Chapter 164 - Machinations

Kyle was about to slaughter the remaining Demons when he suddenly realized something strange. No kill message? Alarm bells rang in his head as he instinctively raised his spear, the shaft blocking a strange tendril of meat extending out of the commander's exploded chest that slammed right into him.

"What...what the fuck?!" One of the newer Demon recruits exclaimed in horror as he watched the commander's corpse shred apart, revealing a throbbing, gruesome blob of meat that crawled out of the stomach. Tiny, slender appendages all along the surface of the blob retracted like loose cables from various parts of the corpse, the tips of the cable as sharp as spikes.

The recruit tried to run, but the meatball suddenly lunged at him, the spikes extending and piercing his shoulders and knees. Before he could scream, the ball dragged itself toward the stomach, the other spikes digging deep into the stomach and ripping apart like a piece of paper. It lodged itself in the stomach within a second, absorbing the intestines and other organs into its own material while the recruit jerked erratically, his eyes rolling backward.

Kyle didn't wait around any longer, having seen enough to know what he was dealing with. He immediately rushed towards the convulsing recruit, intending to kill the abomination in one shot. However, the other more experienced Demons instantly attacked him, hardly fazed by the strange occurrence and blocking his path. Still, they were just regular humans, hardly a match for Kyle's exosuit. With a flurry of stabs and swings, Kyle easily sundered his way through the defending Demons, beheading and lobbing off limbs one by one.

[Sir, we can't get past the arcia flames!] Niko exclaimed over the radio.

"Focus on the other spires, I'll handle the commander. We only have a moment before the rest of the Demons return with the reinforcements!" Kyle ordered. Just as he finally reached the convulsing recruit, three spiky flesh tendrils lunged towards him, forcing Kyle to take a step back and dodge out of the way. "I was getting tired of my old body anyway. This one is much better." A strange combination of the recruit's and commander's voices rumbled out of the recruit's throat, but the recruit's lips barely moved.

What? Kyle ducked and weaved backward as the tendrils continued to stab at him, his spear fending off the incoming jabs. As the three tendrils kept him at bay, two more snaked out of the recruit's thighs, reaching two fallen Demons who were still alive and dragging them in. Kyle unleashed a devastating swing, blowing off the spikes of the attacking tendrils, but he was too late to stop the other two.

The fallen Demons' corpses were dragged onto the arms of the possessed recruit, wrapped by the tendrils. The skeleton and flesh were restructured violently with gruesome twists and cracks until it was shaped like an oversized meat gauntlet, three sharpened bones sticking out like claws on both. Their faces were etched with sinister grins on the top of them, but their eyes only spoke of horror. Kyle blinked once, hardly having the time to react when the commander's new body charged at him with a violent dash, slicing at him with a lethal swipe.

Kyle ducked, grabbing his spear with two hands as he tried to swing upwards at the malformed flesh gauntlet. However, two tendrils shot forward from the legs of the commander, wrapping around both ankles of his armored boots and trying to yank him from under. Kyle quickly activated his acceleration engravings on his exosuit, pulsing in the opposite direction as his soles skidded along the dirt road. The force of the acceleration engraving caught the commander off-guard, his body tipping over while an additional tendril tried to break his fall.

Kyle reversed his grip on the spear and slashed the two tendrils off again, launching a stab towards the flailing gauntlets. The spear found purchase on the gauntlet's body, Kyle expending one poor arcia crystal to create the explosion. The spent crystal popped off the spear shaft with a trailing smoke, the sound of its clattering overwhelmed by the exploding gauntlet, the mutated corpse bursting into pieces in all directions.

He didn't let up the attack, side-stepping the jab of another tendril before unleashing multiple stabs, the traces along his exosuit arm glowing brightly as his strength was amplified. The commander couldn't keep up with the increased movement, every tendril having been sliced off by Kyle. The commander tried to create some distance, but Kyle wasn't letting him go, keeping the commander continuously within full striking range. The stomach! Kyle unleashed a wound-up jab into the stomach, expecting to puncture what he assumed was the core, yet instead, his spear could barely pierce the now-hardened skin that was pulsating with toughened meat.

