Mask of Humanity

Nicolai paused just short of the tunnel exit. For this particular operation, he’d successfully taken a kind of temporary, operational-only leadership from John, with the man and the others agreeing to follow his directions. John had given this up surprisingly easily, which told Nicolai he was uncertain about taking lead in combat. Nicolai intended to capitalise on this in the future, in his drive to seize full control of the group. ‘You’ll provide fire from behind,’ he told Jo, who nodded and gripped her rifle. He’d purchased more ammo for her the night before.

‘You four will run out to those carts and get cover behind them,’ he told Beth and the others. ‘Once enough of the archers are dead, see about moving forward to getting behind the statues, they should provide better protection from whatever the fat ones on the towers can throw. We’ll get into the gatehouse and then work from there.’

‘What about you?’ asked John.

‘I’ll go first and get into the gatehouse early, killing the archers and opening it from inside.’ He looked to Jo. ‘Be ready. When it starts, shoot one of those fat ones on the towertops in the head.’

‘What if—‘ began Cait, but Nicolai waved her off.

‘No point delaying these things. Think on your feet.’ He was bouncing on the balls of his feet as he peered out at the undead, a grin worming onto his features, the first taste of the thrill twining through him.

He activated his shimmer poncho, shelled his Soul Sense, and stepped out.

Nicolai moved at a wide angle as he approached the gatehouse, aiming to keep some distance between him and the undead guarding it. Reaching the wall, he activated one of his three Pegasi rings (he had retrieved the one he’d lent to Perro and Azure, and he’d left the fourth with Beth) and floated up. With this he had to intensify his focus on Shelling, but even with all his effort he was unable to completely Shell, and knew some small ripples were escaping. Fortunately the undead showed no signs of noticing. Reaching the top he found the wall had no walkway, but this didn’t cause him issue as he padded along the stone toward the gatehouse and the archers clustered atop.

There, he stood, still on the wall, looking at the archers spread in front of him. The gatehouse was quite wide and they stood roughly in line at the front of it, a waist-high wall before them, ready to shoot at any approaching from the front. Other than them the gatehouse-roof was largely featureless except for a stairway down into its inside.

Nicolai quietly unzipped his poncho, ensuring it still fell about him at the front and kept him covered, but able to be twitched aside at a moment. He took hold of his MP5, flicked off the safety, thumbed it to single-shot fire, and put his finger on the trigger.

Finally, he crept up to the start of the line, positioning himself behind the first archer. None of them reacted at all, his steps utterly silent. Completely unaware and unprepared.

A bad situation for them, but good for him. The thrill lit up and began to burn within his chest, the world shining brighter around him. He charged his rapier.

Nicolai snapped the MP5 up, and sent his rapier lunging out.

One shot punched through the head of the first while the rapier dove into the skull of another.

Nicolai twitched, his entire body coiled behind the MP5, head glued into position looking down its iron-sights, moving arms and shoulders and head and the submachine-gun all as one, a single unit. Where he looked, the bullets went.

A chorus of gunshots sounded, so rapid it seemed automatic fire, Nicolai moving his body in machine-like jerks, twitch-twitch-twitch, bang-bang-bang, while the rapier darted and lunged in response to the guiding movements of one of his fingers. Threat Analysis and Cyberwarfare aided him in controlling it, and he found he needed less physical movement as a result.

The last archer turned but only had time to begin to pull on its bowstring before the rapier lanced through its skull at the same moment as Nicolai shot the one beside it in the head. Some of those further down the line hadn’t yet even finished falling, the whole process having taken only a second.

More gunshots were sounding from around, most notably the cracking boom of Jo’s rifle, and he knew the others had begun their own attack.

She’d shot one of the fat ones but he knew via the drones and Threat Analysis’ warnings that the other had pivoted to face him and was taking aim at his back, so he ducked down into the gatehouse’s stairwell. As he did so there was a howl and a geyser of freezing wind filled with shards of ice passed harmlessly over his head, a gift from one of the wizards.

Inside he found two surprised looking zombies. The rapier stabbed them unceremoniously in the head, one then the other, while Nicolai moved forward. There was a metal wheel set into a contraption, so Nicolai dragged at it, and it turned with a creak. Below came the whine and rattle of the gates opening.

