The Astral soul system-Chapter 183: Black and Blue

The bright blinding light slowly receded revealing Zaria’s form.

She looked down at the robot. It’s chest had been caved in, multiple parts of its body were dislocated and it looked like it had been put through a blender.

"Okay, maybe i went a bit overboard. I didn’t have to hit it that hard"

She suddenly heard leaves rustling and footsteps. She looked to her side and her eyes widened in shock.

"You’re a..."

*************

Sable snarled,her crimson eyes glancing at the robot out of the corner of her eye as another attack landed on the corpse she was hiding behind.

’It’s attacks are way too fast. I can’t dodge, and i don’t think getting hit with one of those things will exactly feel nice. Damnit, I’m just here to find Jade’s bow. Why is th-’

*Crack*

Sable’s ears suddenly perked up as she looked out again, seeing something familiar crushed beneath the robot’s feet.

"Is that..."

Sable snarled, pissed off. How was she going to explain this?

She suddenly dropped her blade, taking out the whip,bloody rose. Without looking back, she swung it as hard as she could, wrapping it around the robot’s leg.

Feeling she’d gotten something, she activated the spikes and pulled as hard as she could, dragging the robot by its feet and throwing it into the other side of the forest.

The robot rolled on the ground for a few meters before finally stabilizing itself. It shakily got up and before it could even react, Sable was in front of it, leaning forward with a crouch,her sword piercing into it’s chest where the ranged attacks were coming from.

She immediately twisted the sword in its chest, knowing that won’t be enough to take down a machine.

Its massive arms came down to swat at her but Sable didn’t even dodge,her fist striking up to meet it, striking at a joint and knocking the attack away before she punched the hilt of her katana, driving it deeper into it’s chest.

The robot tried to attack again but aiming for the joint once again she nullified it, driving the sword even deeper.

Letting out a breath, Sable put one foot forward, pulling one arm cocked back as far as it would go. She ignored every physical attack coming from the robot, focused on the one point she wanted to strike.

As her fist moved forward, the veins reappeared on her arms and a faint red energy coursed through them. As her fist slamming into the hilt,the red energy travelled from her fist, down the sword before blasting into every direction once it was in the robot.

The katana itself flew through the body of the machine, leaving a massive hole in its chest.

The robot itself flew back a few meters,carried by someone strange force and slamming into a tree before falling to the ground.

Sable didn’t relax. An attack like that would definitely kill a human, but it wasn’t exactly guaranteed for a robot.

A few seconds passed and it didn’t look like it was getting back up. She sighed,, dropping her fists

"Damnit! Fucking clanker! What am i gonna tell Jade?"

She sighed, getting up and walking to where her sword fell, but when she saw it’s condition she felt like picking it up would be pointless. It was broken into like five different pieces.

"Shit! Note to self. Don’t punch your sword, dummy"

She suddenly remembered the lizard’s crystal and felt a bit more relaxed. Maybe something good could come of that. She remembered Xavier and Jade saying their awesome beast gear was stuff Zen got. Maybe she’d ask him, maybe he was acquainted with a blacksmith. Or maybe...

She suddenly remembered what he did with the core he’d turned into a tonic and started wondering

’Could he?’

She wouldn’t put it pass him to be capable of something like that.

Her ears suddenly twitched again, alerting her to something and in response,her entire body dropped.

"More?"

She asked clearly exhausted without even looking at where they were coming from

"Oh well"

She said equipping the whip.

"Wait a minute... robots don’t have..."

She suddenly turned around,her ears catching a familiar sound.

*************

Maximilian leaped out with just half a second to spare, dodging the ranged attacks and crouching behind a pile of rocks.

"Damnit. I can’t dodge an attack like that again. It’s way too fast"

Hearing the whirring and calculating how long it took to charge an attack, Maximilian waited for a bit before jumping behind another pile of rocks as his old hiding spot was destroyed.

’Fuck! Okay,think. How is it following my movements. Optic sensors? Heat signature, adaptive AI?’

Maximilian groaned. There could literally be a dozen explanations.

He suddenly noticed a little blue bird drop in front of him

"Attack when I say"

Ava’s voice suddenly called out from the bird

"What?"

"Focus"

Maximilian gritted his teeth and nodded. This wasn’t the time to hesitate.

"Ready..."

Maximilian peeked out from his hiding spot, watching carefully as the robot charged up another attack.

"Now!"

Without hesitation, Maximilian jumped out, rushing towards the robot while swinging his halberd .

He watched as the glow coming from the machines chest got brighter and brighter like it was about to attack but halfway through it suddenly died down and the machine seemed to stall or glitch.

Taking this chance, Maximilian swung for the chest, it’s main weapon and his biggest inconvenience, his weapon digging into it and getting stuck in its chest.

A whirring sound suddenly started up as the machine booted back up and whatever Ava did wore off.

Without hesitation, Maximilian dropped his halberd, leaving it in the robot’s chest and stepping back.

"You’re proving far less useful than I anticipated"

He suddenly heard Ava’s voice behind him and looking back he saw her with the blue bird on her shoulder.

He couldn’t help but feel like the scene reminded him of someone.

"One minute. Give me just one minute"

Maximilian said, looking confident.

"We don’t exactly have much choice" Ava said, stepping forward .

Maximilian saw her agree without hesitation and was a bit stunned. He wasn’t going to waste this time however and started pulling gear out of his ring.