"Surprised?" The new body's voice was now sounding more and more like the commander's original voice. "You're fighting a true Demon now. A superior human. The explosions won't hurt me anymore."

"Are you sure?" Kyle immediately changed targets, neatly dodging to one side as the remaining claw swiped at him, narrowly missing him by mere inches. Instead of trying to take the core out in one blow, he aimed for all of the other weaker parts, blowing off the extremities of the new commander's body, starting with the remaining arm.

"That won't work, I can just shift-GRK!" The commander gagged when Kyle suddenly changed targets again, striking the stomach just as the commander hardened his flesh gauntlet. The spear strike hit right down the center this time, the commander letting out a shudder as he fell over, the body convulsing violently. Kyle could already see the body attempting to transform into something else, immediately using his spear to put an end to the fight. With a single clean slice, he carved the body apart in half, slicing the core laterally as well.

MG404: [System Message | You killed Demon Core, +1500 EXP]

Demon core? So the Violet Demons isn't just a name for show. Kyle flicked the spear to the ground, a splatter of blood arcing across the dirt floor and the strewn carnage left behind him. He tapped the arctech radio in his exosuit, speaking into the microphone. "Central spire clear. All point defenses taken out?"

[All disabled.]

"Get the rest of the troops in, I want the town secured in fifteen minutes."

The remaining Demons barely stood a chance, even with their firepower that was a combination of stolen Aspis armor, Harrison Industries weaponry and self-fabricated defenses. As the Ghosts, goblins and Seven Snakes all swarmed into the town, Kyle walked up to the smoldering central spire, hardly giving the lingering half-body of Fred the enforcer a glance. Impressive technology. Enough of this could neutralize more than a million projectiles. 

Thanks to the stealth Aurtla planes who performed high observation flights, Kyle had a perfect map of the Culdao Peaks town, as well as hourly updates on any movements within. A simple task force was sent to ambush the incoming reinforcements, which were easily spotted on the trail. The moment the Violet Demon commander sortied out, Kyle could easily invade. The rebellion of the townsfolk did not go unnoticed as well, though Kyle certainly did not account for it in his plans. A happy accident.

Unfortunately, the townsfolk were still a problem. More than a hundred of them were armed to the teeth with the stolen weaponry, and as Kyle approached a nearby group of them hiding in a nearby damaged building, he could tell that they weren't the most welcoming. Still, the carnage that he had wrought at the base of the central spire was enough to pacify them a little, if only for a moment.

Kyle stopped just outside the damaged building, already spotting some barrels aimed at him. "I am the leader of the Seven Snakes, Kyle. We have liberated you from the Violet Demons and Ardent Cretins."

"Isn't the leader Alvin?" Hank's voice called out from beyond the windows. "You're just another gang coming to control us! We're sick of being occupied. We appreciate the help, but get the fuck out of our town."

Kyle's eyebrows twitched a little, but he restrained himself from slaughtering all of them. He needed the townsfolk, and he certainly didn't want a reputation of wiping an entire town off the map, especially one that he had improved himself. Instead of continuing to talk with Hank, Kyle turned about and walked off, barking orders on the radio. "Niko, tell Feldon to come here and pacify the town. How are the defenses looking?"

[Pretty badly damaged from the barrage, but it's still better than nothing. I-]

[Sir.] Sasha's telepathic voice interrupted Niko's report. [One of the planes is reporting that the reinforcing Ardent Cretins are turning back around.]

Are they giving up? "Do not let them escape back to Raktor. We have to wipe them out while they are still stuck in the open. Get everyone who can get there in time to attack immediately. Stall them! If you find Sebastian, capture him at all costs!" Kyle knew that this was his best chance to weaken the Ardent Cretins, especially outside of the city. He also knew for a fact that Sebastian was in the area, having been spotted with an Aurtla observation flight hours ago. The troops occupying the town immediately mobilized once again, with Niko and Monica charging down the road in a bid to catch up with the retreating reinforcements and leaving Kyle alone with the townsfolk, waiting for Feldon's arrival.

The moment Feldon arrived and showed himself to the townsfolk, the townsfolk immediately opened up, recognizing him as one of the main merchants that were in charge of the Euria Seeds production. Feldon and Hank worked together immediately to restore the town back to its original state, while Kyle continuously oversaw the chase through regular updates via radio and Sasha. Within an hour, the main force of the Seven Snakes and Ghosts had finally caught up with the retreating Ardent Cretins, explosions and smoke trails appearing in the distance. "Any signs of Sebastian?" Kyle asked.

[Not that I can see. The lady that was with Sebastian isn't around as well.] Sasha reported.

The battle raged on, with the Cretins and escaping Violet Demons fighting back fiercely. Unfortunately, it was just a small detachment of Cretins, no match for the overwhelming numbers advantage of the Seven Snakes. Even as the reports of skirmishes being won rolled in, Kyle felt something was off. Sebastian wouldn't be this foolish to let such a trap happen to his men. And if he knows about the trap willingly, that means- "Sasha, have the observation planes fly over the other parts of the Culdao Peaks. Are all dens reporting in on time?"

[On it, sir. I will get the -]

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud deafening boom, the likes of which Kyle had never heard before in his time here. He could already see a humongous mushroom cloud of dirt, ash, and soot blowing upwards from the direction of the very first goblin den that he had captured. More explosions erupted in a line, extending out past the Culdao Peaks all the way towards the city.

[Sir, the tunnel, they are blowing it up!]

Fuck! "Split up the forces. Leave enough to wipe out the reinforcements. The rest needs to sweep the ground above the tunnel and catch any sappers!" Kyle bellowed on the radio.

While the reinforcements were easily wiped out by Niko and Monica, Kyle knew this victory was a hollow one. The tunnel was the main supply route that kept the Seven Snakes alive in the South Sector, allowing them to survive the embargo and siege placed on them. Without the tunnel, they wouldn't even survive two weeks. He didn't linger around the town any longer, immediately recalling the leaders back to the Culdao Peaks while the rest of the men cleaned up the battle.

"How bad is the damage?" Kyle asked Merissa as soon as he returned to the usual meeting spot in the goblin king's palace.

"We're not sure, but it looks like a third of the tunnel is down. We'll need to excavate it for survivors, try to clear out some of the rubble." Merissa reported with a tinge of sadness and nostalgia.

"Do it, quickly." Kyle didn't bother asking how long it would take to clear out the tunnel - it took more than three months to dig that length. The moment the rest of the leaders returned, Kyle instantly explained the next part of his plan. "There's no other option. We must strike the Ardent Cretins within a week, or we will lose everything we've built in the South Sector. We will target their headquarters directly. If we can kill or capture Sebastian, the game is over."

"Directly? If we try to drop in by air with the Aurtla, the Ardent Cretins must have the air defenses prepared and ready for us." Monica warned. "We already know they are more than capable of it."

"We could do it like we did it in Ulut." Feldon offered his opinion. "Drop in hard with the coffins."

"And get surrounded by more than ten thousand Ardent Cretins? Don't forget that Sebastian is well protected by his own legion of guards." Niko warned. "We may be good at fighting, but I don't think we're that good."

"If we have a numbers disadvantage, then we'll need more allies," Monica explained. "The enforcers are already helping us - one of the reasons we've been able to even hold out this long. But who else would be willing to work with us?"

"The Ravens will. We can get them to harass the Cretins supply lines, cut off the flow a little. They are already raising hell in Kregol." Feldon pointed out. "Though I don't think they'll agree to join in a war for Raktor - they have no stakes there, and our alliance is only temporary. They could easily attempt to backstab us if they got a better offer."

"What about the townsfolk?" Niko asked.

"Too long to train. We only have two weeks before the supplies are expected to run out. After that, you can expect rioting among the civilians that we're protecting." Merissa shook her head.

"Then who else is left? No one else would fight for Raktor as we will. The Red Lions are already crushed by the Ardent Cretins, and the Wretches have joined them!" Niko exclaimed.

"There are still people with troops and power under siege in the Central Sector. If we could free them." Kyle tapped the table.

"There's no way we're going to be able to break into the Central Sector, not without some serious firepower. All of the top fighters from every major gang are there fighting now. Hell, even Ares is there, fighting the inquisitors." Niko complained.

