

“Ah! Impressive! It’s been a long time since I’ve felt such strikes.”

The gray bubbled in Alin’s gut.

Suiteonemiades was having fun.

The demigod had killed dozens and was threatening his mom all with a smile on that perfect face.

Bei kicked the demigod’s ankle, sliding across the floor to slam back into the forcefield.

Alin couldn’t tell if that had been her intent. It was likelier that she had tried to break it.

The demigod leapt.

Bei rolled.

Blackstar blasted.

A massive sandaled foot cratered the metal floor rather than Bei’s armored chest.

Dayana flickered.

It wasn’t just an increase in speed and quickness. She skipped the connective movements between end states.

One moment she crouched a few meters away from the demigod, clenching her long knife and drawing an old Colt .45.

Alin blinked.

Dayana slid enchanted knife across black neck.

Pistol barked against a golden eye.

The demigod swiped.

Almost too quick for Alin.

Flicker.

She crouched, cutting and shooting underneath the demigod’s man skirt.

He kicked.

Flicker.

She stood behind him, stabbing upward.

The demigod spun with a scowl and a sweep of his arm that would’ve crushed a steel pole.

He sighed.

“Fight with more honor.”

Dayana dumped everything she had on the demigod.

Cut enhancement Skills combined with her knife’s enchantment scratched the black skin.

Shot-enhancement Skills combined with enchanted rounds made the demigod grunt and cover his face with one arm.

Bleed Skills painted her knife with gold.

“Rogues are as buzzing insects on every world.”

The demigod clapped.

Golden light flared.

Dayana flickered behind, cutting and stabbing at the shadow on the floor.

Thin golden lines appeared on black, focused around the neck and on the face.

The inner surface of the forcefield seemed to bubble.

Alin’s instincts screamed a silent warning.

He sought Tabitha while the floor beneath the demigod’s forcefield began to take on a distinct golden shine.

“Get them out of there!”

Tabitha’s expression darkened.

The demigod caught Alin’s eye. A slight smile and a shake of the head.

“I can’t,” Tabitha said.

Throughout it all the autoguns had been firing.

“We have to take the forcefield down!” Alin reached into a compartment of holding and drew the first weapon without conscious thought.

Desperation gripped him.

The others opened fire with what they had.

Light within the forcefield grew blinding.

Seconds passed in an eternity.

Time seemed to stop.

Until an explosion of gold ripped across the entire chamber.

Weapon emplacements and drones vanished in an instant.

Waves of gold washed over their position.

Shield emitters whined.

Red lights blared in Alin’s HUD.

He didn’t need them to know that the shields weren’t long for the world.

“Fall back to the tunnel!” his mom said.

Marloes dashed in first.

His mom was next with Adrian and Kelci and her door-sized shield following.

“Get reinforcements,” his mom said.

Adrian nodded. The hybrid’s black armor vanished into the darkened tunnel so quickly that it was as if he hadn’t been there in the first place.

The shield emitters gave out with a pop.

“Hurry, Boy!” his mom cried.

The gold light washed over the large blast shields next, ablating the dark gray in a matter of seconds.

Drake rushed around Kelci.

Alin had been furthest from the tunnel, but he had overtaken the two Threnosh.

Frequency and Kynnro were barely 4 feet tall.

Short legs, even with the assistance of the artificial muscles in their trueskins, meant they were slower.

Their microthrusters helped some, but not enough to outpace Alin with his own thrusters.

Alin glanced back.

The Threnosh fell.

The ablating light ate away at the backs of their trueskins.

As ranged damage dealers, the two weren’t heavily armored.

Thin plates covered their vitals but the majority of their stick-thin bodies were covered by flexible Threnium that resembled thin cloth in appearance if not in defensive properties.

Alin’s armor was a lot thicker.

He reversed course regardless of his mom’s shouts.

Shielding Frequency and Kynnro with his own body, he scooped them up and launched himself toward the tunnel with his thrusters.

Kelci stepped out of his way with quickness that belied her great bulk.

The tunnel’s door slid shut the moment she stepped back through the opening.

Blue light from the forcefield dimly lit the darkness.

“Thank you, Boy,” Frequency said.

Gaping holes in the back of their trueskins revealed a mix of exposed undersuit and exposed flesh. Speckled gray was raw or weeping pale blood.

“I am unable to move,” Kynnro said.

“As am I. Severe damage to systems and artificial musculature,” Frequency said.

The insides of both Threnosh’s faceplates were splattered with pale liquid.

“Take them, Boy,” his mom gestured down the tunnel. “Then lead everyone out of here.”

He opened his mouth to protest when a thudding crash shook the tunnel.

“Everyone behind me!” Kelci planted her huge bank vault door of a shield in front of them.

“Hurry up, Boy!” his mom snapped. “They need medical treatment!”

That forced his hand.

He reached down to gather the Threnosh back into his arms when the huge blast door simply vanished, vaporizing into nothing in a blink of the eyes.

The heavy-duty shield lasted a little longer.

Thunder filled the tunnel.

Kelci grunted, sliding back, but remained upright.

A flash of movement ripped the big hybrid from the tunnel to reveal Suiteonemiades.

The demigod had hurled her, huge shield and all back into Chamber 2.

Marloes filled him with .50 caliber bullets.

Twinkling stars against the blackness of space.

Drake lunged with a spear thrust.

