by Kal Aaron
Half-smashed bricks along with bent metal were the remains of the forge. Large dents marred the metal walls, all roughly the same size as the holes.
“What the hell?” Lyssa muttered.
Something huge had been in the room, and it had caused a lot of damage. There was one problem. Lyssa didn’t see it, but she’d heard it. No one liked an invisible angry giant.
There were many possibilities: camouflage, invisibility, thinning. Without knowing the essence and regalia of her opponent, she couldn’t begin to guess what tricks he might be pulling.
The bastard needed to come out. She wanted to get it over with. Anyone who hurt Serafina wouldn’t be leaving the building alive.
Lyssa sucked in a breath, her stomach knotting. Serafina might not be a Torch, but the woman could defend herself, especially in her gallery. Whoever had done this was a dangerous and powerful foe. That suggested Torch or Eclipse training.
“It’s a trap,” Jofi said.
“Maybe,” Lyssa whispered. “Probably.”
“Then shouldn’t you avoid it? Miss Dale is not answering. Given the situation, there’s a good chance she’s dead.”
“Aren’t you sunshine on a cloudy day?” Lyssa muttered. She pushed the door open. “I’m not leaving to save my ass while my friend is missing. She could be here somewhere and hurt.”
“Where?” Jofi asked. “If she’s in one of the other rooms, that’s all the more reason for you to leave.”
“I need to take down the threat first.”
Lyssa looked around, unsure if the rhythmic sorcerous pulse was from the room or her unseen enemy. Her brief sweep stopped as she narrowed her eyes on the corner pile.
“Why don’t you come out of there and we’ll talk?” Lyssa frowned. “If you haven’t hurt my friend, this doesn’t have to go badly for you. I’m never eager to take down Illuminated.”
A huge four-fingered silver fist punched out and the pile shook, causing pieces to fall. A leg emerged.
Seconds later, the entire body emerged, a massive silver humanoid statue radiating enchantment and covered with glyph work. There were no obvious eyes, though the head was covered with denser glyph work than the rest of the body. The silver figure took a step and smashed debris under its enormous foot.
Lyssa pointed her guns at the new arrival. “Okay, didn’t see that coming. You have a lot of balls, sending a construct after a Sorceress.”
The silver construct lumbered forward. Other than the crunch of trash beneath its feet, it didn’t make any noise.
“Tell me where my friend is. I bet you can talk through that thing.”
The silver construct smashed a fist into the wall, adding a new dent. Wood snapped and trash rustled as it lumbered toward her.
“You’re threatening me?” Lyssa scoffed. “You might have gotten lucky surprising Serafina, but she’s got a much kinder heart than I do.” She narrowed her eyes on the construct. “Wherever you are, Serafina, I hope you soundproofed this place because things are about to get loud.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lyssa’s first couple of shots bounced off the silver construct. Bright glowing azure cracks snaked out from the impact points. A matching aura surrounded the entire body.
“Okay,” Lyssa growled, “this is damned annoying.”
The construct stopped moving. It couldn’t have been that easy. Serafina would have discarded a construct who couldn’t take a bullet with ease.
“Is it dead?” Lyssa murmured.
“I think you’ll have to hit him a lot harder,” Jofi said. “Total annihilation will ensure pacification of the enemy.”
“Gee, you think?” Lyssa rolled her eyes. “Wow. You must secretly be the Spirit of Tactics. I’ll save the big stuff for when I need it.”
She took another shot. More cracks and a brighter glow appeared. The enemy remained immobile.
Lyssa took a step back. “Okay, big guy, sounds like you don’t have a microphone for anyone to talk through you. What’s the plan, then? Smash everything that moves? But you stopped. Why?”
She kept her distance. The ravaged condition of the room made for uneven footing and not many places to hide.
“I might be overthinking this. It might be out of power.”
“It hasn’t fallen,” Jofi reminded her.
“Good point.” Lyssa kept her guns trained on the glowing but unmoving construct. “It’s not standing in a weird way. It wouldn’t necessarily have to fall.”