"We will have to try. With the tunnel cut off, we'll need to fly a plane over and attempt a radio connection, hopefully to gather some information-"

His explanation was interrupted by a messenger stumbling into the room, clearly from Raktor and covered in dust. "Sir, I have a message from Keith! I barely made it through just before the tunnel collapsed." He handed a soot-covered letter over to Kyle, who immediately opened it to read it.

"What does it say?" Niko leaned over, trying to get a peep, but Kyle was already putting down the letter, belting out orders.

"Sasha, form a strike team of two dozen men, ready for a coffin drop right now. Niko, Monica, I want every able-bodied fighter geared up and ready to storm Raktor in a week. Feldon, Merissa, take the remaining defense force and clean up the Culdao Peaks Town. I want defenses ready within the week in case of a counterattack." Kyle ordered, immediately leaving the meeting room with Sasha to prepare.

[Sir, are we going to take out Sebastian? We'll need a lot more than two dozen men to pull that off.] Sasha warned as she matched Kyle's pace, leaving the palace.

"No. Baron Cain and Bishop Vernette have escaped the Central Sector with their troops. They are in the South Sector now."

Sasha squinted her eyes in suspicion. [But the district at the edge of the South Sector -]

"Is under the Ardent Cretins control. And we're going to rescue them."

***

Five hours later, in Raktor...

Dull thuds shuddered the foundations of a derelict warehouse along the riverbank, the sound of the current splashing against the barriers and walls lined with algae. The once well-stocked warehouse dedicated to the shipment of arcite and arcite accessories was now a husk of its former glory, the shelves devoid and left with miserable scraps of wooden splinters and a coat of dust. No arcite was to be found here, only groaning bodies as more than a hundred knights and enforcers huddled against the walls, many of them injured and lying on bottom-level shelves used as makeshift beds.

Another tremor washed through the warehouse, loose dust shaking off the rusted beams above. They fluttered in the wind as explosions continuously rocked the surroundings, gusts of air rushing through the gaps in the walls. Enforcer and knight alike peeked out through pellet-sized holes, scouting the enemy that was now besieging them. In the middle of the entire situation was a jittery man, decked from neck to toe in generic knight armor while he sat on a nearby empty crate. An armored knight captain walked up to the man, performing a curt salute. "Baron Cain, sir. You called for me?"

"Yes." Baron Cain shook his leg frantically, running his grimy, sweaty hand through his short-cropped hair. "What's the situation out there?"

"Not looking good, sir. We're surrounded on all sides. Only opening we have is along the riverbank, but the current is too strong, and any boat we might be able to buy would be targeted by the Cretins." The captain shook his head.

Baron Cain nodded in understanding, his thighs still jittery as he contemplated the situation. "Forces?"

"Weary. We lost contact with the other knights when we were attacked just now. Our radio is being jammed, and half of the men in here are either wounded or incapacitated. If it weren't for Baron Namor's help..."

"I know." Baron Cain threw a side glance at a small squadron of Baron Namor's knights, their armor clearly distinguishing themselves from the rest of Baron Cain's knights and the enforcers. "Where's Bishop Vernette?"

"At the other end. She's trying to help some of the enforcers."

"With what? Last I heard, we're out of healing potions. And I'll be damned if we used the Euria-infused ones."

"I'm not too sure, but any little help goes a long way."

Baron Cain let out a sigh. "What are our options? Other than trying to get a boat."

"I suggest we break out right this instant. By my estimates, we should have only lost a third of our original division. There are more than a thousand knights and enforcers scattered between here and the Central Sector. And judging by the enemy's movements, they aren't sure yet which group you are with. If we can break out of here, link up with the other groups..."

"Then we can force a breakthrough with more men. Your plan is appreciated, captain. I will discuss with the Bishop our next steps."

"Thank you, sir." The captain performed the same curt salute. Before he could leave, Baron Cain stood up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder's pauldron.

"I don't forget loyalty, Jack. You've been by my side since I was a boy, and I should be the one thanking you for all you've sacrificed for me." Baron Cain smiled weakly. "If we get out of this alive, I will make sure you are a free man."

