I fed him a death glare.
“What did that walking scrapyard do in all of this?! Hmm? Please, enlighten me! Did he attempt to save father? The king?! Did he bother saving you? No, instead, he barricaded the FUCKING FAE! Why is that Lucyna?! Tell me why did your over-clocked cyber junkie protect the enemy? Haven’t you conditioned him enough?! Haven’t you wasted countless sessions on him, pruning him to be the perfect obedient dragon soldier?!” He hissed, his face dangerously close to mine as he vented. I could feel the heat radiating off of his body as he continued to rant, his anger boiling over like a vat of hot oil.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, then warned him, “Step away from me or you’ll find my fist deep inside your throat.”
He scoffed, peeling back from me. “Father would have your head for this…” he said, his voice deflating, while still tense. “If he wasn’t out cold, he’d set you ablaze. He warned you about Gerald, and so did I. We had an enemy living in our midst. There’s no telling where his alliance truly lies. He’s playing you for a fool, Lucyna.”
“I will deal with Gerald. He is my slave.”
“He is a level 245 war-tank. You’ve made him a force to be reckoned with.”
“My force.”
“Keep telling yourself that. You’ve lost control. You should have killed that fucking human when you had the chance. Now that that monster is stronger than you, I doubt you’d have any—”
“He’s not stronger than me,” I hissed bitterly. “And he remains under my command.”
“Then prove it,” he said, opening my fist and slamming a rotten rabbit’s foot in my hand. “Take our poor performers, the wounded, and the ill in the courtyard. Make him slaughter them all. If he obeys, study his reaction, if he refuses, slaughter him on the spot. Do not leave loose ends, Lucyna. We are at the apex of war and we cannot risk an exposure like this! Guedmar is within our reach. Don’t let this mindless animal take it away from us.”
++++
As much as I hated to admit it, my brother had a point. With an excuse to get out of bed, I fought my doctors and medical team with plans of heading to the south ward dungeon a quarter of a mile from home. With my uniform on my back and my wounds covered up, I had summoned Gerald, and he walked by my side. The short journey was quiet, Gerald not saying a word about the incident just a few hours ago.
Normally he didn’t say much, but for some reason, I expected him to explain himself…
My feet tried their best not to stagger. I’d put on a show for my own sake when Matissa and I had found the ice wolf in the woods—I didn’t want to show her how weakened I really was. In truth, those dreaded goblins had gotten us good. I had collapsed shortly after Matissa had taken the ice wolf away. I was angry at Gerald for not protecting me. Granted, I rarely needed protection, but there had been times where he stepped in to ward me outside of my direct command. Tonight was different, and I needed to fix that.
My titan guard didn’t ask me where we were headed—he simply obeyed and followed. Until we reached our destination, and I ordered two guards to scramble the leftovers and bring them outside.
Frail, thinning, sickly men and women, both young and old huddled in linked chains along their ankles and wrists, Gerald finally turning to me for answers.
The guards had their next haul of humans, about thirty of them, but I told them to remain on the sidelines until I finished with my current batch. The hooded guardsmen snapped their whips and barked at the Senterrians, forcing them to huddle in a corner along the stone hedges.
“I want you to fry them, Gerald,” I said as softly as I could, tucking away the disappointment in my voice. Immediately, he stretched his arm out, opening his palm where his ring blaster pulsated red. The humans tried to scramble, tripping over themselves in a heated panic to escape the war titan. In under two seconds, a loud bang broke my ear drums, and the sound of screams followed.
The bloody shrills didn’t last long. All that was left were charred remains, but that wasn’t enough.
I wasn’t satisfied…
“Another,” I ordered my guardsmen, this time the next wave fighting with them.
They were answered with whips, kicks and punches, and were subdued to take their demise without resistance.
“Again, Gerald,” I ordered him, but this time, his reaction was two seconds slower. After the fourth wave of deadweight, he simply refused, his reaction carving a pit in my stomach. “I SAID AGAIN, GERALD!” I barked at him, but nothing.
His cold stance irritated me to no end! I couldn’t keep my composure, and I pulled out my sai from my belt, and then leaped on top of him like a rabid animal.
Gerald didn’t resist my weight as I brought him down, impaling my sai into his skull. With all of the gears I’d fused him with, he was more machine than human, but he could still feel pain, and I made sure he felt my wrath as I twisted my weapon inside his brain.
“YOU WORTHLESS WORM! WHY DID YOU SAVE HER?!” I growled, and then wanted to recant my actions soon after. I blew up in such a powerful show of emotion—it was unorthodox of me. I’d lost my cool, and I found myself caring about the idea of him protecting me so deeply. In fact, I felt offended that he’d jumped for someone he didn’t know at all. “You are my slave! You do as I say without question! Without hesitation! I gave you these powers, and I can take them all away! Do you understand me, you soulless Senterrian?!”
He said nothing as blood continued to pool and circuits continued to fry.
“ANSWER ME!”
“Yes… Lady Lucyna…” he said in a slightly robotic voice.
“Now get up and do what I told you to do! Get up and torch those humans!” I leaped off of him so he could bring himself to his feet again. “You are a machine, and nothing more. I’ve purged humanity from you. Serve your master and serve your purpose.” This time, Gerald reacted immediately, his eyes glowing red as he rose to his feet. He looked at them with a deadly, detached expression, and my chest fluttered at the sight of his brewing savagery. This was the monster I had created, and I couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement run through me as he gazed at those humans like fresh meat.
Without warning, Gerald let out a deafening roar and charged toward them, his hands glowing with an intense heat. I watched in awe as he unleashed his power, incinerating everything in his path. The sound of screams and sizzling flesh filled the air, Gerald reclaiming his purpose in my private army.
After eight rounds, I was satisfied. As the flames and the ashes died down, I approached Gerald, a sly smile stretching on my face. “I am pleased. You have done well. Do not disappoint me again.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
8 Days left…
Silas
It was two hours after midnight, and I was drained. The daredevil inside me decided to head to the catacombs alone since the badlands were empty tonight, just so I could make the most out of my amulets. Jezz rarely brought the catacombs up, but they were a lot more dangerous than the hazmat zones. For some reason stronger cyber gears loved grave sites, and Regmeirs didn’t disappoint. The only problem was the underground labyrinth was very tight and limited, so using some of my more explosive skills were out of the question. I didn’t want the place crashing down on me, so I kept with my Enrage and upgraded bots and made mincemeat out of those beast-type monsters.
I was so proud, my baby Girus were all grown up…
The minions were up to my hip now, shooting over a foot and then some. Their extra height came with added buffs: increased durability, minimal self-repair, and a small weapons system. Because of the upgrade, the amount of cyber mana to summon each bot also increased. But I couldn’t complain. I was more than satisfied with their performance tonight, and I planned on maxing out the skillset before my blast shot.
Despite never being in Regmeirs before, I had a strong feeling that it was packed more than usual. I went rounds upon rounds of monster sweeping, multiplying my stacked EXP. That’s right—I could stack these quads and increase the multiplier by 12. I felt like I was in the casino the way I kept cashing in, until I tapped out my third amulet, peaking at level 42.
I allocated my 75 points and updated my stats:
