Aetheral Space

Chapter 236:9.27: Freedom

Item was recovered attempting to traverse the Vilersian Sea, believed to be heading to local fishing settlements -- intentions presumed hostile based on its response to retrieval craft.

Sixteen retrieval personnel killed, nineteen more severely injured. Item was finally disabled via long-range attack applied by Retrieval Specialist Mirko.

Analysis of the recovered item shows critical damage to exterior systems. In addition, the design of its attack limbs is heavily outdated, and requires retrofitting.

Current estimate is a six month timeline for repair, retrofitting, and reprogramming.

Acquisition Log - "Hierophant"

The Hierophant engaged.

Target was a male human estimated 40-50, wearing a green long coat. Length of coat could be used to confuse sensors or conceal weaponry. Noted. Target was not in possession of any visible weaponry. Noted.

Estimated time to victory: 0.5 seconds.

The Hierophant lashed out with arms L2 and R2, striking the spot where Target had been standing in 0.5 seconds. Accuracy had been reduced due to speed of attack, but simulations suggested that the attacks should hit all the same.

Correcting… neither arm had made contact with Target.

The Hierophant

Alarm stabbed him in the back of the head.

Three of the arms were coming at him simultaneously from three different directions, preemptively positioned to cut off his escape route. He was willing to bet a fourth arm was incoming from his blind spot, too, and that was the one intended to deliver the killing blow. He’d been so preoccupied with the culmination of the Hierophant’s strategy that he’d neglected the dirty tricks it would try in the meantime.

Dodging wasn’t an option.

Heartbeat Landmine.

Sound exploded around him, destroying the hands that came for him -- but the liquid metal froze and hardened mid-splatter, the arms retreating as their hands returned to normal.

A second later, as if nothing had happened, they resumed their normal assault. Realization dawned: that hadn’t been a killing blow at all.

The Hierophant was tricking him into showing off his capabilities.

Omnidirectional shockwave confirmed. It was now understood. The Hierophant adjusted its tactics to compensate.

If Target was capable of an attack like that, cornering him would not be an effective strategy. No matter how many arms came for him at once, he could deflect them simultaneously. Information on the shockwave attack was unclear. Was it a single attack with an opening that could be taken advantage of, or could he unleash it continuously?

Current circumstances made testing the specifications of the move impractical.

Resources available to the Hierophant were as follows: five liquid metal arms, on-board autobrain, rubble, severed and inactive liquid metal arm, and Target. Target could unleash blasts of solid sound, but that did not necessarily mean the Hierophant could not take advantage of their existence.

It took 0.9 seconds to formulate a way to do so. First, it would need to create a false opening.

There.

In the monotonous pattern of arms striking at him, Skipper saw a clear window through which he could strike at the Hierophant’s main body. Flipping over a blow from a spiked mace, he pointed his finger at the target.

Wait.

This was too easy.

The Hierophant was no human fighter. It was a machine with an autobrain, designed to pursue the optimal path to victory. It wasn’t capable of making such stupid mistakes as this. The emotion and fatigue that bred mistakes didn’t exist within its programming.

This was a trap. It wanted him to fire his Heartbeat Shotgun for some reason.

Well… he wasn’t one to disappoint.

Skipper fired his Heartbeat Shotgun into the opening -- and at the same time, he released a continuous Heartbeat Landmine, repelling any limbs that might have tried to take advantage of his own opening.

The Shotgun surged forwards, visible only from a stray spark of emerald Aether --

-- and the Hierophant seized it out of the air.

Strategy successful. It was understood.

Arm L3 had been shifted into something like an ice cream scoop, sufficient to intercept the incoming sound attack -- and then, once it met, to seal itself into a hollow sphere, forcing the sound to bounce around inside it’s confines.

Rudimentary speakers within the inside of the sphere amplified the sound as it bounced, the attack growing more and more powerful -- dents appearing in the liquid metal as it attempted to escape. The Hierophant waited three seconds for the power of the sound to reach maximum levels --

-- and then it released it, sending the blast right back at Target.

Estimated time to victory: seven seconds.