Lyssa had seen similar creations before and had fought some, too. Her limited experience didn’t translate into analytical confidence.
There was no single easy way to defeat a construct. Some constructs possessed a weak point. Others would keep operating until they were blown to pieces. Others only had limited operating times. A construct could have one or all those weaknesses.
Without being able to inspect the construct more closely and leisurely, Lyssa had no chance of figuring it out. She might not need to worry if it didn’t start moving again soon.
Lyssa’s guns dipped. “It looks like our boy doesn’t want to fight anymore.” She looked around. “But that doesn’t answer the question of where Serafina is.”
She furrowed her brow. A body could fit under the pile leftover in the corner, but there was no blood anywhere.
“Serafina might have weakened it.” Lyssa sidestepped to peer at the pile. “That might be why it stopp—"
The construct took a step forward. So much for it being out of power. She didn’t want to take a hit from something that strong, but it was so slow that there was no way it could land a blow.
“Recharging, huh?” Lyssa lifted her guns. “I’ve got a lot more than a couple of bullets for you.”
A final flash surrounded the construct. It dissipated, along with the glow, both from the cracks and aura.
The construct barreled through the room, the lumbering giant replaced by a fleet Olympian. Each step knocked trash and debris out of the way or crushed it underfoot. Lyssa hissed in surprise and silently thanked Jofi for not choosing that moment to offer an “I told you so.”
It closed the distance and flung a silver fist at her. Lyssa ducked the blow and jumped to the side. With quick trigger pulls, she walked bullets up and down its body, hoping to find its weak spot or forcing it into another recharge cycle. Her shots bounced off with bright sparks.
The construct charged her again, and she twirled out of the way like a matador taking on an angry bull. Its heavy silver fist smashed into the wall. Chunks shot out, leaving another deep dent.
Lyssa emptied her pistols into the construct before leaning back to avoid its latest blow. Unlike the enemy, she’d not left a dent. She had not accomplished anything but scratches.
Her enemy got lucky in its next attack, and its fist clipped her in the side. The hit sent her to the floor with a loud crack.
She had never been sideswiped by a truck, but she imagined it felt similar. Hissing in pain, she rolled out of the way of a heavy stomp. Testing her defenses could wait for another day.
Lyssa ignored her pain and sprang to her feet. “All you do is punch. Up your game.”
The construct charged again, but this time she was ready. She jumped onto an overturned piece of table and backflipped off, leaving nothing but air for the construct.
“Taunting an unintelligent creation is a waste of concentration and time,” Jofi said.
Lyssa holstered one of her pistols while dodging another blow. “But it’s fun, and it makes me feel better about myself.”
“Destroying the enemy would do more to raise your self-esteem.”
“True enough. I’m getting to that.”
The construct tried a kick. Lyssa’s dodge helped her escape its foot by inches.
“Great, now it’s learning.”
“Recommend you increase your level of engagement,” Jofi said.
Lyssa’s body and head jerked side to side, keeping any more hits from landing. Her opponent struck fast and hard, bu
t at least he hadn’t mastered combos yet.
Jofi was right. The enemy was fast, dangerous, strong, and it didn’t appear to be running out of power. She didn’t know its weak point. That left one option. She needed to obliterate enough of its body so nothing was left to threaten her. It was time for enchanted ablative rounds.
“You’re going to regret messing with me.” Lyssa vaulted off another piece of table with her free hand.
A punch missed her, close enough to muss her hair. The heavy blow crashed into the sad remains of a shelf, collapsing it and sending the containers of tiny steel nuts it held to the floor. Pieces of the shelf bounced off her mask.
Lyssa reached into a specific pocket to grab a magazine. She didn’t have time to reload before there was another attack, another kick. Her quick sprint took her to the other side of the room.
She slapped the magazine into her pistol while the construct turned to face her. It charged again, bringing back a fist. She aimed at the center of its chest and loosed three rounds in rapid succession, taking a step back with each.
