System Wars: Here Comes the Heroes!-Chapter 5: A Literal Knight in Shining Armor
Chapter 5 - A Literal Knight in Shining Armor
[Warning. Once the familiar has finished becoming a part of reality, time will resume. Be prepared for the consequences.
"Right...wait a minute, is he going to be fully manifested before or after that fireball makes contact? That's kind of important."
[You'll see.]
"Why are you needlessly ominous?"
...
For as long as humanity has been a thing, there has always been a hidden war between two systems of power.
The Arcanis System, which encouraged people to embrace the mysteries of magic and provided its hosts power in the form of [Demon Creation], the ability to bring to life the nightmares, dreams, and beliefs of humanity's past and superstitions.
The Machina System, which forces people to look forward and understand the truths of the world in order to perfect the power of {Mecha Creation], mechanical constructs that are an embodiment of the thousand tomorrows that humanity could achieve.
Users of these two systems were referred to as magi and mechanists, respectively, and both sides absolutely hated each other with passion.
They were firm believers that their respective systems were exactly what humanity needed to progress and made it a point to secure the precious resources needed to empower these aforementioned systems so that they could reach unimaginable heights.
However, or perhaps this was a feature, these resources were always sources of conflict for the users of these two systems.
Meaning exchanges like this...
"Bah! You cheating hobo, take your fireballs like a man!"
"You're one to talk, four eyes! Why don't you take your skull crushing like a good little sacrifice and die?!"
...were rather common and usually led to a lot of collateral damage and unnecessary casualties.
"Trobol, [Pebble Barrage]!"
"ROAR!"
On one side of this particular conflict, representing the Arcanis System, was Bjorn, a magi that looked like a homeless druid, whose familiar took the form of a rock troll, a subspecies of troll known for their tough, rock-like skin and ability to manipulate the earth through magical means.
"Pebbles? Really? [BB-09, turn those pebbles into molten slag!]
FWOOSH!
On the other, representing the Machina System, was a mechanist named Farran. His familiar choice was a humanoid robot with Bunsen burner-like flamethrower arms and had the model designation of BB-09.
These two were sent by their respective leaders to retrieve some mysterious box from this shipyard, with very little information on its contents other than the fact that it was on a need-to-know basis.
Under normal circumstances, this mission should've been handled very quietly, with no witnesses or incidents. But then these two idiots ran into each other.
What followed was an insane battle that destroyed several million dollars worth of goods and almost the life of a random civilian.
Keyword: almost.
During the battle between troll and machine, the latter launched a fireball that was narrowly avoided by the former. Both magi and mechanists had noticed that the attack was about to impact what appeared to be two random mortals, but they didn't care.
They had grown beyond the concerns of mortal men and had only to worry about
BOOM!
"What the hell?"*2
However, just as they were going to ignore the soon-to-be pile of ashes, Bjork and Farran both felt a sudden surge of energy that was both familiar and foreign at the same time.
It was familiar in the sense that it was very similar to the energies that were released whenever they summoned their own familiars, but foreign in the sense that neither of them could recognize the system that this newly summoned familiar belonged to.
This revelation was so incredibly shocking that they both stopped their fight to turn their attention towards the source of this surge. Only to realize it was coming from the spot those two mortals were hanging around.
"What the..."
"Is that...a shield?"
...Switching perspectives...
"Okay, cool. Good to know that the shield actually works... sweet mother of mercy, I saw my life flash before my eyes," SK spat out in a moment of pure stress.
One moment, SK and the dock worker were about to become piles of standing ashes in a horrible recreation of Pompeii. Next, their bacon was saved by the sudden appearance of a literal superhero.
To be more precise, moments before the fireball made contact, Platiknight had finished manifesting in reality with the fireball mere inches from hitting his armored face.
The system had done an excellent job in bringing to life Platiknight's design, down to the fully articulated shining armor, the billowing blue cape, and the massive circular shield.
If one were to merely glance at this knight, they would assume that his armor was made of untested steel or silver.
In reality, from the top of his armored head to the bottom of his armored boots, this super hero was covered in a special type of platinum alloy.