Jack immediately saluted again before bowing deeply to the Baron. "I will ensure that you will make it out of here alive, Baron. I swore an oath to you and your mother that I will protect you to my dying breath, and my vow has not changed, even if I have to sacrifice mysel-"

"No one will be sacrificing anybody today, Jack. We will all get out of here alive. That includes you, and that is an order. Understood? Keep the morale up."

"Yes, sir!"

Baron Cain could already see tears welling up in Jack's eyes as he left to rejoin the defense, Baron Cain letting out a sigh. He tried to take another step, but his legs screamed for rest, exhausted from the recent escape from the Central Sector. He sat down for a moment, watching as Jack continued to speak to individual squads, attempting to stave off any despair or hopelessness. It took him ten more minutes until he could muster enough strength to stagger over to the other end of the warehouse, where dying enforcers were laid out in rows, the warehouse shelves acting like a crematorium of sorts. More than two dozen of the enforcers were either wheezing, groaning, or on the verge of death from their grievous wounds.

He spotted Bishop Vernette wearing a generic knight armor as well, kneeling next to one of the wounded enforcers who had a gaping hole in the side of his thigh torn out by shrapnel. Two other enforcers were busy bandaging and covering the wound, using the last vestiges of a healing potion in a vain attempt to seal it. "Yual be with you, honorable one. Your dedication to the cause will be remembered. Be at peace." Bishop Vernette recited as she clasped the enforcer's hand. A strange pink glow enveloped the hand, a single streak traveling down the length of the enforcer's arm into his heart. Baron Cain watched in surprise as the enforcer's face which was once wrought with excruciating pain began to calm down, his muscles relaxing greatly.

The enforcer closed his eyes peacefully, drifting off to sleep while Bishop Vernette stood back up. "Is this the last one?" Bishop Vernette asked the two other enforcers.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Keep me updated on the rest of them. We're out of healing potions, but we still have our hands and skills." Bishop Vernette gave a slight nod, turning to face the impressed Baron. "What's with that look on your face?"

"I wasn't aware that we had a Bishop with mage-like healing powers." Baron Cain whispered as the two of them walked further away from the others, his voice kept low. "That would have been very useful a month ago in the Central Sector."

"First of all, it doesn't heal anything. It only calms the nerves and soothes them into a sleep state, helping the healing process along. Secondly, we had more than enough healing potions stocked - this crystal can only do so much." Bishop Vernette revealed the source of her power, an ornate bracelet adorned with glistening pink jewels hidden beneath the metal gauntlets of her generic knight armor.

"It would still have helped to keep the men calm. Yual knows how many times your enforcers lost their marbles and tried to escape alone."

"Enough talking about the past. I heard your captain trying to rally the man with motivational words. What's going on?"

"Nothing. It's normal for a captain to motivate his men."

"Not when we're in a life or death situation, outnumbered three to one. What the hell did you tell him?"

"A few small words to remind him of his duty and loyalty." There wasn't much else he could offer in this scenario - he was a good fighter, trained well enough by noble standards. But even he knew that these were near-impossible odds. Breaking out was a guaranteed suicide mission, one that would see most of the knights that he had employed for decades killed.

"Is that your power?" Bishop Vernette raised an eyebrow.

"A power that only a few in this city is allowed to hold. A noble's obligation is to lead his men."

Bishop Vernette scoffed. "You don't actually believe that, do you? For as long as I've known you, you're a self-serving bastard through and through."

"Perhaps you need to be reminded of who pays you."

"Or perhaps I can say whatever I want to the idiot who got us into this mess, payment or not. Besides, I don't think you paid us last month during the siege."

"Got us into this mess?" Baron Cain squinted. "If you would like to stay cooped up in a series of noble mansions that were being pounded by shells day in and day out, be my guest. All of the major gangs' top fighters were there, and it was only a matter of days before our defenses went under. It was a miracle for us to even escape from Ares, thanks to your inquisitors."

"And here we are." Bishop Vernette gestured to the shaking beams in the ceiling. "Cooped up in a warehouse that stinks of sweat and death, pounded by explosions every hour. Except this time, we got more than five hundred men killed trying to get out!"