He noted a few handy holes in the ground, murder-holes for defenders to strike at invaders coming through the gatehouse, and Nicolai was happy to use them to his advantage.

Since he’d unshelled his Soul Sense and was no longer concerned about being detected, he could sense half of the knights and spearmen moving in the space below, retreating inside and after him.

He pulled out a fragmentation grenade, dropped it through the hole, then activated it through his Link.

The explosion blew those below into the walls and the shrapnel smashed through skulls and legs and arms, and they crumpled, either dead or disabled.

Stepping out through the gatehouses exit he emerged onto a short stairwell to the ground inside the walled area.

Through his Link connection to the others, he knew they were pushing forward, finishing off the defenders left outside the gatehouse, and would soon join him.

That was good, because all the undead were swinging into action. The archers on the other gatehouses were taking aim across at him, as was the one fat-wizard on the closer tower. Fortunately, it seemed Jo had killed the other one with her first shot, but the remaining one had activated some kind of shield, and as he watched one of her shots cracked into the shield and cracks spiderwebbed through it, but it held. However, another shot quickly followed and the shield broke, then another and it was falling, skull cracked.

Of more danger was the next group of undead between him and the fortress, more knights, led by the ornate-knight which was dashing towards him at great speed.

He saw a Soul Sense tendril emerging from it. A cultivating undead. Nicolai’s lips drew back in an eager smile and he fuelled Oma into the Blue Hornet which came awake within his Node, rising into the space, spreading its wings. Blue energy shimmering around it, then on his body sparks of crackling energy began to crawl.

Nicolai charged straight for them. He had no intention to wait around, and knew that all the undead spearmen and knights were now making their way towards him.

Arrows zipped through the air, but as he drew closer to the building its bulk cut the sightlines between him and the archers, a serious oversight from those who’d constructed it. Before that point, he avoided most of the arrows by being where they weren’t, and used his Sheltering glove’s shield to block the rest.

Nicolai fired the MP5 as he went, thinning out the undead, taking down the lightly-armoured spearmen first. He didn’t have time to turn his gun on the Cultivator knight or the three more standard knights behind it, because the Cultivator came to meet him.

Its legs glimmered and then with a burst of savage movement it shoved powerfully on the stone and launched itself through the air toward him. It held a big weight of steel, a greatsword that would turn him into a severe mess if he let it hit him. At the same moment the knights Soul Sense tendril lunged at him, forming into a piercing spike.

Nicolai collapsed backwards, side-on, extending his legs and skidding. With the Pegasi ring the movement went very smoothly, as he barely even touched the ground. Meanwhile, he settled his Soul Sense into a Long Guard.

He slid under the great humming blur of the weapon, and deflected the enemy’s Soul Sense attack away.

For a frozen moment he was behind his enemy, face to face with the three other knights. He pulled the sawn-off in a snap and put a pair of baseball-sized holes in the helmets of two of them, sending them to the ground in crashes of metal as their Soul Wisps streamed away in ragged rivers.

He holstered the sawn-off and skittered away, gaining more distance, as the Cultivator turned and its legs glimmered again.

This time he wasn’t fast enough. He had to raise his shield and he felt and saw a ragged great crack open up in it as the greatsword lashed at him, launching him backwards, skidding and regaining his balance. He fired at it with the MP5 in full auto, Oma pouring out of his Node to recharge his shielding glove.

The 9mm bullets sparked and bounced off its armour, having no effect. He turned the MP5 on the other remaining knight, and a burst of 9mm smashed into its helmet and it rattled as the metal deformed to the point a bullet punched through and it fell.

Meanwhile, in the space between him and the undead Cultivator, their Soul Senses battled. Nicolai had sent his rapier out and it acted as the blade of his Soul Sense, enhancing his cutting and piercing attacks.

Piercing, crushing, cutting. The Guards Heavy, Long, and Light. Nicolai had already integrated these concepts and he moved his Soul Sense with the skill of his rapidly-increasing familiarity. He laughed with delight as he found his opponent wanting, its Soul Sense sluggish. His launched rapier sliced through its Soul Sense tendril at the base, then his tendril flashed into a crushing blow as the undead formed a panicked Heavy Guard, crushing it. He snapped out a piercing strike, the rapier lunging forwards as it was trying to form a Loose Guard.