Yellow-tinged purple flames exploded from the points of contact. The blasts vaporized huge chunks of the construct and surrounded it with dark smoke. Lyssa’s opponent stumbled back with each strike and molten metal splattered, hissing as it hit the floor.
The attack left a nasty uneven gouge in the enemy’s chest. Dozens of cracks shot from the wounds, glowing like they had earlier. A bright aura surrounded the construct.
Lyssa frowned. “Oh, come on! That’s not fair.”
The construct became a blur of speed. Its next blow nailed Lyssa square in the chest with such force that it launched her across the room. Something crunched in her torso. Fiery pain spread everywhere, and it was hard to breathe.
Lyssa managed to get off more shots before smacking into the wall at high speed for another date with Mr. Pain. She groaned and tumbled forward. Doing her best to ignore the pain suffusing her body, she kept her gun aimed at the construct’s chest and rapidly pulled the trigger before landing on her knee. She emptied the rest of her magazine into her opponent, screaming in defiance.
“Take that, you stupid piece of crap!”
Each shot exploded and obliterated more of the construct. Despite her unsteady state, the enemy couldn’t get closer to finish her. The force of the attacks knocked it back. By the time her gun went dry, she’d forced the construct against a wall. Thick dark smoke billowed from its chest, hiding its upper body. An acrid stench filled the air.
“That was expensive,” she muttered. “And painful.”
Her vision swimming, Lyssa hopped to her feet and loaded a penetrator magazine on pure muscle memory. She steadied her pistol with both hands, trying to spot her target, her eyes tearing up from the smoke. Being able to see in the dark with the help of her regalia wasn’t the same thing as being able to see through and be immune to every challenge to her vision.
“Don’t make this more expensive,” she spat.
She wiped her teary eyes, trying to pick out movement through the smoke before gripping her pistol with both hands again. Another couple hits like the ones she’d already endured, and she wouldn’t be able to dodge.
Something creaked within the smoke. Lyssa put her finger over the trigger.
The construct emerged from the cloud. Lyssa’s attack had vaporized most of its chest. The damage exposed a pulsating sphere connected by gossamer strands of light.
She had not been expecting to see that, but she didn’t have to be an expert on construct sorcery to recognize an artificial heart. Twitching and jerking, the construct advanced toward Lyssa, its earlier speed a distant memory.
“Whoever built you cost me a lot of money,” Lyssa muttered. “They should feel good about that, but I like to tell myself you cost more.”
The construct advanced, each uneven step accompanied by tremors. It looked like it could fall over any second.
“Goodbye.”
Lyssa pointed at the heart and fired. Her bullet ripped through the organ, which shattered in an earsplitting, room-shaking boom. Dozens of inert pieces of dull metal shot everywhere. The strands connecting the heart to the rest of the body vanished.
The construct was still. There were no glowing cracks or aura and no heart, nothing but a huge hole in the chest.
Lyssa made a circle in the air with her gun. “You can die already, please.”
The body toppled over, landing with a loud crash and adding dust into the polluted air. Lyssa nodded, satisfied.
“Thank you.”
She holstered her gun. Gritting her teeth, she rubbed her chest, hating to think about what would have happened if she’d been hit without her regalia or the vest. She reached for one of her herb packets.
“Have you suffered any serious injury?” Jofi asked.
“I think it cracked some ribs.” Lyssa took a deep breath and winced. “But I don’t think it punctured a lung. I don’t know if that counts as serious injury.”
“I would humbly suggest it does.”
Upon second thought, there was no way she’d be able to avoid using healing herbs to supplement her regalia’s healing. She couldn’t sit around healing for weeks and not follow up on whatever lead Reed planned to give her.
“This was supposed to be nothing more than a supply run.” Lyssa waved smoke out of her face. “I’m still not seeing blood anywhere, but maybe you’re right. This could have been a trap. They might have snagged Serafina and left that here as a surprise for me. I can’t imagine they’d want a random customer or a cop running into it.”