The sound was deafening, followed by a ringing of the ears -- but the impact of the blast was somehow even worse.

Skipper felt ribs crack as the attack brushed by him, instantly shattering his prosthetic arm into shards of useless metal and plastic. The skin on one side of his face was scraped away, leaving him bloody -- and he only just managed to avoid being blinded on that side with some quick application of Aether.

What had happened?

The Hierophant had caught his Heartbeat Shotgun, amplified it, then thrown it right back at him. Skipper had judged incorrectly: it hadn’t been trying to create an opening on his part, but to send his attack right back at him, even stronger.

Just like Dragan’s Gemini Shotgun. Skipper chuckled briefly -- and then he hit the floor.

The arms came down, eager to crush him, and Skipper fired blasts out of the soles of his feet, causing him to slide across the room’s smooth surface. Debris and dust rained down from the blows that rained down on the floor, but Skipper was in no position to avoid them. He heard something crunch as a shard of concrete struck his leg at devastating speeds.

What the hell was this? It was making a fool out of him.

He reached the wall and tried to stand up -- only to falter, as he realized his leg was broken. Damn it, damn it, damn it. This was embarrassing as hell.

He hadn’t wanted to use this on such a lame enemy.

The Hierophant’s arms lashed at him as one, ready to deliver the killing blow. If he fired his Shotgun, they would send it back. If he used his Bayonet, they would block it. He had no doubt it had a countermeasure against Landmine, now, too.

Well, he had another trick in his bag. One he hadn’t shown off before.

Green feathers, transparent like glass, glinted across the room -- where Skipper had been planting them as he dodged. Emerald Aether sparked across their surface as they activated. The air seemed to hold its own breath.

Countless blades protruded from the liquid metal arms, growing large in his vision, slowed down by focus and adrenaline.

This thing was built to take apart Gene Tyrants. Skipper grinned, blood on his teeth.

Don’t compare me to some little Gene Tyrant.

Heartbeat Freedom.

Estimated time to victory: imminent.

Correction: no attacks had made contact.

The Hierophant retracted its arms, looking at the ruined crater where Target had been lying. There was no sign of him. The blood that was there was what he had already bled -- no new damage dealt. This did not follow. Based on Target’s capabilities, he should have been unable to avoid that attack.

The Hierophant checked its memory, and found no clarification. Target had been there, and then he hadn’t. Had he moved with such speed that not even the Hierophant’s sensors could perceive it?

The Hierophant retreated to the center of the room, hands morphing into shields to defend itself with --

Arm L1 disabled. The Hierophant looked down to it, to the control unit torn in two on the floor. The liquid metal slopped down a second later. The attack had been so quick that the polymorph had taken a moment to register --

Arm L2 disabled. The Hierophant scanned. Something incredibly fast was moving, a green blur with extreme capabilities --

Arm L3 disabled. The Hierophant lashed out with its two remaining arms, forming a barrier of strikes around itse --

Arm R1 disabled.

Arm R2 disabled. The Hierophant spotted Target, flying above, visible for a moment. Green Aether had coalesced over his shoulders, forming a shape like the wings of an eagle, cracking around him like a thunderstorm.

Target reacquired. Error: no means to attack target. Recommend retreating to a safe distance and --

Target lost.

Damage sustained.

Damage sustained.

Damage sustained.

Damage sustained.

Damage sustained.

Damage sustained.

Estimated time to victory... error. Victory not possible.

It was not understood.

Shutting down…

Skipper let out a deep breath, rising gingerly on his good leg, using a chunk of scrap as a makeshift crutch.

The Hierophant was broken like an egg. Its liquid metal limbs spread uselessly across the floor, like slime, and its electronic innards spilled out of its shattered form. Sparks of electricity illuminated the space around it.

Seemed like a hell of a repair job. At the very least, he’d managed to confirm that Heartbeat Freedom -- the thing that would balance the scales against the Supreme -- worked.

"Now," he called out to the room. "How about we get down to business?"

For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Then…

"Very well," the Apexbishop growled. "Join us in the Garden."