"Cut the crap. I need your opinion on a breakout plan." Baron Cain explained Jack's plan to the Bishop, who immediately shook her head.

"Out of the question. I agree that we should break out now, but not because we should link up with other groups. Our sole advantage and the reason why they aren't leveling the warehouse right now is because the Ardent Cretins does not know who's where." Bishop Vernette motioned to the two sets of generic knight armor they wore, allowing them to blend in with the other knights. "They want to capture us, not kill us. Our real plan should be to sneak out in shabby garments, acting like we're slum rats, while the rest of the knights continue to hold out here. If we can make it back to the Seven Snakes and enforcers, we can rally a force to liberate the rest of the knights scattered in this district."

"How are we going to get through the river? We don't have a boat!"

"We'll find a way. One of my men knows how it works. He's worked the area before."

Baron Cain pondered for a while, thinking on it before agreeing to the revised plan. "I'll get Jack in on it."

"No. No Jack. If he leaves here, the enemy will get too suspicious. Jack is well known as the captain of your knights. The more obvious he is, the less likely the Ardent Cretins are going to be searching for us."

"You can't be seriously suggesting that I escape with you alone! If we were caught, we wouldn't be able to defend ourselves!"

"Not alone, you idiot. We'll take two knights and an enforcer. One from Namor's, one from yours and one from mine. We need Namor's knight so we can call Namor for reinforcements, otherwise we won't have a point of contact. We'll need to move quickly, and without alerting the others."

Baron Cain nodded. Only a Baron's knights would know the codewords and secret meeting places. They exchanged a nod, splitting up to find their selected people. Baron Cain chose a young knight who he knew wouldn't say a word, while Bishop Vernette took her most trusted enforcer. For Namor's knights, they took what looked like the nimblest, the five of them moving to the far end of the warehouse. Their voices were masked by the current of the river as they discussed the plan.

They changed out of their knight armor, exchanging them for warehouse worker garments that were left behind nearby, their fabric filthy and grime. Baron Cain winced at the horrid state of the clothes, but he swallowed his disgust and stuck to the plan. Within fifteen minutes, they were already sneaking out the back of the warehouse, faced with the river that ebbed and flow against the riverbank. "We need to get down there." The enforcer pointed towards a gap in the barrier that had three metal rungs leading down into the depths of the river.

"Get down where? You want us to swim in the river?" Baron Cain hissed quietly.

"No, the current is too fast now. We'll go along the walls - there are grooves in the rock that you can cling onto. Hope you've cut your fingernails recently." The enforcer joked, but both Baron Cain and Bishop Vernette paled at the thought of that.

"Maybe there's another way-" Bishop Vernette started, but a sudden whizzing sound from above crashed nearby, a rushing cloud of smoke blasting out through the other alleyways while the sounds of screaming and fighting began to pick up again. "Never mind, let's go!"

They hurried down the rungs, the enforcer leading the way while the rest followed suit. "Follow my movements exactly. If you grab the wrong rock, it could chip off, and I won't have the hands to help you." He warned before nimbly descending the ladder and scaling the riverbank's wall horizontally.

Baron Cain focused his mind on his hands, taking great care to keep up with the enforcer that seemed to move like a monkey. Despite their initial aversion to the plan, everything seemed to be going well, the river's rushing tide masking their movements from being heard. "How the hell does he know this route?" Baron Cain muttered under his breath to Bishop Vernette, who was right behind him to his right.

"All I know is that he frequents the docks. Don't ask me what he does, and I'll be promoting him once we get out of this." Bishop Vernette spoke quickly, her hands trembling slightly.

Baron Cain was about to clasp onto the last notch that the leading enforcer had left behind, when the enforcer suddenly backtracked, the enforcer's hand now interlocking with the Baron's hand as the Baron let out an involuntary yelp. "What the-"

His complaints were stuffed back in his mouth as the enforcer smothered his face with another free hand. Right above them, Baron Cain could already hear footsteps approaching the riverbank, seeing the tip of a barrel pop out over the top of the wall. Ardent Cretin patrols. 

