Chapter 34: Reaper’s Ascension

Jax had forced his way to the necropolis, with many of his slaves already dead after fighting through the swarms of undead zombies and skeletons. Still, they managed to breach the necropolis easily, since the giant Mecha Argus was gone.

He only needed to reach the center. Jax and his remaining slaves readied their weapons as they charged forward, the sound of Gunfire ringing as they pushed deeper into the massive undead structure.

At last, they reached the heart of the necropolis — a vast chamber where, floating above, waited the Mecha Reaper: a cursed armor of metal bones wielding a scythe in one hand. It noticed Jax and the few slaves that remained, then dove down into the center of the chamber, scythe raised high. Jax activated the device, trying to gain control, but the process took longer than expected. Desperate, he ordered the last of the slaves to attack the mecha Reaper while he continued hacking into the cursed armor.

One by one, the slaves fell, their bodies torn apart and scattered across the floor. The Mecha Reaper turned on Jax and swung down — only to halt inches from his face as control finally shifted. Jax had succeeded. The Mecha Reaper was his.

At last, he could claim the strength of a true hero, the strength he believed he deserved. With his magnetism, he drew the Reaper’s body above him and let it descend. The cursed armor adjusted to his size, the bones forming around him until he was fully enclosed.

He manipulated the right arm to twist and reshape itself, replacing the limb he had lost. When his hand closed around the Mecha Reaper’s scythe, Jax felt the surge of power he had always longed for.

Then there was a crash from outside as the necropolis shook. Jax thought, That annoying hero must be here now. Let’s see what she can do against these.

He checked out what this Mecha Reaper armor could create, and then he smiled as he saw something really interesting. He slammed down his Reaper’s scythe and called out mechas to be created: Mecha Cerberus, Mecha Anubis, Mecha Oni, Mecha Vampire.

He watched as they started to form and be created, then ordered, “Go deal with the intruder. Allow no entry into this place.” Jax grinned as he looked at the last thing he could create, but it would take time, as he called out its creation: Mecha Bone Dragon. As he concentrated, the Mecha Bone Dragon slowly pieced itself together one piece at a time while a battle started to rage above.

Rachel was speeding towards the necropolis on a motorcycle that was still in good condition, rushing full speed across the undead wasteland. She passed countless destroyed vehicles and countless bodies of the enslaved city folk that had died forcing their way towards the towering necropolis.

As it came into sight, Rachel noticed a wall of undead blocking her path, but she had just the thing prepared for this. She pushed the motorcycle to full speed, then activated the newly acquired thruster on her back, boosting her speed even more.

She leapt from the motorcycle, using all the speed and momentum, and released Mecha Argus’s head from her mimic’s storage, freeing its space completely. The Mecha Argus head rolled forward with tremendous speed, crushing a giant path through all the undead until it crashed into the side of the necropolis, causing the massive structure to shake and crumble.

Rachel turned and activated her back thruster, slowing her momentum as she safely landed on the ground, but she didn’t stop. Before hitting the ground her full armor appeared, now looking more sinister than ever as blood moved within the gaps of her armor and along her cursed blade. The blade had a blood-red edge as it emitted a bloody aura.

She sprinted forward, slashing at the swarming undead, fighting fully powered just like she used to back with her mother. Each swing brought down many mecha undead, but they continued to swarm her.

She then used one of her many blood attacks from Hex’s arsenal of skills: Bloody Nova. Rachel spun as she swung the sword, and a sharp burst of blood expanded in all directions, bisecting all the mecha zombies and skeletons, sending them collapsing to the ground as she crushed their remains under her boot and proceeded forward.

As she got closer to the necropolis stronger mech undead emerged as Mecha Draugr appeared, blocking Rachel’s path with their shields and swords.

ZeroOne echoed out urgently, “Behind you!” But the mecha was too fast; Rachel couldn’t respond in time and was struck, sent flying into the Mecha Draugr, slamming against their shields.

Then ZeroOne chimed in, “Whatever hit you drained our energy a bit. We cannot let that mecha touch us.”

But Rachel had no time to worry about that now. A giant executioner blade was headed straight for her.

Rachel activated her thruster engine, blasting her out of the massive blade’s path as it crashed into the ground where she had just been.

She activated her mecha claw and dug into the ground as she got to one knee, seeing a giant mecha three-headed dog with mouths full of flames. It released a burst of fire at Rachel, but she called out another of Hex’s powers: Blood Shield. A barrier of blood protected her from the flames until a giant club crashed into the blood barrier, causing it to pop like a water balloon, sending blood spraying in all directions as the shockwave sent her flying back.

She stood up, weapon ready, as the towering mechas blocked her path. Then ZeroOne echoed in, “In the lab, there was a list of creatures that the Reaper could summon in the game. Seems like Jax must have already attained his power if they have been created.”

“What are they capable of?” Rachel asked.

ZeroOne continued, “The Mecha Cerberus can shoot fire and is really dangerous head-on. The Mecha Anubis is extremely fast and can reform any mecha that get destroyed near it. The Mecha Oni is just extremely strong, as you just felt firsthand. And the Mecha Vampire is the one we must deal with first, as it can drain our energy with just a touch.”

“Alright,” Rachel said as she looked at the Mecha Vampire. “Let’s do this.”

She then entered into Deep Dive as she was surrounded by Hex and ZeroOne. Hex spoke, “There isn’t much blood left, so make sure you use it wisely.”

Rachel, with a determined look, glanced at the mechas in front of her, then activated her energy hook and thrusters, blasting forward. Once within range, she activated another of Hex’s abilities: Blood Mist. A mist of blood covered the area, restricting the mechas’ view of her.

She pierced the cloud with her cursed blade raised high, slashing down onto the Mecha Vampire. But something felt wrong — there was no resistance. The cursed blade cut through as if nothing was there, and the cut was gone. Then the Mecha Vampire grabbed the blade and punched Rachel hard, sending her stumbling back.

More of her energy gone, the Mecha Cerberus then pounced onto Rachel, but she energy-hooked away, shooting her hook at the charging Oni’s club, using it as a slingshot. She wrapped around it and flung herself back at the Vampire, testing a combo she had thought up on the way here.

She pulled the trigger on the cursed blade as she headed straight for the Mecha Vampire and swung the blade as many times as she could, sending out cursed beam slashes and blood slashes together, causing double the attacks. The slashes flew toward the Mecha Vampire, creating a net of energy and blood. The Mecha Vampire couldn’t avoid it, and all the attacks hit — but they easily passed through, as if it were unkillable.

Rachel then energy-hooked away to safety and spoke to ZeroOne. “What’s the deal with this Mecha Vampire?”

ZeroOne replied, “My analysis suggests that its body is made of millions, if not more, of nanites that form its body. Inside is a moving core that avoids our attacks by dodging them from within. We need to kill off as many nanites as we can so it cannot hide its moving core.”

The Mecha Oni charged at Rachel as the Mecha Anubis used its speed to get behind her. They both swung down at her, but she was able to avoid it — though not the pounce of the Cerberus coming from the side. But then the sound of an energy beam firing was heard. It hit one of the Mecha Cerberus’s heads, blowing a hole in it and causing it to tumble to the ground. That gave Rachel enough time to energy-hook away.

She looked to find where the shot came from, and in the sky were two burning phoenix wings. Attached to them was Liz, who looked like a cyborg as her forearms and from her feet to her thighs were covered by mecha parts with a blue visor that was attached to a head guard that attached to her ears with a relieved smile, as she had made it just in time.