The rapier’s tip poked its armour, doing no damage, but spiritually the picture was very different, as his Soul Sense moved with the rapier. The undead’s Soul Sense burst, collapsing into it.

The Cultivator was coming again in spite of this, legs shimmering, but this time Nicolai had something else ready for it. All through the fight, ever since he activated the Blue Hornet in the gate house, every movement he made had caused the blue lightning to crackle loud, growing and surging over his body. It had been ready to strike for some time, now.

He jumped into the air, throwing himself upwards at the same time as he activated three Pegasi rings with a flare of Oma burn, launching himself upwards as the knight flashed forward and spun and launched its greatsword in another huge swing. It tried to angle the blade upwards as he rose, but its momentum was too much, and his ascent too fast, and it passed beneath him.

Nicolai extended a hand and the blue lightning coiled and writhed over his arm. He’d spent a little time practising with this Symbiote earlier, and he’d learned a very important part of how it worked. It needed to be guided with Soul Sense to hit with any accuracy, and therefore breaking the enemy’s Soul Sense before striking was fundamental. That, or touching them. With the Cultivator’s Soul Sense broken for a moment, he was able to mark its body, the Blue Hornet pushing a sparking signature through his Soul Sense. It wormed through his tendril and dug into the undead.

A great crack sounded and there came a burst of light as a finger-thick bolt exploded out from his palm, smashing into the knight which was dashed into the ground, squirming and writhing, dropping its greatsword.

Nicolai landed beside the shaking undead, pulled out the shotgun, cracked it open and slotted two fresh rounds of 12-gauge into it. He clicked the barrels back into place and raised his arm, tracking the spasmodic movements of its head.

He squeezed the trigger hard and two bursts of buckshot smashed into the knights helmet at almost the same moment in great sprays of sparks, smashing its helmeted head into the ground.

When the sparks from Nicolai’s shots faded, he was disappointed to see the helmet was slightly dented, but otherwise fine. Tough stuff. It seemed he’d have to try and get its helmet off, but the Cultivator’s convulsions were reducing, and it jerked and struggled upward, lunging for him.

Nicolai pushed himself backwards, avoiding it, and used the momentum as he turned and dashed away, sprinting to the double-doors of the castle.

There came a boom and the knight, which had half-way struggled to its feet, face-planted as a heavy round from Jo’s rifle slammed into its back. Alas, with his Soul Sense he knew this too, had failed to get through its armour.

Nicolai reached the doors and wrenched at the handle and they opened, and he dashed inside whilst stripping the largely spent magazine from his MP5 and slotting in a fresh one.

The Cultivator was twitching and struggling behind him, but as he forged ahead the electricity surging over it faded and it rose, sword in its hands, armoured feet ringing on the stone.

Through his Link connection with the others, he knew that Beth was coming forward as he’d ordered her. The rest defended the gatehouse, hunkering inside to avoid the archers’ arrows while shooting at any undead that attempted to come inside after Nicolai, mostly spearmen and a few knights who’d moved in from the other gatehouses.

The other ornately-armoured undead, a mirror to the Cultivator chasing him only with a maul instead of a sword, had opened up the entrance to the small fort on the other side and entered. He’d lost track of it but knew it was somewhere within, looking to meet him from the other side.

After streaking down a straight corridor, Nicolai found himself in a large, circular room. On one side was an area dedicated to painting, racks and scrolls and brushes and paints, and a robed undead was standing there, holding a paintbrush which shimmered to Nicolai’s Soul Sense.

The other undead Cultivator emerged from the other side of the room, and he heard the one behind him making quick ground.

Nicolai ignored them both and dashed across the room toward the undead with the paintbrush, snapping the MP5 up. It had already thrown itself down to hide behind a large desk when his three-round burst drilled at it, the wood cracking and splintering.

He felt the Cultivator with the greatsword’s intent, its legs shimmering in his Soul Sense, and was already throwing himself aside as it launched itself at him.

Nicolai avoided its physical strike, the blade whooshing passed him. But its Soul Sense had recovered and now it struck at him, joined with the Soul Sense from the other Cultivator.

