The Thirteen Knight

Chapter 14- Critical Mass

The largest Scavenger Hound lunged.

It moved faster than a biological creature had any right to move. It was a blur of wet muscle and bone, closing the twenty-foot gap in a heartbeat. Its jaws, lined with serrated teeth, snapped shut where my head had been a fraction of a second ago.

But I wasn't there.

I had sidestepped. The Apostate Armor reacted to my neural impulse faster than my own muscles could fire. The demon fibers contracted, pulling me to the left with a violent jerk of speed.

I didn't just dodge. I countered.

As the Hound flew past me, I drove my right fist into its exposed ribs.

CRACK.

The sound was sickeningly loud. My armored fist, amplified by the hydraulic pressure of the suit, punched through the creature's ribcage like it was wet cardboard.

The Hound yelped, a high-pitched sound that ended abruptly as it slammed into the canyon wall. It didn't get up.

"One," I counted.

My HUD flickered.

Power Level: 12%.

That single punch had cost me three percent. The stabilization chip was working, keeping the energy flow smooth, but the consumption rate was insane. The suit was hungry, and the Type-4 crystal was nothing but a light snack.

The other two Hounds didn't attack immediately. They circled me, their eyeless heads bobbing low to the ground. They were learning. They realized I wasn't prey. I was a rival predator.

The Alpha, the one with the glowing green core pulsing in its chest, let out a low, rattling growl. It was bigger than the others, its skin covered in thick, bone-like plating.

It knew I wanted the core.

"Come on," I taunted, holding my hands up. "I don't have all day."

The smaller Hound attacked from the flank, trying to bite my leg.

I kicked out. The metal greaves on my shin connected with its skull. It spun away, dazed but not dead.

Simultaneously, the Alpha charged. It didn't bite. It rammed me.

It hit me like a truck. The impact lifted me off my feet and slammed me into the dirt. The breath left my lungs.

Warning: Kinetic Shield Failure. Armor Integrity at 85%.

The suit absorbed most of the force, but the shockwave still rattled my teeth. The Alpha was on top of me instantly, its claws digging into the black chitin of my chest plate. It was trying to pry me open like a clam.

I grabbed its throat with both hands.

The suit whined. The red lines on my armor flared as I pushed back against the monster's weight.

It was a contest of strength. Demon muscle against demon machine.

Power Level: 8%.

I couldn't win a wrestling match. I had to end this.

I released my grip on its throat with my right hand and reached down to my belt. I pulled out the hydraulic pipe cutter I had brought from the workshop. It wasn't a weapon, but in this world, everything was a weapon if you swung it hard enough.

I jammed the cutter into the soft spot under the Alpha's armpit.

I pulled the trigger. The jaws clamped down, shearing through muscle and tendon.

The Alpha shrieked. It reared back, releasing me.

I scrambled to my feet.

Power Level: 5%.

"Critical," the suit's voice whispered in my ear. "System shutdown imminent."

The Alpha was wounded, bleeding black ichor, but it was still standing. The green core in its chest was pulsing wildly, fueled by its rage.

I didn't have enough power for another fight. If the suit died now, the demon fibers would lock up, trapping me inside a heavy metal coffin while these things ate me alive.

I had to gamble.

I sprinted toward the Alpha.

It swiped at me with its good arm. I ducked under the claw, sliding on my knees across the gravel.

I popped up right in front of it. face to face.

I didn't punch. I grabbed the bone ridges around its chest cavity. I dug my metal fingers in, anchoring myself to the beast.

Power Level: 2%.

"Sorry," I grunted. "I need that."

I plunged my hand into its open wound, reaching through the torn muscle. My fingers closed around the hot, vibrating surface of the Demon Core.

The Alpha roared and bit down on my shoulder. The armor crunched. The pain was sharp, a hot needle stabbing into my trapezius.

I screamed and pulled.

With a wet, sucking sound, the green core tore loose.

The Alpha went rigid. Its power source was gone. It collapsed on top of me, a thousand pounds of dead weight.

Power Level: 0%.

The red lights on my suit died. The HUD vanished. The fibers seized, locking my limbs in place.

I was trapped under the corpse.

I lay there in the dark, unable to move, listening to the silence.

Then I heard scratching.

The third Hound. The one I had kicked. It was coming back.

It approached slowly, sniffing. It smelled the blood. It smelled the weakness.

I couldn't move my arms. I couldn't move my legs. I was a statue.

But my right hand was still clutching the stolen green core.

The Hound growled, right next to my ear. I could feel its hot breath on my helmet. It was going to tear my throat out.

I had one move left.

My right arm was pinned against my chest, the wrist socket of the bracer just inches away from my hand.

I strained against the dead weight of the suit. I forced my fingers to move.

I jammed the raw green core against the socket.

It didn't click in. It wasn't shaped right. It was a jagged, organic lump.

But the Apostate Bracer didn't care about shapes. It cared about contact.

The moment the raw core touched the connector, the world turned white.

CRITICAL SURGE.

There was no warm-up. No slow boot sequence.

The energy slammed into the suit like a lightning bolt. It was wild. Chaotic. It tasted like copper and battery acid.

The suit didn't just wake up. It screamed.

The red lines on the armor turned a blinding, toxic green.

The dead weight of the Alpha on top of me was blasted away by a shockwave of pure kinetic force.

I stood up. Or rather, the suit stood me up.

I felt light. Weightless. The raw core was pumping so much power into the fibers that they were vibrating, blurring the air around me.

The third Hound froze. It looked at me.

I looked at my hands. They were glowing green, steam hissing from the vents.

"Run," I said.

The voice modulator was distorted, deeper, laced with static.

The Hound didn't run. It leaped.

I caught it in mid-air.

I didn't even brace myself. I just reached out and grabbed it by the skull. The suit's strength was off the charts. It felt like I was holding a stuffed animal.

I squeezed.

There was a crunch. The Hound went limp.

I dropped it.

Silence returned to the pit.

I stood there, panting, the green light illuminating the carnage. My shoulder throbbed where the Alpha had bitten me, but the pain felt distant, numbed by the adrenaline and the demon energy coursing through the suit.

I looked down at my chest. The raw core was jammed awkwardly against the socket, held in place by the magnetized clamps I had hurriedly engaged. It was ugly. It was dangerous.

It was perfect.

Power Level: 200% (Unstable).

"Stabilize," I commanded the chip.

The Mythril regulator worked overtime. I could feel the heat radiating from it as it fought to tame the wild energy. Slowly, the blinding green glow settled into a steady, pulsing emerald light.

I checked the time. The whole fight had taken less than three minutes.

I walked over to the Alpha's corpse. I used my cutter to remove a few of its largest teeth and the bone plating from its shoulders. Randar would want these.

Then I climbed out of the pit.

The climb was easy. With the new core, I didn't just climb; I jumped. I bounded up the cliff face in three massive leaps, landing back on the concrete platform of Outpost 9.

I walked to the sensor array.

The repair was simple. A fuse had blown, likely from a nearby lightning strike. I replaced it in ten seconds.

The sensor light turned green.

"Job done," I whispered.

I walked back to the heavy crawler and climbed into the cab. I retracted the suit, but this time, I was careful.

When the armor peeled back, my skin was smoking slightly. The veins in my arm were dark, standing out against my pale skin.

The raw core was powerful, but it was toxic. The Mythril chip protected me from the worst of it, but I couldn't wear this thing for long periods. Not yet.

I wrapped the green core in a lead cloth and shoved it deep into my bag.

I started the engine.

I had the battery. I had the upgrades.

Chase Royce was done playing with toys. Now, I had a weapon of mass destruction in my backpack.

And I had a feeling I was going to need it sooner than I thought.