Skill-enhanced, but without magic.

The demigod slapped it aside contemptuously.

“Use your best. I swear that I won’t take your magic,” he said.

Drake didn’t take the bait. He turned the thrust into a spin, creating a magic shield that blocked most of the tunnel. He backed away, holding a glowing hand out to his spinning spear.

Black fist cracked blue light.

“What will you do, Nila Cruces?” Suiteonemiades cocked his fist back. “Behind you lay those you’re sworn to protect. Behind me lays their future. You can end it all right now. No more devastation on your conscience.”

Alin stood protectively over Frequency and Kynnro with multi-weapon poised to engage. He still had grenades and alchemical substances in his compartments, but he couldn’t use them in the tunnel. Not when so close to the others.

“Mine? You attacked us. It’s all on yours,” his mom said.

The gray had proved useless against the demigod.

Suiteonemiades was an impenetrable bastion guarding what seemed like a nearly inexhaustible treasure trove.

If only there was a source of vitality to take.

He felt so close to being able to call on the ghosts of his relatives.

“I have none,” the demigod said. “Not when in pursuit of my one quest.”

Black cracked blue.

“Will you continue to run? Place the weak between you and me? Your best fighters have lasted this long because of superior armor and abilities along with a… lighter touch.” The demigod pressed a ham-sized fist to Drake’s magic shield. The spiderweb on the blue spread almost to the edges. “Choose?”

“Hug the walls,” Jayde’s voice came over the comms.

A man-sized spike of hard-packed earth shot through the center of the tunnel a second later.

Blue light shattered into pieces.

The remains of the spike drove the demigod a step back.

More spikes.

One after the other.

Step by step Suiteonemiades backed to the smoking doorway.

A screaming woman streaked through the air, landing a glowing fist on the demigod’s face.

At the same time Kelci dived at his knees from behind, thrusting the edge of her shield and flipping him over to launch him to the center of Chamber 2.

Jayde shook her fist. “I know. No spells other than kinetic stuff.”

“That’s— no!” Drake snapped. “What are you doing? Go back there and get our kids out of here!”

“They’re on the move. We picked up bits and pieces through the cams and figured waiting was the lesser of two bads. You’ll be happy to know that Tabitha brought Dayana, Blackstar and Kung Fu girl back there. You’ll be less happy to know that they’re,” a scowl crossed her brow, “in bad shape. Just like Hayden.”

Alin let out a long breath.

He had given them up for dead.

Tabitha must’ve managed to get them out through the shadow realm quickly enough.

“Anyways, Bolder, the witches and the guards figure they can deal with any monsters they might run into long enough for you guys to catch up.”

“That’s great, but hurry up and get back there. Our kids need one of us—”

Jayde placed a finger on Drake’s lips before kissing him hard. “Honey, if we do this together then our kids will have both of us.”

Thunder boomed.

Kelci grunted as she slid back into the tunnel.

The demigod had about foot on her height wise and was even wider.

He pushed against her shield, driving her like the tackling sleds they used in training.

“Go, Mrs. Cruces!” Jayde said. “We’ll keep him busy and join you later. You too, Boy. Don’t forget my favorite gray aliens.”

“Jayde, you’re pregnant,” his mom said.

“Am I showing that much?” she rubbed the armor around her noticeably rounded belly. “It’ll be like that story. You know? The pregnant spear warrior chick. Except you’ve got the spears, honey!” she beamed at Drake.

“God! Just shut up and run!” Kelci snapped. “I can’t hold him off!”

“Bold and courageous,” Suiteonemiades nodded. “The Americans erred in how they treated you. Swear to me and I will only ever show you honor.”

“Every person that ever spoke to me of service screwed me over.” Kelci tended to be an immovable object against many things.

Against the demigod’s unstoppable force?

She was very movable.

“This place. Mr. Cruces. They asked me what I wanted and never asked for anything in return,” she ground out.

The demigod suddenly stopped pushing and pulled.

Kelci reacted quickly, letting go of her shield.

The demigod took a step back.

She cracked him under the chin with an uppercut that barely moved him.

He grinned a moment before crushing her into the side of the tunnel with her own shield.

Jayde had given her the codename ‘Hungry-Hungry’ after an old game from the pre-spires era for the animal essence of her hybridization.

The hippopotamus was either 2nd or 3rd in size and strength amongst all native land animals on the planet.

Kelci took on some of the animal’s physical characteristics. Namely, two-toned skin color, a gray-brown pink in her front torso region and a dark blue, verging on black everywhere else, and a very dense cellular structure. Bones, muscles and flesh made her superhumanly strong and resistant to damage. She may have looked rather stout and bulky, but very little of it was useless fat.

One other thing that she took from them, which his dad had worked with her to control, was their burning rage.

The demigod smiled even as she charged with a thunderous roar.

“Hahaha! You refuse me, yet you more than most here would find service in Suiteonem’s name fitting.”

Their collision rocked the tunnel.

Alin’s mom cursed.

That wasn’t like her.

“We’re retreating,” she said. “Now!” she snapped when she was met by questioning looks. “All guns fire on my target— when— if Codename: Hungry-Hungry’s vital signs go black.”

Alin scooped up Frequency and Kynnro to race after his mom.

Marloes, Jayde and Drake brought up the rear of their much diminished group.

Earth-shaking blows and enraged bellows chased them all the way down to an empty Chamber 3.