Into the Fire Part II: To End All Wars (Universe in Flames Book 10)

by Christian Kallias

  Achanes had a wireless connection, and she needed to hack it. Trillions of bits of scattered data were reconverging into a single nexus point where he was no doubt rebuilding a new avatar. She needed to stop that advancement so that she could hack some of his systems. If she could get communications as well as virtual world control, they’d finally be on equal footing.

  She boosted her aura to the maximum, and to her surprise, she felt a strong, cold wind twirling around her. She looked at the boiling blob of data trying to retake shape and unleashed a massive freezing beam. Soon, the blob of data was trapped into a near absolute zero ice coffin.

  That would buy her some time. She had no idea how long, but she knew she couldn’t waste even a millisecond. She looked around at the millions of lines of codes until a sub-routine caught her attention. She accessed it and was rewarded with everything she had hoped for, and more. She was inside Achanes’ main code.

  For a split second, she had flashes of what was happening, the battle with the Furies, the battle with the Spectre, and Chase apparently regenerating inside the time chamber. While access to the advanced Atlantian tech was a no go for the time being, she stumbled onto a piece of nano-tech that seemed to boost the energy output of the sphere itself, and Gaia thought that this could be of some use to Chase in regard to how the tech could be applied to living tissues. But she had to act fast, as she could already feel the powerful AI regaining his senses and trying to expel her from his domain.

  Argos felt horrified and paralyzed at the sight of Tanak’Vor in his true form. They had failed to bring him down when he was using Arakan’s body, and now he looked even more vile and powerful.

  How could they dream of destroying him?

  We have to! said Chris in his mind.

  Argos must have been broadcasting his fears strongly enough that Chris picked up on them.

  While he agreed with his nephew, the task seemed insurmountable, even with Chase’s return, which, hopefully, wouldn’t be long now. Of course, they would fight until the end, no matter what, but Argos feared that the battle might already be lost.

  “Alright, we can’t wait for Chase anymore, we’ll have to start attacking that monster on our own,” said Argos. “Remember, we attack as one.”

  “I don’t think so,” said Tanak’Vor. “If Chase is returning, then I’m not going to let you attack me all at once. Pray to whatever gods you believe in as your time has come.”

  Chris, help Thor while I distract Tanak’Vor, and activate his emergency site-to-site transport.

  Understood.

  Argos sent flurries of crimson fireballs toward the Spectre, giving Chris time to fly to the dying Asgardian. Upon arriving near his motionless body, Chris quickly healed Thor’s wound and restarted his heart. He then pressed the back of his neck, and Thor was transported to the Victory.

  The dozens of tightly packed fireballs exploded onto Tanak’Vor’s chest, but instead of detonating, they were assimilated into his body.

  “Thank you for the power-up, Argos. That’s mighty generous of you.”

  Tanak’Vor closed his eyes, and the palace ship started to tremble. A dark red aura grew around him and four holes opened on his chest, revealing bright orange lava bubbling under his skin. Large quantities of black goo shot from his orifices and splashed in front of him. Four pools of bubbling sludge stood there for a few seconds until humanoid silhouettes rose from it and started moving. The shadowy creatures were barely taller than an adolescent humanoid, and they had no eyes, nose, or ears, just an oily dark-skinned human-looking body. But one thing was for sure, they weren’t human. When they opened their mouths, double rows of sharp tiny teeth were revealed as they screeched an ear-piercing sound.

  “What the hell are those things?” asked Sarah.

  “Never mind what they are,” answered Menelas. “They don’t look friendly, and something tells me that they’re our next enemy.”

  By the time Chris had rejoined Argos, Sarah, and Menelas, the shadowy creatures leaped from where they stood, and each vectored toward one of the Furies.

  “Kill them all, and bring me back their souls,” said Tanak’Vor, followed by echoing laughter.

  Argos never expected the shadowy figures to be as strong as they were. He had been fighting his for a good minute without ever managing to land any serious blows or cause the creature any harm. Then again, he was keeping a close eye on Sarah, who was holding her own.

  Focus on your own fight, she said. We need to get rid of these creatures, and I can sense you’re not giving this fight your full attention.

  Sarah was right. He needed to fight this beast without being distracted.

  Understood. Be careful.

  Yes…You too.

  Argos pushed his aura to the maximum but was surprised that even in Ultra Fury mode, the creature was able to dodge his combos. He accelerated his attacking rate and consciously repeated the same pattern over and over until he decided to introduce a couple of feints to try and create an opening.

  Sure enough, he was rewarded when the creature went to block one of his decoy blows.

  Take this!

  Argos placed an open palm on the creature’s chest and fired an intense beam of crimson energy. The creature screeched as Argos burnt a hole through it. It was thrown backward and crashed motionless to the ground in front of a grinning Tanak’Vor.

