Changeling

Outside of the walls, the world was on fire. The reclamation zone was now a hellscape of blazes and detonations, scoured by spells, tracers, and the squirming masses of the monster tide. The more she watched though, the more she noticed the patterns emerging from that primordial chaos. Most of the fires were not random but deliberate no man’s land scoured by dragoon battle walkers, their hulking forms ruling over the sea of flames without contest. The controlled inferno funneled most of the tide into kill zones devastated by a constant barrage of artillery strikes, close air support, and the rattle of aug infantry weapons. They formed a line at the edge of the zone and in front of habitations and resorts that defined the outer limit of what Threshold called its own. There was an irony in building such a massive wall and then doing your best to protect it rather than letting it protect you, but Nestra understood the rationale behind it: the wall was the last rampart in case everything went to shit. It stood in the night as a white demarcation line between the precarious dream mankind had built, and the world as it was.

Beyond the army line were fortified pockets of resistance from overextended guilders gathering for safety. They formed wedges that intercepted part of the tide while letting the rest pass through, powerful raiders forming the cornerstones of the defensive positions. Targeted explosions showed they were still being protected by the army.

In the air, humanity still ruled without peer under a sky of dark clouds. The few surviving weak flying monsters were taken down by gunships or roaming B-class. The larger ones had already been exterminated by fighter jets even her Aszhii sight couldn’t spot.

Nestra opened the door of her hover vehicle: a military hovercraft used to carry VIPs around. She suspected most of Threshold’s fleet was on standby so a glorified taxi was what she got.

The acrid stench of smoke eclipsed every other scent. Her visor picked this moment to beep with an urgent message.

USER NOTICE. YOU HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED TO SECOND COMPANY, THIRD BRIGADE. DESCENT IN PROGRESS.

The taxi dove long before they reached the lines. She jumped down before it could land. Her gleam visor showed her a path to her destination. Tents and mortar emplacements gave order to the ravaged forest in front of her. A pair of aug soldiers saluted her as she raced by. The first signs she’d arrived were how loud things were getting, then she spotted two long range battle walkers behind a small incline. A person in heavy armor stood at a distance alongside a group of other augs, one of them saddled with comms equipment. She’d found her destination.

YOU HAVE ARRIVED.

Thanks.

“Good you’re here. I’m Lieutenant Kwang. We’ve got a big group coming.”

The com officer turns to her and it felt like he was glaring at her, which made Nestra a little uncomfortable.

“Alright, you’re registered in our IFF now. You got a secured visor?”

“Yes. They gave me one at the airport.”

“Try not to break it if you can. Go in front and don’t worry about bullets. Our guns can’t fire at you now. Focus on C-class and above and leave the rest to us. Keep the visor on, you hear?”

“Copy that.”

“Then go. Good luck.”

Nestra moved ahead. There was a killzone up ahead, and layers of soldiers in between. The front ranks were lying on the ground while those behind were crouching, or even standing. Heavy machine guns had been placed on small ridges or even, in one instance, on top of a large upturned stump. The augs hadn’t had any time to set up properly.

In front of them was a squirming mass of creatures flowing closer, farther, and around until they were more a river of hungry flesh than individual beasts. Nestra trotted ahead, towards a large group of weird blue quadrupeds galloping in her direction. Bullets hit the lead creatures, killing them but the rest covered themselves in a watery shield that seemed to offer some protection. Nestra walked past the front defenders, noticing the blood and a few severed human limbs still littering the edge of the human position, and then she was through.

Walls of fires to her right and left. A field of corpses to the front. Monsters approaching in the distance. And she didn’t have to worry about her flanks.

This was the fucking life.

Nestra charged up electric mana, then she sprinted forward, diving headfirst into the group of enemies. She released the spell immediately. Black arcs coursed between the beasts, forcing howls and yelps. The shields broke down in showers of water. Bullets caught the undefended creatures with deadly precision. She picked the largest hound, still charging. She lunged. Her coated blade tore its throat apart. Blood joined the mud. Nestra realized it hadn’t rained today yet. All the mud was blood mud.

