Chapter 25: Wings of Fire, Heart of Steel

Eldon, Liz, and Rachel sat in the cave as Eldon asked, “So, can you start from the beginning on what happened, miss?”

A woman stepped forward. “Oh… my name is Kelly. I ran the tavern in the city. Well, I only know what I heard around the tavern, but after Liz split ways with Jax, he headed into the undead wastelands. That’s the only way to reach Land’s Edge City, where you can then try to take a boat to cross the continent and reach the Demon Lord’s domain. He went out and tried to cross the undead wastelands with some volunteers. They armed themselves and set out, but only Jax returned—alone, weak, and bloodied.”

“I would find him in the tavern, dead drunk or always screaming out loud about how it wasn’t fair that his hero power drained his strength too quickly, so he was forced to rely on the natural-born powers of his race.”

“Then, a few days later, he set out again—this time with a bigger group of volunteers—only to return once more, beaten, starving, and slowly dying.”

“The doctors were able to save his life. Once he recovered, he tried to gather more volunteers, but no one would follow him anymore after he kept returning alone. Then he burst out in anger at everyone in the city. He packed up his belongings and headed east, out of the city, alone.”

“Only to return weeks later. But something was different—his confidence had returned. Shortly after arriving, he gathered supplies and headed back into the undead wastelands, only to return a few days later with the Mecha Argus, the guardian of the Necropolis. Argus was chasing him as he lured it into the city, where it went on a rampage.”

“From there, we fled west with the children and headed into the mountains to wait it out. But then we heard screeching and were attacked by a Mecha Phoenix. We’ve been hiding here, waiting for it to go away, but so far it hasn’t left the area. We’ve been stuck here ever since.”

Liz curiously asked, “So what happened to Jax after the mecha Argus attacked?”

Kelly responded, “I don’t know. We were all in a hurry to flee. We didn’t even look back at what was happening in the city and we have been stuck here so we dont know if they were able to successfully repel mecha argus or not.”

Liz said, “Well, it looks like we only have one option. We need to kill the Mecha Phoenix and move ahead to Farsky City.”

Eldon then spoke, “But how is that possible? Our bullets had no effect on it.”

Liz smiled and said, “Then we just need to hit it with something a bit bigger that won’t melt instantly. But the bigger problem is luring it to the ground. We have a few tanks—their shells might work. We just need to get them out and ready before the mecha Phoenix cooks us inside them.”

Eldon spoke, “Then we just need to wait until night, sneak out, and place the tank in a good spot. I will stay here and watch over the women and children. I don’t want to get in the way.”

while everyone was finishing up their dinner, all full from the MRE rations Eldon had cooked for the group.

She pulled Rachel aside. “Alright, it’s time to go. Let’s sneak out quietly, so store your armor.”

With just a thought, Rachel was able to store the armor. She had been practicing with the mimic’s storage and had figured out she didn’t need to reach her hand inside—as long as she focused on what she wanted to remove or store, it would respond. The only limitation was that the item had to be in a close proximity to her.

They exited the small cave and crept around the area, keeping an eye on the mecha Phoenix above until Liz spotted a good place near some bushes where they positioned the first tank.

“Place it here,” Liz pointed. “Right behind these bushes so the Phoenix doesn’t notice it.”

“Alright,” Rachel nodded and stepped behind the bushes, removing the tank from her mimic’s storage and placing it down, hidden from the soaring mecha Phoenix above.

As they traveled up the hill, sneaking behind rocks and trying to stay in cover with the brightly glowing mecha Phoenix looming above them, Rachel was constantly swinging her arm—practicing summoning various items into her hand while in motion, trying to gain precise control over the mimic storage.

Liz spoke up, “Here is a good spot. Now let’s just hope you can get the mecha phoenix into the correct position.”

Rachel looked at the Mecha Phoenix and said, “If it’s as aggressive as it was yesterday, I don’t think we’ll have a problem. I just hope I don’t get charred in the process.”

She then asked, “Do you think you can reach this spot with your energy hook?”

Rachel looked at the distance and replied, “Yes, just be prepared. I hope you’ll be able to handle the full force of my energy hook with your body.”

Liz smirked. “No problem—it can’t be too bad, I hope…”

They then returned to the cave to finish their final preparations for the battle to come.

The sun was high above, glaring down on the dry mountains as Rachel stepped out from the cave. Her eyes locked onto the soaring Mecha Phoenix as she crouched behind a jagged rock, clutching a FIM-92 Stinger. She prepared it to fire, doing exactly as Liz had taught her the night before. Rachel aimed, waited for the lock, and fired.