"See anything?" A loud voice called out from further away to the patrolling Ardent Cretin.

"Nothing, not even a boat-" The patrolling Ardent Cretin was interrupted by a sharp static burst on the radio strapped to his belt.

[We're getting pushed back! New enemies have appeared at the Arcite Warehouse, heavily armed, not knights or enforcers! Requesting backup!]

"What? I thought we had the whole district on lockdown!" The two Ardent Cretins didn't linger around any longer, rushing off to join the fight. Baron Cain and Bishop Vernette let out a sigh of relief, their arms barely able to hold on.

"Just a bit more." The enforcer beckoned, continuing to lead them down the riverbank, heading towards another set of metal rungs that led over the wall. Baron Cain continuously cursed under his breath as his forearm trembled, but he clung on for dear life, knowing that a single slip would mean being washed away by the tide to an unknown fate. As he looked upwards for the next gripping point, he noticed something strange in the sky, as if a piece of it was flying right over him in a circle. I must be going insane from the exhaustion.

The enforcer scouted the way ahead, clambering up the metal rungs to solid ground. The ladder led to a small, narrow corridor wedged between two imposing factories, both of which had long shut down from the civil war. "Clear, come on!" He beckoned to the rest, with Baron Cain and Bishop Vernette scurrying up the ladder to great relief. Baron Cain slumped against the floor, heaving and panting as he tried to catch his breath. It was one thing to swing a sword but another to hold one's body weight for more than ten minutes.

"We're still in the same district, but just two more districts, and we'll have reached the Magda. If it hasn't been taken over yet." Bishop Vernette surveyed the surroundings, keeping her voice low.

Baron Cain was about to reply when he suddenly heard a loud splash of water from behind. "What-" He didn't have the time to react as Namor's knight leaped up from the rungs in one smooth motion, wielding a handgun in his left hand. The enforcer tried to pull out his own handgun holstered to his belt, but instead, he felt three pellets strike him in the chest before a final fourth one slammed through his head. His corpse was sent sprawling onto the ground, blood seeping from the wounds while Namor's knight took aim at the remaining two.

"Fucking - you're a mole from the Ardent Cretins!" Baron Cain shouted back. "How the fuck did Baron Namor -"

Another shot of the handgun drove a pellet into the thighs of Baron Cain, the shoddy warehouse worker's clothes hardly a protection against the projectile. Baron Cain keeled over in pain, gritting his teeth as the knight let out a small smirk. "Idiot. Baron Namor ordered this."

As the knight approached him with the handgun, Bishop Vernette bided her time, waiting for the knight to get closer before lunging out with a strong kick. However, her weak attack was no match for the battle-hardened knight. The knight easily grabbed her leg with a single hand and flung her to one side. Her body crashed into the narrow alleyway, lying flat on the floor as her vision blurred from the concussion. She struggled to get up, and to her confusion, she could see a piece of the sky getting larger and large, as if the clouds had been fragmented into puzzle pieces with one falling out.

She shook it off as a result of the disorienting slam, but a distinctive whizzing sound much like the one they heard when they left the warehouse grew louder and louder. Even Namor's knight looked up, all three of them seeing a black dot dive towards them at breakneck speeds. The knight instinctively dove out of the way as a black coffin slammed into the alleyway straight down from above. Baron Cain screamed as the coffin slammed a mere meter away from his body, nearly killing him.

Recovering into a fighting stance, the knight aimed his handgun at the coffin, preparing to shoot. Instead, the door blew off the hinges explosively, smacking right into the knight with the force of a wagon. The knight dropped his handgun and was sent sprawling a few meters, while an armored exosuit stepped out of the coffin, amber eyes glinting through the eye slit of the helmet.

Baron Cain watched in confusion as the armored exosuit stepped forward to the now unconscious knight. With a single stomp, the armored exosuit crushed the neck of the knight underneath its metal boots, bone and tendon squelching. Baron Cain eyed the dropped handgun nearby, intending to crawl for it when he suddenly found the exosuit towering over him.

"No need to grovel at my feet, Baron Cain." Kyle's voice echoed out from behind the helmet. "I'm not as bad of a friend like Baron Namor."