Drich's Demesne
patreon
Embers After Flames, Chapter 13.10
🕑 Added 2025-08-21 15:22:08 +0000 UTC13.10
+++
Neither of us hesitated to charge directly at the other. Funnily enough, we both even chose the same opening move.
I raised my blade, and I watched Raven do the same. We swung at the same time, across the same angle. The Bladewaves that spilled forth met each other head on, and both of them collapsed with explosions of crimson lightning.
Raven went straight through it, utterly fearless. A trio of crimson beams shot forth at me, and my Boosters ignited as I shifted to the side, letting them pass me by. I fired back, my own Coral Rifle letting out a number of Coral blasts that were more akin to a Pulse Gun than the normal laser shots. Small and barely coherent.
Raven, as on point as ever, weaved through them with ease, moving the absolute least amount required to dodge them all. LOADER 4’s Primal Armour sparked slightly as they came close, but it did nothing to the AC itself.
I saw Raven’s Coral Cannon twitch ever so slightly, and I went upwards as the beam passed through where my head would have been.
I did not have adrenal glands, but the sensation that this invoked in me...
Oh, this was so fun.
I rushed forwards, my two Back Weapons rising up. The build-up of light was the only warning of what was about to emerge, and it was perilously small.
From both, thin beams of light shot forth, flashing outwards just as fast as any Laser bolt. Of course, nobody would confuse them for normal Lasers. Their scintillating bright red colouration immediately denied that, but the much obvious tell was simple.
Instead of travelling in a straight line, they curved.
The beams came within mere millimetres of LOADER 4, Raven moving at exactly the right time to speed out of their angle of correction. They continued onwards, fanning out as they started trying to curve back, but I’d never designed them for that kind of distance. They decohered after a few kilometers of path, and so detonated harmlessly behind Raven.
I saw the tilt of LOADER 4’s head, even as it continued to approach, Pile Bunker already replacing the Sword.
“Interested?” I asked, even as I brought my rifle up. “In my files, my version of this machine is labelled under C-INT_9B. It stands for Coral Integrated Nine-Ball. ALLMIND actually had two sets of plans. The first was a set of typical weapons for ACs, a Missile Launcher and a Grenade Launcher.”
The moment that I saw Raven prepare a strike, I went forwards and just very slightly to the right. The Pile Bunker tore through where I had been, but I was already spinning around as Raven went past. My rifle glowed, and I fired a shot in the brief moment where we lined up so perfectly.
“The second were wings.” I continued, heedless. “Big wings, with integrated Missiles. I thought it was a little dull, and I decided to spruce it up a bit.”
For anyone else, my shot would have been a direct shot to the Head. For Raven, the very edges of it scraped against the Primal Armour, because the moment I had started moving, Raven had started reacting.
“These are the product of quite a considerable amount of time spent designing. It’s another application of Lightwave technology. Instead of having small packets and projections, however, you can create a beam. Upsides, they’re a lot faster. Downsides, they don’t enjoy the total freedom of movement.”
Raven had kept going forwards, not bothering to try and cancel momentum. Instead, Raven made use of it, forcing me to make larger adjustments for aiming that also told Raven exactly where I would be putting the shot. I fired several blasts, and each time, Raven had shifted somewhere else.
Soon enough, Raven had turned to face me again. The Coral Lightwave Projector on LOADER 4’s right shoulder promptly shot out half a dozen packets, and I chuckled.
“Fun fact, it’s also pretty good for intercepting missiles.”
Six beams darted out. The Coral Lightwave projections weren’t fast enough to slip out of the way, and so they all promptly detonated before they could do any harm.
I could already hear the offended gasping of Ayre and Carla.
Raven continued approaching regardless. The Coral Rifle was charging up.
I chuckled. “As for the other weapons, they’re more ALLMIND’s designs. You know what she’s like, right?”
I started to shift positions, my Blade moving to come in front of me. The weapon itself opened up, unwinding and lengthening as projection coils extended further.
“Multipurpose.”
My Boosters ignited, and I thrusted forwards, Coral condensing over the length of my now-Lance.
I went straight past Raven, my Lance missing LOADER 4’s lower Core by only the slightest amount. For my temerity, a series of beams raked across my back. My Primal Armour did its best, and while it handled the first three shots perfectly well, every one afterwards punctured a bit more.
Diagnostics indicated no meaningful decrease in ability. That’s all that I needed to know.
I turned as fast as I could, the Lance lengthening even more. The crimson light of the Coral surrounding my Lance extended with it- and then started to twist.
The whip lashed out with a single, blindingly fast strike, a wide arc stretch all the way back to LOADER 4.
LOADER 4 shifted, and the realisation of what Raven was about to do struck in an instant, skipping straight past every analysis, every careful examination. I followed through.
My arm gave two minute twitches. The whip wobbled, and I watched the wave travel up its length.