It died and so did the others. Nestra felt her control over mana increase slightly. Her eyes, ears, and skin tickled. Probably a resistance. She was getting stronger again. This was a banquet, a feast. A perfect opportunity to sample so many dangers.

“Tides are the best.”

It almost made her want to fuck with a ley line.

“A group’s heading our way,” her visor said, suddenly activating. “Be ready.”

She was. They came, first strange spider things that spat acid and gave her more resistance, then a creature that made the soldiers panic: some ethereal jellyfish that could only be defeated by magic. She killed that one with a bolt. Her cold resistance improved. Its core tasted minty and refreshing, like that Swiss night with Aunt Claire where she’d been so afraid of dying at the hands of a loved one. Now all the resistances she’d already developed were properly at C-class. Next were neosaurs. Boring. She knew those inside and out.

“Boring. So BORING. Hssss.”

“Crescent,” her visor said. “A user squad has come to reinforce us. Do you need to retreat?”

“NO!”

She crashed through a carpet of trash spiders, finding the queen and pulling her apart. This was the monster that had preceded her awakening so she was hoping to feel something as the agile limbs cracked under her fingers. Nostalgia, maybe, but there was only a minuscule boost to her celerity. She’d left that enemy behind.

“Crescent, clear out!”

Nestra used momentum to get out of the swarm, ignoring the pincers pulling at the Skin without results. A moment later, a flamethrower purged the entire nest.

Nestra kind of wished they could have used that when clearing the fated warehouse, back before her awakening. She turned towards what looked like a dinosaur with a wide crest around its neck. Colorful feathers covered its entire body. It screeched, then charged her.

“You’re a hat,” Nestra informed it. “A hat and a kebab.”

It was a powerful C-class. She dodged under the first charge, then struck at its eye, but the creature used its crest like a shield to block the attack. Rocky mana blocked most of her blow. Most, but not all. It recoiled with a yowl of pain, facing her.

Nestra used momentum to go behind it. She struck the exposed neck, then tore down. Blood sprayed her. She moved back to avoid her victim’s rampage.

“Crescent, we’re here to reinforce you!”

Six people in shiny manatech armor, army stuff. Good weapons. Shoulder-mounted guns. Not prey. She sliced a monstrous tendon and, from the arterial spray, something important as well. The dinosaur collapsed, bleeding out.

“I think she’s out of it,” someone said.

Nonsense. She’d never been so into something. Winning, that is.

“More. MORE!”

“New group incoming,” her visor said.

“Well. Support her, I guess,” someone else said.

“Yes,” Nestra acknowledged to make the annoying chatter go away. Sadly she couldn’t eat this core now. No time to harvest it. “Support. Yes. Good.”

She killed. And killed. And killed some more. There were so many creatures here, some of them strong enough to be fun. At some point, her physical power reached the maximum of what her body could sustain without ascending rank. Each one of her strikes carved bloody swathes through her foes. It was a glorious carnage.

“B-Class! B-Class! Fall back!”

It looked like a large snake with grasping limbs across its body. Aquatic. Not at home here. Its skin was dry and cracked in parts. Dozens of maddened eyes followed the retreating soldier gleams with naked frenzy. It started after them.

Nestra could take that one. She was so, so very sure of it. Even getting tired after fighting nonstop for what felt like hours, she was still the fucking best. And this was her second body anyway, and it was barely even wounded. This was going to be great.

“HAHAHAHAH!”

“Shit, she’s lost it. Provide cover!”

“Against a B-class?”

“Just do it!”

Nestra charged the creature before she could move too much. A bolt connected with the closest grasping limbs, exploding them. It started to bleed. She could make it bleed and so she would make it die. A momentum carried her behind a tail sweep, then she was cleaving the grasping limbs one by one. Immovable allowed her to resist another weaker sweep, throwing the creature off balance. Painful. The humans were helping her by peppering the prey with spells and bullets. Useful. She dodged under another strike.

“Rah!”

Her monstrous strike smashed into the main body, sending it crashing down on the hot rock. The beast wailed.

