Episode 11.Interlude - Boys War

“Take that, you big ugly tin can, I never did like Doctor W– Friggin’ censor man, don’t interrupt my one-liner!!” I yell as my longsword finally cuts through the drone’s armour and pierces its core. Immediately, I have to raise my shield, reinforced with some scrap sci-fi metal left over from the turrets; it manages to block an incoming blast from a second drone.

It's a big shield; it has to be to cover the width of muscle my avatar has. One a bit shorter and a bit less buff would make it easier to armour myself and simpler to move - a thought like that makes me smile. I brace my shoulder against the shield and, slowly, carefully, for now is no time for clumsiness, pace my way over to the drone.

It fires twice more, beginning to back away from me a bit too late. Both blasts bonk against the shield with a terrific force, but I don’t let up until I’m close enough to lurch out with my sword.    

Not long ago, a thought like that about my body, a suggestion from Lila, would have had me lashing out impudently. Heh, I really have been a useless twat, haven’t I? But I want to be better than that. I want to be useful.

I’m not sure if I can. I worry so much about how I’m being left behind. I can’t cast magic, I’m still just Tier 1, my ‘fighting style’ is driving this chain-longsword into the drone’s armour as hard as I can, over and over and relying on my shield to block its retaliations - a downright barbaric, primitive violence of the least coordinated kind, nothing like what the others are pulling off.    

Even so, eventually my blade, the one Flint made for me, pierces through its armour, while the shield Lila gifted me keeps my oversized body safe.

Maybe I can’t keep up with them. If anything, I’m pretty sure some day they will leave me behind completely - that day could be years from now or it could be today - but until that moment, until the last second when Ko and Eshu finally tell me to piss off - I’m going to keep on trying. It's the first thing in my miserable life I’ve ever worked so hard on after all!

My sword pierces the drone's crystal, and its cannon falls limp at last. I look up at the next wave on its way, “Bring it on, asshats!”

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“Ha, Ha! Haaaa!” I roar as my vibrating blade cleaves deep into a drone’s rounded midsection. My narrow sword cuts and cuts so tightly that it might as well be Belmont's whip; it gashes deep over and over, tearing out machine parts with every draw until finally I see that all-important sparkle.
    Without hesitation, I ram the nozzle of my rifle in and pull the trigger for three quick bursts that easily penetrate the last layer of defences. The glorious sound of glass shattering follows, of a power crystal, of its heart failing.

“Yeeeeeeehaw!” I shout, roughly kicking away the now inert shell of the felled drone. I do a quick sweep around me, but there's no more getting through just yet. Looking up along the fort’s length, I can see that cat girl with the white hair, Ko, plunge her claws into another enemy. In the other direction, the skeleton gent bisects a drone. His strength is borderline annoying to me, but I can’t help but respect his efficiency.

 “Any more, Lila?”

“Take it easy some, Mike,” the demon laughs gratingly.
      Her magic has instantly killed multiple flying squads now; it's insanely powerful, this whole setup is! The ring of turrets, the shield to block the enemy's fire but let out ours, and her collection of high-level 'units'.
     
For just a moment, I wonder if it isn’t the drones who are the underdogs here; they might have aggressive numbers, but their simplistic programming is leading them to fall so thoroughly for this plan. People, or even just proper NPCs, would have realised by now that it would be better to retreat and regroup, but their route mapping refuses them that freedom.

It is just for a moment I think that, a second before my mind regains sanity, before I stare at my reflection in the burnt armour of one, in horror for even feeling the slightest pang of something akin to sympathy for the ones that turned this world into what it is, for the ones that hunted me for months, that killed my dear Epona.

“Two coming in on the right,” Lila calls. Before I can scorn myself any further, I grin.

It feels good, chain-sword in my right hand, rifle in my left, it feels right to hunt, to watch these bastards throwing themselves pointlessly at us, to watch so many of them fall, to cut them down with my own two hands. I dare say, chaps, I don’t think I’ve ever felt better!

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