Raven jumped into the air-
And the very tip of the whip flicked upwards to meet the AC as it did. It scored a thin lash against LOADER 4’s right shin, marring it with angry red. Raven went backwards immediately, out of the range of any further retaliation, but I didn’t bother acting.
I was too focused on that little red mark.
It was the most damage that Raven had taken during the entire campaign on Rubicon, and if I didn’t score even a single extra hit, I’d still be satisfied with just that.
I chuckled. “Not quite as good as a dedicated unit... But I do appreciate the versatility nonetheless.” I said, finishing my turn.
LOADER 4 landed, but didn’t immediately move. Instead, the AC simply stood there, facing me directly. The shimmering Coral lights just behind the visor weren’t quite eyes, but I could feel them staring at me nonetheless.
We both moved at the same time. Raven’s Rifle snapped upwards, unleashing several beams. They went past me as I shot to the side, my own rifle shifting its mode, the barrel lengthening as the entire gun entered a slimmer profile.
My returning beam was several times more potent, but it was only the one. Raven had no trouble dodging it, and came straight at me, brandishing the Blade again. Several Coral Lightwave projections shot out, and I promptly used my own to shoot them down.
I wasn’t going to get another shot in, so my gun started to shift again, the barrel beginning to open up. With my other hand, I swung wide, letting the Whip lash out another time.
Raven didn’t try to dodge, this time. Instead, LOADER 4 raised its Blade, the red beam projecting outwards.
The Blade and the Whip met. The Whip lost.
Raven’s Blade was much more coherent, and that gave it the ability to direct the energy of the whip. Raven thrust upwards, and the Whip tangled with it, yanking high and useless.
It brought enough time.
My gun, properly reconfigured, fired. A crackling ball of Coral shot forth, charged with so much excess energy that it seemed more like a sphere of crimson lightning than actual Coral.
Raven was quicker. LOADER 4 went diagonally forwards, already swapping to the Pile Bunker again, and the Coral shot went straight past the AC. It destabilized the moment it hit the surface of the Vascular Plant, the Coral Mortar exploding out into a massive wall of angry red.
Unfortunately, that left me with Raven directly in my immediate vicinity and little I could do about it. I started reconfiguring both of my weapons, but for the moment, it was Raven’s initiative.
Raven’s Rifle moved, and faced with the decision of near certain destruction versus uncertain destruction, I chose the latter. I lashed out as quickly as I could, swinging my own left arm.
The Whip was still mid-reconfiguration when I hit Raven’s Rifle with it, pulling it off angle and leaving the beams to brush over the surface of my armour. My Primal Armour, still in the process of regenerating, was stripped again, and the shots left several burning gouges across the metal of my form.
Raven did not care to pull back. Instead, the Pile Bunker readied itself.
Again, I swung my left arm, twisting it around so that my melee weapon was on the outer edge, facing Raven. There would be no room for error here.
Raven thrust forwards. I angled my arm, and twisted to the right.
My weapon hit the Pile Bunker’s spike right below the tip of concentrated Coral. It crumpled, because these weapons were far too gimmicky to make as fully reliable as most of the rest of my arsenal, but it did it’s job.
The force pushed the spike away from my Core, and the concentrated Coral detonated just behind me, a flare of light that cast us both in crimson.
Most importantly, it left me with my gun just underneath my left arm, pointing directly towards LOADER 4.
I almost fired then and there, but the hint of a glow had me shift my aim at the last possible second. The pulsing shot came out just in time for Raven’s Cannon to fire, and the packet hit the beam dead on.
It destabilized, and so, rather than taking a shot that would have outright cored me in my unprotected state, the Cannon beam instead shotgunned my entire body.
The Coral washed over me, scouring my metal skin with burning red. My armour twisted and warped, and the AC’s systems flared up with heat warnings across the entire body. I Quick-Boosted backwards as fast as I could, trying to get a bit of distance while I worked out exactly how much more the machine could take.
Not much, unfortunately.
I landed on the Vascular Plant, sliding backwards for a moment before my Boosters flared to stabilise my movement.
Raven gave me a moment of peace, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I knew I wasn’t going to win.” I admitted. “But I don’t intend to let it end so easily.”
Weapons... Fucked. Melee was gone completely. Gun had been caught point blank by the expanding Coral, and had melted together into something unusable. Back Units... operable, but not by much.
Dead weight.
Alright.
I threw my arms out, tossing both my gun and my blade away. Both back units were jettisoned, leaving me with no options but the most primal ones.
I shot forwards, pushing my Boosters to the absolute limit. LOADER 4’s head tilted, and then Raven chose fun over efficiency, LOADER 4 discarding its own weapons, launching everything away.
Oh, fuck yeah, we’re doing this!
Raven charged forwards, heading straight at me.