Her danger sense warned her at the very last moment. Abused by its previous fights, her claymore shattered, sending shards of void-infused shrapnel everywhere. Her Skin stopped most of them. She felt the symbiote drinking her blood to recover from the damage caused… but most importantly the prey was writhing, wounded. Weak. She jumped on its neck. Claw-like void nails raked its eyes. It smashed her against the ground. It opened its mouth wide, ignoring more spells.

Nestra used momentum but the beast followed her short jump. Danger sense screamed at her to dodge but she couldn’t. There was blue mana at the bottom of the creature’s throat.

She punched it with a powerful uppercut. Some sort of laser maimed its teeth before heading up. A gunship was forced to dodge.

“Hey, catch!”

Someone had thrown her a sword. She grabbed it, infused it with void. It crackled with energy. She decapitated the prey with a glorious, scornful sweep.

It died, feeding her cold resistance. Her mana power increased.

“Yesssss.”

Nestra shoved her hand down the creature’s throat. Here it was, the core. She pulled it all bloody from its fleshy envelope. It was delicious. Some people talked at her back but it sounded confused, or congratulatory, or both. She wasn’t sure and it clearly didn’t matter. Another one did though.

“Crescent,” a voice said in her ear. “Crescent!” it insisted.

“WHAT?”

There was a pause while Nestra realized she’d been barking at Lieutenant Kwang through her visor. And then she remembered Kwang didn’t technically outrank her so it was only mildly bad.

“Urgent call from General Lindstrom. You’re being redeployed.”

“Ragnarok?”

“Yes. Pull out now please.”

Should she obey? A distant part of her insisted it was important, but… the tide was here. There was more to kill. She was only a little bit tired. And a tiny bit wounded. Tides were so great because the monsters came to her, which was amazingly convenient and they were varied too. Like a buffet. The only problem was the lack of time to harvest their flesh.

Something nudged her. It said: obey now, more food later. She frowned. How would that even work? Then her visor rang. It was a familiar, older voice.

“Are you making me wait, Crescent?”

A wolf of metal annihilating the Sword King compound. Fangs aiming for the sky. Talons to rend the earth. A fur of barbed wires, lacerating everything around.

“Apologies, ma’am. I got carried away. It’s a little intense —”

“Listen. We got strange readings. Some raging asshole’s definitely tapping into the ley line. Central sent me the likely coordinate. You’re close. Break through and get there, and shut the damn thing off, because the tide isn’t stopping, and we need to pull troops back to the Beacon.”

“What’s happening?” Nestra asked.

“You don’t have the clearance to know yet. You will once the kaiju’s dead. Get this thing done, I need to get back in.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The line cut. At the same time, a waypoint appeared on Nestra’s map. She checked it. It was inside of no man’s land.

“Welp.”

Now that she’d calmed down a bit, Nestra considered her chances to actually break through. Another pack of creatures were heading her way. If she really wanted to go on, she would have to cut her way through another pack, then another, and then she would be surrounded as soon as she went past the fire area. Actually… the military usually started a fire with flamethrowers then let the trees keep it fed. Most monsters avoided fire by instincts, but was it still that hot now that the accelerant had probably burnt itself out?

Only one way to find out.

Nestra notified Kwang she would pull out with a short message. She received a brief acknowledgement. Guess the woman was busy. Once done, Nestra turned right relative to the frontline, walking by the sea of flames, which was more of an ashy plain with still plenty of stuff on fire. She moved her visor to her dimension pocket. It was time to get creative.

Into the blaze it was.

It started well enough. Her heat resistance was well-developed by now, and the temperature was manageable. The lack of breathable air didn’t bother her either, her sensory resistance applying to her lungs as well, or so it seemed. It felt… very strange. The human part of her insisted she should be dying right now, but things were completely fine. Between her torched surrounding and the distant sounds of battle, it felt like the old hell the religious folks were so fond of picturing. The experience made her giddy. At some point, she hit a warmer spot and started to grow uncomfortable. Her Skin complained about the treatment by making her shoes thicker and drinking some more of her blood. When she was almost at the edge, she heard something curious: a very distinctive pop.