The missile streaked upward, but as it struck the Mecha Phoenix’s blazing aura, it faltered, sputtered, and exploded midair. The blast caught the Mecha Phoenix’s attention. With a shriek of grinding metal and burning flame, the Mecha Phoenix dove, its beak opening to release a searing orb of fire.

Rachel moved her arm toward the nearest boulder, launching her energy hook. It latched on, dragging her clear just as the fireball slammed into the ground, vaporizing stone and leaving molten scars across the earth.

Heart pounding, Rachel sprinted across the jagged terrain, luring the Mecha Phoenix into a narrow canyon.

Finally, she reached the destination with the Mecha Phoenix looming just above her, readying for its next breath attack.

BOOM!

The tank fired as Liz’s homing skill took effect. The shell slammed into the Mecha Phoenix’s core, sending it reeling back as cracks spread across the glowing heart.

Forcing it to release its charged blast prematurely, the Mecha Phoenix missed Rachel and knocked her from her feet with the shockwave. She rolled, recovered, and dashed for the bushes.

Rachel ran to the tank as Liz hopped out. Grabbing her tight, Rachel launched her energy hook skyward as another fiery blast struck the vehicle.

The full force of the hook flung them into the air above the Mecha Phoenix, which briefly lost sight of them.

Twisting midair, Rachel shot her hook toward the second tank, dragging them down hard. Her boots skidded several feet across the dirt until she came to a stop beside it.

Liz, disoriented, stumbled into the tank as the Mecha Phoenix dove from below the canyon. Another BOOM rang out—the tank shell cracked its core further, sending the machine crashing into the rocky floor.

Its shattered wings flailed as it vented bursts of fire in all directions, flames that once shielded its core now spraying wildly.

Liz fumbled to reload, still dazed. Before she could finish, Rachel yanked her from the hatch just as a concentrated beam incinerated the tank.

Beams of fire lanced across the canyon, melting stone wherever they struck.

Rachel carried Liz to safety, then hooked onto the cliffs above the Mecha Phoenix. She released, letting gravity hurl her down. The Mecha Phoenix’s core flared, another blast charging—

—but a massive boulder appeared in front of Rachel, intercepting the beam.

The stone melted away, and from behind it Rachel swung down, empty-handed until suddenly a massive tank barrel materialized in her grip.

Momentum carried the strike, and she slammed it into the Mecha Phoenix’s core with an ear-splitting crunch of metal.

Both Rachel and the tank crashed to the ground. She rolled violently, her body bruised, until she forced herself upright.

The Mecha Phoenix still writhed, its core twitching with dying sparks.

Activating her Mecha Claw, Rachel stepped forward and with one brutal swing shredded the core’s head into ribbons of sparking metal. The light sputtered out.

In her mind, the familiar voice echoed:

Assimilation found. Energy Forge… Proceeding to assimilate parts…

Assimilation complete. Modifying cursed armor… Modification complete.

Assimilation finished.

Rachel glanced down as the tattered waistcloth she always wore dissolved into nothing. In its place shimmered a translucent black-and-red energy cloth flowing from her hips.

She returned to the cave with Liz, the Mecha Phoenix now destroyed, and sat down beside Liz.

Liz, looking pale and sick, groaned, “Give me a bucket.”

Rachel produced one from her mimic’s storage and handed it over.

“Well, I guess you don’t do well with high-speed movement,” Rachel remarked.

Liz, head buried in the bucket, echoing, “It was fine until you changed directions—that’s what got me. Blarg…”

Rachel sighed and focused on her helmet, trying to block out the unpleasant sounds of Liz emptying her insides.

“So what does this do?” Rachel asked ZeroOne.

ZeroOne’s voice answered inside her helmet. This increases the overall power of your armor and expands energy storage, while slowly restoring what has been lost.

“But what about the glowing cloth?” Rachel asked.

Once the Energy Forge is fully charged, it expels excess through exhaust ports on your waist. The energy manifests like your waistcloth, dispersing over time. Heavy expenditure will consume it until the forge recharges.

Eldon approached. “Alright, everything is good to go here. Now the both of you rest up a bit, and we will leave. Before it gets too late, let’s try to make it out of the mountain.”

The women and children gathered, ready to depart. They descended the winding paths eventually reaching a point where she could pull out vehicles for them to drive the rest of the way down the mountain.

Heading towards Far sky City—or what may be left of it.