We both twisted, Boosters spiking in specific patterns. I lashed out with a kick as LOADER 4 did the same, and the impact sent shockwaves throughout my Frame.
Boosters flickered on and off, and Raven punched at me. I met the strike with my forearm, blocking the attack before I shifted my other arm down to block a lower strike. LOADER 4’s knee came up, and I again blocked that with my own before our Boosters ignited and we both went backwards a little bit.
Raven tried another kick, and I met it with my own. I watched LOADER 4 closely as we continued to exchange another few blows, every strike met with an equal attempt.
There.
Raven punched forwards, and I reached up with an open hand. LOADER 4’s fist met my palm, and I redirected it outwards while my Boosters immediately burned at their full force.
My other hand curled into a fist, and I drove it straight into Raven’s Core. The clang that it produced echoed up my arm, LOADER 4’s armour crumpling as it pushed back Raven’s AC-
Two hits!
- And then Raven’s hand caught my wrist.
Ah well, it was good enough.
Raven pulled, even as LOADER 4’s Boosters burned. Raven’s leg came up, assisted by its own Boosters, and planted directly against my shoulder.
My arm tore at the elbow, joints shrieking as they were pulled out of place by tension forces far beyond what it had been designed to withstand. I spun backwards, Boosters flashing as I tried to control the spin, but Raven was already following.
LOADER 4 caught my other arm and spun, dragging me along for the ride. We went straight down, and though I tried to stop it, my systems had been wrecked, and Raven was still operating on nothing more than outer armour damage.
Raven slammed me into the Vascular plant hard enough that it dented the metal, flattening my own armour where it hit.
Probability of survival? Zero. Probability of recovery? Zero. Retaliation? This was for fun, so zero.
I laughed, and pulled out of the frame. “A mere two hits... but from you? I’ll take that. I do hope you had fun?”
LOADER 4 straightened up, standing next to the fallen machine. The Head tilted, upwards and then downwards.
“That was incredible, Raven!” Ayre praised, her AC landing near the site of the battle.
“Wooo!” Ezra cheered. “That was awesome!” He proclaimed, and was quickly followed by most of the rest of them doing the same.
“It was, yes.” Oh, if I could smile right now. “But you had best be going now, everyone. You don’t want to be here when the Convergence starts.”
“... Right. That’s still happenning.”
“Mmmhmm.” I hummed in agreement.
That did put a bit of a dampener on things. Even Raven hesitated briefly, turning to face the mass of Coral that the Vascular Plant was closing in on. It roiled and writhed on itself, slowly pulling together into something more stable, but once the Vascular Plant reached it...
Well.
Raven turned away, and Ayre followed afterwards as they both flew off, Assault Boosting off as far and as fast at they could.
“Do you...” Dolmayan began, hesitantly. “-know, what will happen?”
“I’d like to say that the answer to that question is a straight ‘yes’.” I stated. “But the truth is, while I do have a fairly good idea? Even I don’t know the limits of what could arise on the other side of the threshold.”
“... Hah.” He let out a short laugh. “In the end, we all cross the Rubicon regardless.”
“A bit sour after all the effort we put in, isn’t it?” I asked. “My apologies. It seems someone has made a liar out of me.”
“Mother...”
“No.” Dolmayan denied. “First, it wasn’t you. Second, it hasn’t come to pass yet. After all these years, I know you well enough to place my trust in you.”
“... Thank you.”
“Res nobis faveant.” Was all he said, before the channel died.
Hah.
Not long now...
The Xylem is drifting, but won’t reach the Convergence before it starts. Everybody has abandoned ship, and they’re all on the way back to Rubicon as fast as possible. They’ll get most of the way there. Or, rather, they’ll reach the orbital structures and then it will start.
“Can we help?” Ezra asked, suddenly. The question was echoed by all of them, even if they didn’t speak.
“In this one particular way, kids, I have to ask you not to try.” I sighed. “It would be best to monopolize, so that there are no conflicting desires or plans... And I would be too worried about you all to concentrate like I should.”
I felt the resignation that ran through all of them. All I could in response was envelope them, to let them feel my love in the most direct way that was possible.
“And you will be alright?”
“I will do my absolute best to be alright.” I stated. And I meant it, too, with every fibre of my being.
They retreated, pulling as far away from the main Coral mass as they could, embedding themselves in their machines and their partners.
Silence passed. The Vascular Plant crept ever closer.
“Hey.” Carla spoke, seconds before it arrived. “Good luck.”
Comments
V01D
Such a missed opportunity for an “erupting burning finger” reference! What does “Res nobis faveant” mean?
Indexo's Vault
She snagged two feathers from the Ravens wings, but what is a Raven but a symbol of resolve to fly ever higher regardless.
AmorphousGayThing
I remember first seeing a pvp video where they dropped all their weapons years ago, and it was hilarious then and still is now
Alys
That was awesome!