The blue bird on her shoulder let out a low hum and took off, hovering just a bit above her.

Ava’s eyes glowed with a chrome colored light and just like before the machine stalled for about five seconds before breaking free.

"Interesting. You’re not human technology, but you do have a few interesting modifications"

She finally dropped her screen, folding it and placing it in her pocket.

"The fact that you aren’t human technology though... still makes you inferior"

She wasn’t dressed in any fancy armor. She wasn’t even in her academy uniform , Just a baggy red sweater and jeans. Her shoulder length blood colored hair was in a sharp wolf cut and her chrome colored eyes were calm. Her entire figure oozed a casual and calm aura, but her eyes were cold and indifferent.

The robot suddenly pulled out the halberd in its chest and threw it away. Immediately charging up another attack. It seemed Maximilian hadn’t been able to fully destroy it but he’d weakened it enough.

Her bird aptly named blue, charged forward, it’s forcefield powering up and shielding it.

It unceremoniously slammed itself into the ranged attack, tanking it and pushing through to slam into the robot.

"Pull back"

Ava said,her eyes flashing as she saw the robot about to attack, freezing it and giving the bird the time to retreat.

"Again"

The bird’s eyes flashed briefly as it reactivated its forcefield, slamming into it from a different angle.

The attacks weren’t doing much damage but her intent was to distract it, and the attacks coming from every angle were taking up it’s attention very nicely. Not to mention blue was still increasing its speed,it wasn’t even close to her theorized limit yet, meaning the forcefield would keep hitting it harder.

Every few seconds she’d use her ability to freeze it, giving Blue plenty of openings.

Blue was about to attack once again when her eyes suddenly flashed, and her expression shifted for a brief second.

"Stop"

It was too late however as Blue once again slammed directly into the machine and this time the forcefield suddenly disappeared, the bird’s power source unable to maintain it any longer.

It bashed into the robot directly and all it’s momentum disappeared and the robot swatted it away like a fly, slamming it into the ground.

Ava’s breath hitched in her throat, the first real expression of emotion on her face since the beginning appearing, and it was worry.

"No"

She saw the robot about to step on the chubby bird and immediately stopped it in place with her ability, however she knew even if she moved now, she wouldn’t make it in time to save it.

She was about to grit her teeth and consider giving the order for the bird to self detonate when...

"Grkraaaa!!!"

Black cawed,diving in at the highest speed it had ever achieved. It’s claws reached out readily, sinking into Blue’s body and without slowing it’s momentum kept going, it’s powerful wings taking it away with the blue bird in its grasp.

Ava looked at the raven dashing away and could swear she saw it look at her and nod before it disappeared.

"..."

"I guess that means you owe Zen a thank you"

Maximilian’s voice came from behind her and she looked back to see him fully suited up in a set of pale white and blue armor.

"Sorry for taking do long. I’ll take it from here"

He said, suddenly dashing towards the robot, immediately grabbing it.

The two sides entered a breif show of strength and it was clear that they were evenly match.

The machine started whirring up it’s ranged attack but Maximilian didn’t move, trying to push the robot off it’s balance.

Before it could attack, the robot suddenly shut down temporarily and taking the chance, Maximilian immediately punched the robot in the chest at full strength, sending it’s inoperative body back and onto the ground.

Without looking back, Maximilian quickly grabbed his halberd that had been through onto the ground and when he looked back the robot was back on its feet.

He smirked and immediately activated his gears’ skills.

The blade of the halberd was suddenly coated in a bright golden energy and it started heating up, becoming completely red and at the same time his armor glowed a faint blue.

He dashed forward,his speed doubling instantly as a faint blue trail was left behind him.

Holding his halberd firmly,he thrusted forward, using the momentum of his run up to power his attack. The now activated halberd thrust into the chest of the robot, this time going through completely.

As soon as the blade entered the robot,it immediately started to heat up even more, glowing intensely before suddenly exploding in the robot’s body.

Breathing heavily, Maximilian pulled out the pristine blade of his halberd out of the robot and watched it fall to the ground, twitching and turning but too damaged to be effective.

He took a few more seconds to properly destroy it before walking back to Ava.

"Done"

"Two minutes, thirty seconds"

"W... what?"

"You said ONE minute. And took more than double that time"

"Right,i-"

"Blue’s in that condition because of you"

Maximilian stopped for a second. Was that what this was about? Although he didn’t hear any emotion from her tone, he could tell she was distressed.

’I guess the bird is special to her. Kinda like him’

"Sorry. It was an inaccurate estimation"

Ava sighed. Not pursuing the matter anymore.

"Don’t worry about the b... Blue. Black won’t do anything to it. It’s not very violent and quite helpful too"

Ava didn’t say anything to that but she seemed placated... for now.

She pulled out her screen again and went back to work on the broadcast.

"Let’s go"

She said as she started walking away, her eyes and hands still focused on the screen.

Not asking any stupid questions, Maximilian followed. He didn’t know where she was going, but she was their best chance at getting help, and the additional effect of her ability when dealing with these robots was priceless.

In combat he could only match these things, maybe slightly outclass them, but with her he could absolutely dominate any robot. He wasn’t willing to let go of an asset like that just yet. If it meant he had to play bodyguard,no problem.

He just hoped everyone else was okay