Now where had she heard that one before?

Oh yeah. Phosphorus bomb explosions.

“FUCK.”

Nestra sprinted ahead. White, expanding trails bloomed overhead, covering the ground in yellow smoke as they landed. She moved to the side.

Suddenly, she was out of the danger zone. All around were fires, corpses, upturned earth, and above that, the clouds. Rain started to fall. The droplets of water hissed when they hit the inferno at her back.

Nestra took out her visor again. Even reinforced for gleam use, it looked like it was suffering from constant exposure to void mana. She still managed to get the map going while hiding in a recess. It wasn’t too far but she would be traveling on open ground. Had to hurry. It was time to use shadow mana again.

Nestra wrapped herself in camouflage, the light cape of her Skin turning her shape inhuman. She jumped from bombardment crater to hiding spots, evading large packs of enemies on the way. She avoided the larger concentrations as much as possible. This spot of infiltration practice turned out to be fun, even though she’d rather be out there fighting. Sometimes, areas to her side exploded under heavy bombardment, sending plumes of ash into the air. B-class raiders dueled the most dangerous monsters before flying away. This was a risky maneuver, and she knew what it meant: they were clearing the most dangerous foes to prepare for the kaiju’s arrival.

She would have missed the spot were it not for the map. As it was, she had to look twice to find the circular hole at the bottom of a devastated hill, its surface covered in monster guts. The aperture was barely enough for a child to stand in. She would have to crawl through.

“It’s ok to be tall most of the time,” she told herself while looking at the claustrophobic entrance.

In she went.

The walls were reinforced with a lattice of green stone that looked suspiciously like jade. Nestra had a bad feeling about this. She compared the map to her memory: yes, this was the land claimed by Soothing Venom. She kept going anyway.

At the end of the tunnel was a well-lit cave. A generator fed construction lights as well as an unfamiliar machine that looked like a heavily enchanted 3D printer. Another door led further in, voices emerging from its depths. Two people waited by the machine, or rather, one person and one body.

The living one was the Soothing Venom leader, his silvery eyes downcast, long hair emerging from under an elaborate emerald helmet. The dead person was Eunhye. The jade user had too many wounds, was too unmoving to be alive. Nestra couldn’t feel her mana.

The pink tracks of healing potions and other emergency treatment could be seen around the bloody gashes, but it had been too little, too late. The girl had been savaged. Her eyes were closed. The toxin high gleam was brushing back her black hair away from her face. He never looked up.

“Ragnarok’s dog. What do you want?” he asked, voice dangerously calm.

Nestra was still digesting the fact that Eunhye had been alive and fighting human Nestra on a political battlefield only a few days before. She’d been so talented and full of potential then. But Crescent shouldn’t react. To Crescent, this ought to be only one more fatality in a night that would be filled with them.

From an angle, with her short black hair, it was like looking at a dead Helena.

“This machine. It taps in the ley line,” Nestra stated.

It wasn’t a question.

“We heard it was possible,” the leader replied. “We designed this machine to that effect. A proof of concept. Artificial mana stones would be a revolution for energy and production.”

“It’s causing the tide. And the imminent kaiju.”

His hand stopped moving. His mana flared, saturating the air. Nestra’s eyes watered. Her breath tasted something acidic.

“I see. So that was why Threshold preferred to keep it quiet. I assumed they were already manufacturing mana stones in secret, but instead they realized what the cost was.”

“The tide that breached District Fifteen was caused by a similar attempt. There were many dead,” Nestra commented, not because it was a smart thing to say but she was concerned he would melt her lungs if he continued.

“Nobody really cares about the loss of a few hundred drabs and a scion or two, you silly girl. They stopped when they realized that ley lines are present all over the planet. You understand the implication. No? Think, Hound of Ragnarok. Causing a kaiju attack on demand is the cheapest and most secretive weapon of mass destruction one could possibly dream of.”

His eyes went up. It occurred to Nestra that he was more than powerful enough to make the machine disappear within the next five seconds. Plausible deniability was a thing. Nestra had her visor up, though, so he might think she was recording and sending it somewhere. Surely he wouldn’t kill her here?

“You are afraid. You think my alliance… no. This was my idea. I caused all this. You think I will try to silence you.”

He did look pretty murderous at the moment.

“You must be young, or very new to Threshold then. I was here with the first ship.”

His fist crashed against the machine. The keening sound of torn steel filled the cavern. Something fizzled and died. Nestra felt the mana under her feet shift, like something moving back in place.

“We are patriots. Oh, we play games and fight for power, but first and foremost, we founders are here for the city, for mankind. And now I have done the unforgivable. And now, my own people have paid for it. Those who followed me into battle…”

Nestra’s visor beeped with a new notification.

TIDE BROKEN. KAIJU TASK FORCE RDV POINT ESTABLISHED. KAIJU TRAJECTORY DEFINED. SEE MAP FOR UPDATES.

“And the work never ends. Even in times of grief. Dog of Ragnarok…”

“Crescent please,” Nestra replied.

“Silence.”

Pressure crushed Nestra’s mind, or it would have but she was used to Ragnarok’s disapproval so the effect was lesser. It was still a good reminder: do not tickle the old high gleam right after he lost someone dear to him.

“Crescent,” the man still allowed. “You can tell the world of my sins, but first, I will atone for them.”

“Do not kill yourself,” Nestra said, despite her own previous warning to herself.

The man huffed. He even smiled a bit.

“And take the easy way out? I think not. Threshold will need someone to blame. A living sacrificial lamb looks much better on camera. Come, my people. It’s time to fight.”

Gleams streamed in from the backdoor, a mix of toxin and jade including a crying woman who had to be related to Eunhye. The survivors of the Soothing Venom alliance trailed out with quiet dignity. Nestra still waited one minute before leaving as well.

Outside, it was still raining. Relative silence had returned after the deafening cacophony of the tide battle. Small groups of monsters still raced away when she cleared the incline, but the larger groups were gone. A few of the monsters were fighting each other as well. The tide was broken, which always happened after they suffered too many fatalities. Since this was more of an artificial tide, however, Nestra assumed the earlier carnage plus the machine’s deactivation had been enough.

What to do now? She was feeling sore from quickly-closing wounds. Kaijus were also above her pay-grade, but she had a long range attack and that could always be useful. She decided to head to the rendezvous point anyway. Curiosity would kill many Aszhii yet.

She turned, then stopped. Soothing Venom was joining with a very familiar formation a few hundred meters away.

House Palladian was here. It was logical, now that she thought about it. The Palladians would have been deployed to an area they’d been prepared to clear since they had some basic understanding of the terrain. She wasn’t sure where they’d been in the earlier defensive line though. As she looked around, more and more houses and guilds were exiting from fortified positions or hidden places, creating a stream of powerful raiders headed to the meeting point. The eclectic mix of armor, robes, artifacts and other tools of power made the raiders look like a chaotic bunch, more akin to the warhosts of the old world than the unified armies of modern mankind. Nevertheless, the disciplined bands converged with a singular purpose: to defend their home. She joined that march at the back of the formation, doing her best to avoid her parents’ gaze. It felt like they’d glanced at her but she knew she looked different and even walked differently. As long as she didn’t fight right in front of them, they wouldn’t suspect a thing. She hoped. Even then, the Scornful Crescent arts might confuse them.

Worried, Nestra sent a message to Ragnarok summarizing what she’d found, but the old woman didn’t reply.

All that was left was to join the kaiju task force, if they let her. Curious, Nestra approached the meeting point. Tens of thousands of younger raiders were being funneled back to Threshold while a couple thousands elites gathered on a large hill in a well-lit, colorful blot on an otherwise monochrome background. She approached one of those raiders who looked like they knew what they were doing. He wore an eastern-style armor, with a massive bow on his back but no quivers. The Touhei megacorp logo was engraved in his twin pauldrons like the Mon of some ancient clan.

“Hai?”

“This is my first time. I can provide artillery spells,” Nestra said.

He gave her an appraising look. The evaluation didn’t last long.

“Ask Lei, over there.”

He pointed at a Chinese woman wearing robes covered in thunderbolts patterns in the distance. She was moving with B-class speed, talking to several groups in quick succession. Nestra thanked the Touhei guy with a nod before approaching the group of advanced C-class and B-class mages.

Lei appeared in front of Nestra like she’d teleported there. Given the taste of electric mana in the air, she probably had. Her voice was clipped and forced Nestra to speak as fast as she could.

“Artillerist?”

“Yes.”

“Can your spells damage a B-class threat?”

“Yes.”

“Range?”

“Eighty meters.”

“You’re with Ambrose. He’ll show you the ropes.”

She was ‘gently’ pushed towards a short man built like a bunker. With the armor, he was probably about as wide as he was tall. Two ridiculously large tower shields hung from each of his arms. They touched the ground when he wasn’t moving.

“First time?” he asked without preamble.

“Yes.”

“Stay exactly three steps behind me as much as you can. When we say retreat, you leg it. If I say hold, you hide behind me and try to make yourself very small.”

He looked up to her, not by choice.

“Very, very small,” he insisted.

“You cover me, got it.”

“Good. Don’t worry, you’re in good hands. Just don’t act stupid and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Copy that.”

“Then follow.”

He led her to a squad of C-class gleams, all of them strong. A few words was enough for them to give her a spot right behind Ambrose. Slowly, the mess of high gleams turned into a well-tuned body made of thousands of garishly equipped raiders like cells of some shimmering giant. Nestra’s squad was one of several groups of short-range artillerists protected by some of the best tank gleams Threshold had to offer. What amazed her was how megacorps guilders, medium-sized guilders, and soldiers formed a harmonious whole. She was so used to seeing them at each other’s throat that this moment of quiet unity moved her. This must be what it would have been like to fight under Riel, she thought. Like being a thread in a tapestry of the best mankind had to offer. Part of something better. Part of a dream for a better future.

This was how humanity had survived the Incursion. Despite the assholes, the adversity, deep inside, there was enough altruism, enough heroes, enough cruel ingeniosity and merciless efficiency to put down even city enders like a kaiju. She knew someone like Sereth could come here and destroy them, but Sereth was a three centuries-old Aszhii and mankind had ascended for only six decades. This was the potential the Aszhii had seen when sampling mankind’s prowess for the first time. And maybe, one day, it would be allowed to bloom. And maybe it would still be harmonious then. Even if most of the humans would want to kill her if they learnt what she was, Nestra was still proud and happy to be here tonight.

“Visual contact soon,” someone said.

Nestra saw something slowly crawling out of the sea in the distance, and then she realized that distance was five kilometers. Even this far, her Aszhii eyes allowed her to see that it was a quadrupedal monster that looked like something between a turtle and a hedgehog, each shell piece adorned with a thick tentacle. Its head was hidden for now, so only its back was visible. A flash of light showed cobalt blue skin and crimson highlights, then the first explosion made it disappear under a sea of flame and smoke.

BOOM.

The ground vibrated under Nestra’s feet. It shook a second time when the creature roared. The smoke was pushed out in an expanding cloud, revealing an intact shell. Nestra wasn’t sure but some of the tentacles looked thinner and the shell might have been more dull.

BOOM.

“At least it’s not a fast one. Not like last time,” Ambrose said.

BOOM.

He was looking at her, eyes impassive under his thick helmet. She was pretty sure this was some sort of pre-battle banter that let leaders assess the personality of a rookie or something. Maybe some pep talk as well, or a mix of both. She was fine with indulging. Curiosity needled her.

“I only saw it on TV. A titan with a huge mouth. And grasping hair,” she said.

BOOM.

“Most kaiju use some sort of feeders. They still have a metabolism and they’re too large to hunt efficiently, so the theory is that the feelers let them grab prey.”

Nestra had another look at the incoming threat. Explosions kept blooming in its shell, each one amazingly precise. The next one landed square on its head with little to show for it.

“Strong defenses though,” she said.