Fighting two-on-one, Nicolai found himself pressed. He could dodge and dash and deflect their strikes, but Soul Sense attacks were too quick to dodge. One used a crushing attack, the other piercing, and he had no ideal defence in response.

As the closer Cultivator’s Soul Sense tendril lunged at him, formed into a stabbing point, Nicolai flicked his rapier, and the Long Guard brushed it aside. The next attack was right behind it, coming quick, but all that he learned came together and Nicolai abandoned his defence, launching his tendril and rapier, focusing on cutting, and even as the crushing attack descended toward him he sliced at the enemies tendril, severing their attack.

It was a dangerous game. A single error would see one of them land an unguarded hit on him, while he was busy dealing with the others. If his Soul Sense was broken he would be in a bad position. Fortunately, with the rapier he was able to just about hold his own.

They were chasing him still and his tendril and the rapier slid through the air as he exchanged blows with the closer one, both seeking to severe the others tendril, neither having any luck. As this was occurring he reached the desk area.

The undead painter thrashed over the ground, raising its arms helplessly, pleadingly, but there was no sympathy in Nicolai and he shot its head into splinters then raised his shield in time to meet the maul humming towards him, the other Cultivator twisting behind it.

The blow launched him backward, arm straining as some of the force of it transferred through the splintering shield and into him.

Their Soul Senses struck again and he found himself under pressure, forced to keep his tendril dancing and winding, the rapier slicing at their tendrils and beheading them, buying him a few moments of reprieve. The Oma in his Node was rapidly draining to replenish his glove’s shield.

He tried to lunge back towards the dead painter but they were between him, now. Blocking him, harrying him, and all the while their Soul Senses worked to break his own. The maul wielding undead raised a hand, and he sensed the tell-tale ripples of an Imbued being activated. A burst of force grew and was thrown toward him, and as it moved the undead’s Soul Sense guided it, curving it to follow his movement as he attempted to dodge.

Nicolai was forced to commit his Soul Sense to defending against the attack, immediately recognising the similarities between this move and his own lightning. His Soul Sense grappled with the attacker, disrupting their direction of the blast of force which became unguided, and he slipped away from it.

However, while he was focused on dealing with that, the other got him a good hit from the side, where he had little defence. He felt his Soul Sense close to breaking and he was forced to consolidate his defence. He knew the maul undead was preparing another blast of force and it would come any moment.

The electricity surging over his skin had increased, but it wasn’t yet at the necessary level and even if it was, he couldn’t easily target them unless he first broke their Soul Sense and marked them. It was a sticky situation with no easy answers, but Nicolai had an ace in the hole. He’d been keeping track of Beth as she came to join him, and now moved toward the exit from the room.

She arrived, gunfire sounding from behind him. The blasts from her shotgun smashed into the undead, and didn’t go through their armour but each shot staggered them, knocking them back. Her tendril reached him and aided him on the defence.

Nicolai capitalised on this by taking out a fragmentation grenade, which he threw, aiming behind the knights. He couldn’t afford to have it detonate too close or high up compared to him if he wanted to avoid the risk of shrapnel, he needed to have it land behind them so their bodies acted as shields. However, as it spun through the air the one with a maul reached a hand out. Through his Soul Sense he felt and saw a surge of the same force from it, and his grenade was punched in the air, back toward him.

His eyes widened with surprise. These things were fast, and smart, and hard to kill. Some of the most competent foes he’d faced so far. They reminded him of the Pegasi archers.

The knights paused their advance, keeping their distance as the grenade fell back toward Nicolai. They watched it fall, aware that it must pose some kind of threat, perhaps hoping it would kill him for them.

That hope would go unanswered. He reached up and caught it from the air, tucked it into a pocket and switched it to safe mode. One of the benefits of a Link enabled grenade was that it would not activate until the moment he sent the order.

Beth stepped up beside him, her Soul Sense coming beside his, the two of them standing and facing the enemies across from them, both sides taking a moment to pause and consider while too distant for their Soul Senses to interact.

It was a difficult fight and these knights tough opponents, but Nicolai wasn’t worried, only eager. He eyed the enemy hungrily, ready for the next exchange.