The wall rumbled. Lyssa whipped out her guns and spun toward it, ready to continue the fight despite the ache in her chest and her labored breathing. A slab of metal moved forward and slid to the side, revealing a familiar Sorceress tucked into a coffin-sized alcove.
Lyssa gasped. “Serafina!”
Chapter Sixteen
“That’s a tight fit.” Serafina stepped out of the alcove, stretching. “Much tighter than I thought it would be. I didn’t measure it well.” She tilted her head and put a finger to her bottom lip. “Oh! Measuring height without accounting for comfort. It all makes sense now. Silly me.”
For a moment, Lyssa didn’t trust what she was seeing and thought the woman in front of her was another trick. She soon accepted it was her friend, or at least a perfect facsimile.
Serafina was a beautiful short, dark-skinned woman. Her long hair was elaborately braided and adorned with different-colored bright metal hairpins. Her muscular arms spoke of her years working with a hammer and anvil. She wore jeans and a white tank top under her thick gray apron, which was covered with blackened marks and scratches. Golden jeweler’s glasses covered her eyes, but she flipped them up and offered a bright smile to Lyssa.
The Torch holstered her gun before reaching into a pocket for a small baggie containing painkiller herbs. She couldn’t keep up with Serafina even when her mind wasn’t clouded by pain. After taking a deep breath, she munched on one of the bitter golden-blue flower petals.
Fighting while under the effects of herbs wasn’t a smart idea since a woman needed to know when she was hurt, but the battle was over. Lyssa didn’t bother saying anything else, waiting as the intense pain quieted to a minor ache.
Serafina turned from the alcove to survey the destroyed workshop, an amused smile on her face. “Wow. That thing went to town, didn’t it?”
Lyssa shook her head. “Serafina, are you okay?”
“Oh, and good timing!” Serafina clapped her hands together. “Yes, I’m okay.” She dusted her hands on her apron and stepped out of her alcove. “Why wouldn’t I be?” She lifted her hands and spread out her fingers. “No cuts, no bruises.” She patted the back of her neck. “You see something?”
A gaggle of tiny constructs shaped like the monster Lyssa had fought fell from a vent into the alcove. She doubted they packed the same punch, being only six inches tall, but she drew a gun anyway, ready to send them to join their big brother. They i
gnored her and spread out along the wall.
“What the hell is going on?” Lyssa continued tracking the tiny creations. “Why were you in the wall? What are those things? Why is your place trashed, and why did a huge construct try to kill me?”
“Oh, the wall is part of a new safety system I’ve been testing in case something unplanned happened. And something unplanned happened!” Serafina glanced at the destroyed construct. She scratched her cheek. “The intention was to use the alcove to survive an explosion, but it worked out nicely in this scenario.” She threw up her arms. “Hooray for more than one use. That’s good design.”
Lyssa gestured with her gun at the marching constructs. “You were attacked by their big brother sent by an assassin, so you hid in there? It trashed the place looking for you?”
“Big brother? Oh, no. Not at all. Uh. Actually, yes. That’s perfectly correct.” Serafina gave a firm nod.
“Huh?” Lyssa grimaced. “You’re not making any sense. Or you’re making less sense than usual, which isn’t a lot.”
“Aren’t I? I was attacked and used the security system, but it’s mine. The construct, that is. Oh. And the security system. That’s mine too. And I’m not an assassin. There was that one time Elder Samuel said I was an Assassin of Dignity, but you’re talking about the killing people kind of assassin.” Serafina shrugged.
“Yes, I’m talking about the killing people kind of assassin.” Lyssa groaned. “And you don’t care that there are a dozen of those things around you now? I get that they’re smaller, but it doesn’t mean they can’t break your ankle or your nose.”
Serafina waved her hands in front of her. “Don’t worry about my dolls, Lys. They’re going to help me clean up. They were doing that before the incident. These aren’t designed with any sort of battle abilities. They couldn’t fight you even if they wanted to.”