“Yes. Aim for a weak point if you can. It will be the base of a tentacle or an open wound, depending. Don’t try anything fancy. Even if you hit the shell, it will weaken some sort of permanent shield they have on.”

“Looks tasty,” Nestra said dreamily.

The B-class tank bonked her on the head with his tower shield, not too hard. A few of the other artillerists chuckled or huffed.

“Never, ever, ever talk about what happens after we defeat it. You’ll jinx it.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s all good. Now, tell me about the spell you intend to use.”

Nestra did so, thanking Mazingwe in her head for all the tests he’d run and she’d claimed were useless. The recent boost to her mana reserves from the core she’d eaten might have improved her pool enough to cast a couple more bolts. At this stage, she could probably land ten or twelve at full power before being fully drained. More if she were given time to recover. Ambrose nodded.

Missiles hit the kaiju in the flank, all focused on the front shell near its neck. Missiles from the air force, she assumed. Morer artillery joined the heavy cannon just as a report beeped on her damaged visor. She had trouble downloading it.

“Kaiju scan,” Ambrose said. “Read it.”

“My visor’s damaged,” Nestra admitted.

“Okay, no worries. For you, I’d advise shooting twice and then preparing to reposition. Don’t charge a third time. Just watch for the feelers and follow my lead, and no matter what, don’t stand in front of it.”

That was always solid advice with kaiju. She remembered Hong Wang. He had flown in front of a kaiju, and it had vaporized him.

The ground shook again from a barrage of something. By then, she could only follow the kaiju from the moving, rolling cloud of explosions. It looked like they were targeting the front of the shell rather than the head. On the human side, the army parted in two groups on either side of the incoming beast. No one was left between it and the walls. It was absolutely pointless to be there anyway. Only Shinran or Ragnarok might slow it down and they were both… somewhere else. Nestra still wasn’t sure what they were doing since killing the kaiju felt like a priority.

When the beast was only a kilometer or so out, army walkers joined the barrage. The kaiju screamed, again, and the cloud of projectiles and smoke was pushed away. Much of its shell was cracked and its feelers were either gone or damaged on the front end. Pulsating red wounds marred its body. Gallons of blood gushed every second but still, it persisted. Nestra knew from her school that kaiju resisted most conventional bombardment. She’d seen footage of the early years post Incursion, when coastal cities had fallen. The fact it was so wounded was just insane. Even the view was only cleared for an instant before the continuous barrage covered it again under a cloud of chaos.

“Alright. Time to go,” Ambrose said.

Nestra moved with the rest of the team. She was much faster than some of the mages present, so it was easy to keep up with the tank.

“We move in after the next yell,”Ambrose warned.

The kaiju screamed again, pushing back the cloud of dust. At the same time, the bombardment completely stopped. Now, Nestra could see its wounded frame again.

“Go, go!”

They closed in, a sea of humanity on either side of the beast. The most powerful flying B-class of Threshold attacked the creature head on, near the head to prevent it from turning. Exactly what Nestra had been advised not to do, but someone had to distract it. Ambrose had Nestra run straight towards where the creature was going to be instead of where it was. Nestra was soon in range but Ambrose drove them a bit closer. The feelers could get to her.

“Now!”

Nestra aimed for the base of the nearest tentacle. She was finally going to use something she hadn’t had to employ in a very long time: arcane strike, the ability she’d gained from binding power and mana intensity in her planetarium. It remained an underused skill but now was the perfect time to test it. She didn’t see her maximized bolt land from the sheer volume of exploding spells. It didn’t matter, she cast a second time where she thought it might be. The powerful wall of water mana surrounding the kaiju made it impossible for her to guess where everything was with her mana sense. She finished casting and waited. A tentacle emerged from the cloud, bleeding from many cuts. It smashed Ambrose’s shield in a massive blow that shattered the earth around them, but the B-class held. He smacked the massive appendage away.

“Back! Back!”

They started running parallel to the path of the kaiju at what was a good jog for her Aszhii self. Some of the mages were falling behind and they were forced to pull back. More wounds accumulated on the kaiju. Nestra could see its front legs go up and down, the closest one as large as an apartment block. Each stomp made the ground shake. It was like fighting a natural catastrophe, and the crazy thing was, they were winning. The beast was slowing down.

