The Thirteen Knight

Chapter 20- The Heart of the Machine

The "Aethelgard Chassis" smelled like wet dog, ozone, and old blood.

I was waist-deep in the open chest cavity of the twelve-foot mechanical monstrosity, boots slipping on hydraulic fluid. Professor Kael called it a breakthrough. I called it an abomination.

It was crude. Unlike the sleek, liquid metal of the Apostate Armor, the Chassis was a brute. It was bolted together with heavy iron rivets and scavenged steel plates. The "muscles" underneath were harvested demon sinew, chemically treated and stapled onto a steel endoskeleton.

It was a corpse puppet. And I was the janitor inside its ribcage.

"Pressure readings?" Kael’s voice drifted down from the control deck, clinical and cold.

"Holding at ninety percent," I called back, wiping grease from my forehead. "But the demon biology is rejecting the steel grafts. The seals are weeping."

"It will hold," Kael dismissed. "Prepare for insertion."

My stomach tightened. This was the part I had been dreading.

I climbed out of the chest cavity and dropped to the floor. The blast doors at the back of the lab hissed open. Two security golems floated in, carrying a heavy lead chest. They set it down on the central table and immediately retreated, sensors flashing red warnings.

Kael walked down the stairs, wearing a heavy lead-lined apron and thick goggles.

"Clear the floor," he ordered the other assistants. "Everyone behind the blast shields. Except you, Mr. Royce."

The assistants scrambled for safety. They knew what was in the box.

I stood alone in the center of the room.

"Open it, Chase," Kael said softly.

I walked to the chest and undid the latches. Click. Click.

I threw the lid back.

A wave of dry, suffocating heat washed over me. Inside, suspended in a stasis field, was a heart. It was the size of a basketball, black and glistening, pulsing with a slow, heavy rhythm. Veins of magma-orange light throbbed beneath the surface.

"The heart of a Wrathguard," Kael whispered over the speakers. "A biological reactor. The radiation creates a mana-vacuum that boils the blood of any mage who touches it. That is why you must install it."

He pointed to the open chest of the Chassis. "Do not drop it."

I looked at the heart. They were trying to hot-wire a demon engine with spare parts.

I reached into the box.

The moment my fingers brushed the surface, a shockwave went up my arm.

It wasn't pain. It was recognition.

The dormant fibers of the Apostate integration in my left arm woke up. They didn't need the Drive to sense this. They sensed the Wrathguard energy.

PREY.

The voice in my head was a low growl. The Apostate Knight didn't fear this heart. It wanted to eat it.

My hand trembled. The black veins under my skin started to itch, threatening to rise. I clamped down on the urge, visualizing a steel wall in my mind. Stay dead.

I lifted the heart. It was warm and slimy, pulsating against my palms. I walked to the suit, fighting the parasite in my arm every step of the way.

I shoved the heart into the wet housing of the Chassis.

Squelch.

"Connect the clamps!" Kael shouted.

I forced the heavy iron clamps over the arteries, locking them into the fuel lines. Snap.

"Done!" I yelled, backing away.

"Initiating interface," Kael announced, slamming a lever.

The room hummed. Arcs of electricity jumped to the suit. The Chassis convulsed. The orange veins in the artificial muscles lit up, flooding the room with eerie amber light. The massive metal head jerked upward, emitting a low, mechanical moan.

"Stabilizing," Kael noted. "Remarkable. The Null interface allows for a clean connection."

I wiped sweat from my eyes. It was working.

Suddenly, the lab doors slid open.

"Professor Kael."

I froze. Sylvia walked in. She was wearing her white Student Council uniform, holding a clipboard. Her silver hair was tied back severely.

Kael didn't look up. "This is a restricted zone, Miss Nightshade."

"The Council requires a progress report," Sylvia said, scanning the room. She saw the massive, twitching robot. "By the Light... is that it?"

"It is," Kael said. "And it is alive."

Sylvia’s gaze drifted down and found me. I was covered in grease and demon ichor.

"Chase?" She stepped past the yellow hazard line.

"Stop!" Kael barked. "The radiation field is active!"

Sylvia froze ten feet away. "He's inside the field," she whispered. "Chase, get out!"

"I'm fine," I said, forcing a casual smile. "Zero, remember? No mana to boil."

She looked at me with horror. "That doesn't mean it's safe."

K-CHUNK.

The robot lurched violently. A siren blared.

"Surge detected!" Kael shouted. "The regulator valve is stuck!"

The Chassis roared—a sound of tearing metal. The massive right arm swung up, spasming. The main arterial line on the chest bulged. It was going to burst and spray boiling demonic acid everywhere.

Right at Sylvia.

"Get back!" I shouted.

I didn't think. I jumped back onto the chassis, climbing the leg like a monkey.

"Mr. Royce, get down!"

I reached the chest cavity. The regulator valve was jammed tight. It was a rusted manual wheel. I grabbed it with my left hand.

The pressure was immense. A normal human couldn't turn it.

Just a little, I pleaded with the monster in my blood. Just give me the strength.

I let a tiny sliver of the Apostate's power bleed into my grip. My veins burned. The metal groaned.

CREAK.

I forced the wheel to turn. I cranked it hard, shutting off the flow.

The robot shuddered and slumped forward. The roaring stopped.

I leaned against the cold metal, gasping, quickly shaking my hand to disperse the tension before anyone saw the tremor.

"Valve closed," I wheezed.

Kael was staring at me from the balcony. His expression was calculation.

"That valve requires four hundred pounds of torque to turn manually," he muttered.

"I... I used a wrench for leverage," I lied, tapping my belt. "Physics, sir."

Kael narrowed his eyes but nodded slowly. "Physics. Indeed."

I climbed down. Sylvia rushed forward as the green light flashed. She grabbed my arm.

"Are you insane?" she hissed. "You could have been crushed."

"I couldn't let it spray you."

She stopped. She looked at my face, searching. For a second, I thought she saw the Knight behind my eyes. Then she sighed, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe a smear of oil from my cheek.

"Be careful," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Vane is watching this project. And she's watching you."

"I know."

"No, you don't," she breathed. "She has footage of the Knight from the courtyard. She's running gait analysis."

My blood ran cold. "Gait analysis?"

"She's comparing movement patterns to the student body," Sylvia warned. "She's looking for a limp. Or a favor for the left hand. Or a specific way of ducking."

She stepped back, her professional mask sliding back into place as Kael approached.

"Good work, Cadet Royce. Report for decontamination."

She turned to Kael. "The Council expects a full safety review."

She spun and marched out.

"Mr. Royce," Kael called out. He was smiling a terrifying, thin smile. "Excellent work. You saved the asset. Prepare the Chassis for Phase Two tomorrow. We're going to weaponize it."

I nodded and walked toward the showers.

As I scrubbed the filth off my skin, I looked at my left arm in the mirror. The black veins were pulsing faintly.

Vane was analyzing movement patterns.

I looked at how I was standing. Weight on my right leg. Left shoulder dipped. It was the same stance the Knight used.

I had to change. I had to relearn how to walk, how to move, how to stand. I had to become a stranger to my own body.

Because if I didn't, the next time I walked into this lab, Vane wouldn't just be watching. She'd be waiting.