"Are you two alright?" Platiknight asked in an assuring tone of voice that was dripping with heroic charisma.
"You can talk?! Wait, not the time..."
Realizing that shit was still hot, SK made moves to extract himself and the injured security guard from the battlefield.
"Can you handle things here?" SK asked as he settled the injured man onto his shoulder. s
"Of course."
"Cool," SK confirmed before running as fast as he could.
Just in time too, as the hobo and the mad scientist had decided to turn their attention towards Platiknight.
"Hey!"
...Perspective shift again.
Confused and mildly threatened by the presence of the platinum-covered knight, Farran and Bjorn temporarily stopped fighting each other and had their familiars accompany them to figure out what this guy's deal was.
Despite the fact that they were accompanied by a giant flamethrowing robot and a rock troll, the magi and mechanist couldn't help but feel oddly intimidated by the shield-wielding warrior.
"Who or what the hell are you?" Farran shouted. "You don't look like a mecha."
This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.
"And you definitely don't look like a demon," Bjorn added.
"So who the hell are you?!"*2
Funnily enough, they were about to regret asking this question for more than one reason.
"Who am I? Who am I?!," the knight shouted in an even louder voice as he began to lift the shield off of the ground and swung it to his right to expose his full body to the staring mechanist and magi.
"I am the precious metal paragon! The unbreakable Paladin who protects all against the forces of evil! The shining shield of hope in the darkness of despair!" the knight announced while performing a series of heroic poses.
"I am Platiknight! Now prepare yourselves to face justice!"
"What the..."
Farran and Bjorn were understandably confused at this flashy behavior for a hot minute before they got their heads back into the moment.
This shiny weirdo had clearly just declared himself to be a threat, and as proper System users, they had to respond in kind.
"Face justice? Ha!," Farran laughed.
"Boy, we're beyond the petty scales of mortal justice," Bjorn followed up. "Trobol! Wreck this shiny tinker toy!"
ROAR!
The rock troll let out a bellowing roar before it went charging at Platiknight. In its mind, it didn't need to use any abilities or strategies because he clearly had the size advantage, which meant he definitely had the strength advantage too.
Most mortals would've run away in fear at the sight of the galumphing troll, but Platiknight didn't. Instead, he entered a bow-legged stance and readied his shield.
"Platinum..."
With zero hesitation, the rock troll swung one of its massive arms, ready to send this knight flying with a single punch...
"....COUNTER!"
BOOM!
"Grr?"
"Impossible!"
...only to be rendered thoroughly confused as Platiknight intercepted his punch with a swing of his platinum shield and sent him flying instead. Making matters worse, the rock troll's arm had collapsed upon itself before he was sent into a pile of shipping containers.
"Brutish barbarism is no match for my Platinum Aegis!" Platiknight declared. "As long as there is someone to protect, it will never break!"
"Trobol!" Bjorn shouted before he turned and ran to go and check on his injured familiar, leaving Farran alone to deal with Platiknight.
Not that he minded.
"See, this is why you don't use brute force," the mechanist chided with a click of his tongue. "For situations like this, it's much more efficient to use FIRE! BB-09! [Scorching Spray]!"
FUWAH!
The Bunsen burner robot proceeded to release a series of hisses and clicks as its flamethrower arms began to glow an unusual color moments before releasing twin jets of flames that superheated the air and melted concrete as it blazed towards Platiknight, who reacted to the attack by throwing his shield forward once more!
"Platinum Guard!"
KA-FWOOSH
"Ha! Direct Hit!"
BWOOM!
"Wait, what?"
Moments before the jets of flame made contact, Platiknight's shield released a blue burst of energy before expanding and blocking the flames entirely. The shining sentinel wasn't even mildly warmed by the attack.
"Please! My melting point is too high for the flames of villainy to melt!" Platiknight declared while maintaining his shield. "Now get ready for a Platinum Rush!"
As soon as Plaitknight said these words, a hidden mechanism built into his shield began to activate...
Ka-chunk!
WHIRRRRR!!!!
...that caused his shield to spin while still attached to his arm.
And while the shield spun, the flames that were engulfing him began to abate little by little. After all, flames can't exist in a vacuum.
"Uh oh..."