“Closer! Again!”

It was easy following Ambrose. He was very predictable, and the way they moved in to attack before falling back were the sort of tactics that fit the Scornful Crescent philosophy. She allowed herself to be absorbed into the rhythm. On her third pass, she managed to land the bolt on a wound, cutting one of the tentacles.

“Nice one!” Ambrose yelled.

By then, half of the artillery group had to pull back after exhausting their mana. They used their most powerful spells at maximum potency every time to pierce the creature’s defenses. Only a few dozen artillerists remained in her group. Her void mana’s penetration power meant she could see the wounds her attack left on the weakened creature. Her fifth spell made something explode. Blood drenched the ground in front of them.

“Ok, back off, back off!”

Water coalesced in small droplets around the kaiju. Nestra ran away as fast as she could, Ambrose needling her on.

“Come on!”

The droplets turned into projectiles, exploding outward. Ambrose turned and stopped the tide. She heard the impact, like thousands of bullets hitting a brick wall at the same time. Other raiders weren’t so lucky, and she saw an arm fly off. The blood of raiders joined that of the kaiju.

“Again!” Ambrose yelled.

They closed in. Blood cascaded from the creature’s weakened neck. Cataclysmic spells landed on the wound, breaking water shields faster than they could form. Nestra’s next two bolts were stopped but the shields she hit breached soon after. And then it happened. The front leg fell forward instead of lifting.

“What the—”

“Clear off!”

With the slow momentum of a falling tree, the kaiju slowly, slowly, fell forward. Nestra was running, but she still looked back to see its head impact the ground in a cloud of dust. The earth shook, again, under her feet. She almost lost her balance when the body followed, and crevices formed around them.

Relative quiet returned to the battlefield, and then came a great cheer. Nestra didn’t feel power yet.

“Is it really dead?” she asked a whooping Ambrose.

“Nah, it’s going to take another half an hour for it to finish bleeding out, but we did it. We stopped it.”

He checked his visor.

“Two point seven kilometers away from the walls. Not bad without the A-classes, although that one was on the weaker end of the scale. Hey, congratulations. Crescent, was it? You did well.”

“Thanks.”

“Let me register you on my team so you get the full benefits. And yeah, you were right. Turtle soup tomorrow!”

He was gone. Nestra was left standing in bloody mud, wondering what to do next. The power surge arrived twenty minutes later as she joined a large, improvised encampment. It wasn’t very large but she hadn’t done much. Maybe one day she’d be strong enough to fell a kaiju by herself! And then probably eat it too.

She wondered if there were clam kaiju.

***

Things didn’t end just because the kaiju was dead. There was a lot of mopping up to do, but Nestra was absolutely cactus and she just wanted to go home. Unfortunately, the line to get lifted back by hovercar, courtesy of the city, was huge, with priority given to people who needed medical attention. She decided to walk instead. The jog back to the walls didn’t take long, the gates were open with military convoys and ambulances rushing in and out. Heavily armed sentries waved her through before she could even produce an ID.

It wasn’t difficult to get a ground taxi considering it was fuck-o-clock in the morning. The AI-driven car dropped her four blocks away from Sereth’s house. Nestra banged on the door like a harridan. Sereth let her in with a face of annoyance that she ignored because of little sister privilege.

“FEED ME!” she demanded.

“Can you explain why you’re all over the internet? I am supposed to keep you safe but you are out there being a celebrity. I thought I had to hide you from technology but… you are completely in the open and nothing bad is happening. I don’t know what I am supposed to do anymore. I don’t understand humans at all…”

He waved a datasheet under her nose. It was paused on herself grabbing one of Garden Square’s monsters by a gaping wound on its chest, then cracking its ribcage open like a gory pinata. It already had close to eighty thousand views and the top comment read ‘Wish a tall muscular lady gleam would do that to me TwT’.

Sereth’s ears drooped pitifully.

“I am lost,” he said.