  Argos then darted toward Sarah’s creature, who never saw him coming. He engulfed his right forearm in crimson energy and used it as a blade, decapitating the creature with a swift and fluid motion.

  “Thanks for the assist,” said Sarah with a smile as she kicked the falling head far away.

  “Anytime.”

  Sarah leaped toward Menelas’ creature and gave him a helping hand.

  Chris, who could feel Argos coming toward their position, sped up his pace and managed to land an impact shockwave to the creature’s chest, sending it near to Argos who cut the creature in two with a roundhouse kick. Both halves of the black body made a squishy sound as they collapsed to the floor.

  The last creature, still holding its own, albeit releasing some fatigue-sounding screech, never let Menelas or Sarah get the best of it. Chris and Argos flew in the direction of the fight and split up at the last second, each of them catching it from the sides, Chris with a kick and Argos with a powerful jab. The creature was swept off its feet, and Menelas slashed it in half with his forearm.

  All four warriors turned toward Tanak’Vor when he started clapping his hands.

  “Not bad at all for such a pathetic bunch of warriors. But, I’m afraid you’re no match for me. With or without Chase’s help.”

  “That remains to be seen,” said Chris defiantly. “Let’s shut this asshole up, I’ve had it with his gloating.”

  “You and me both,” said Argos.

  All four of them deployed an enormous amount of energy and fired a powerful attack at Tanak’Vor.

  Sarah’s lightning-infused fireball was the first to reach its target, followed closely by Chris and Argos’ red and green energy beams, while Menelas’ large fireball was closing the gap.

  Tanak’Vor deflected Sarah’s fireball back to her with the flick of his hand. He then spun on himself and froze both beams of energy with a flash-freeze beam, invoked a typhoon to deal with Menelas’ slower attack, and deflect it to his side.

  The Spectre then snapped his fingers, and the previously cut creatures’ body parts levitated. Hundreds of tendrils of black goo shot between their severed joints and reassembled themselves.

  “You didn’t think that it was going to be that easy, did you?” said Tanak’Vor. “This is very entertaining, though, so let’s have some more fun, shall we?”

  With fifteen minutes left to go, Chase was getting restless in the regen tank. He was about to cancel the cycle when he heard a voice inside the pod. It was Gaia, and, at first, he wondered if he imagined it.

  “Gaia? Is that you?”

  “Yes, listen up, Chase. I’ve accesse
d the sphere, but I’ve hit a snag.”

  “Okay. I’m listening.”

  “The sphere tech is protected by a powerful AI. It’s not crazy or mad like Gaia 2, but it’s still aggressively protecting the knowledge of Atlantian technology.”

  “Atlantian, huh? How do you intend to get to it then?”

  “I have to defeat the AI; that’s the only way to do this.”

  “Are you confident you can do it?”

  “I don’t know, but that doesn’t matter. I’ve managed to render the AI inactive long enough for me to gain access to its wireless capabilities, which I’m sorry for doing, as I know you wouldn’t have approved of that.”

  “Well, seeing how badly things have turned out today, I honestly don’t care, as long as we find any edge from your incursion into this AI, you have my blessings. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt, though.”

  There was silence.

  “Gaia? Are you sure you can do this with no risk to your life?”

  “I’m afraid I can’t guarantee that. I’ll do whatever I can to survive, dying is the last thing on my mind, especially since I’ve been reunited with Spiros, but Chase, that AI is very powerful.”

  “What does Spiros think of you taking that kind of risk? I doubt he’s happy about it.”

  “As far as he knows, I’m still just trying to access the tech. If he knew I was battling another AI, he would surely try to stop me.”

  “I’m not sure I’m comfortable letting you take that risk either. Perhaps you should reconsider.”

  “Look, this is the last push, Chase. If we fail today, we all die anyway, so we might as well go all in to make sure we succeed. I’ve already acquired the blink drive files, all I need to do is unlock them by defeating the AI.”

  Chase hated the idea of Gaia risking her life to accomplish her goal, but she was right. Today was judgment day, and they either won and saved all living beings, or evil forces would soon consume the universe, if not by the few remaining Furies engaged with the Earth Alliance fleet, then surely by Tanak’Vor himself. And they couldn’t let that happen.

  “Very well, I’m trusting that you know what you’re doing. It’s your life after all, and since I’m risking both mine and those of my family, who am I to give you a lecture.”

  “About you risking your life, Chase. I think I may have stumbled onto something that could help you greatly with your next fight. I only have a few moments before the Achanes AI kicks me out of his matrix, so you’ll need to trust me.”

  “Trust you regarding what?”

  “I’ve accessed the time chamber synthesizer and replicated some powerful nanites that I want to inject into your body via the regen tank. They will merge into your physiology and not only improve strength, speed, and stamina but will allow your body to store up to three times more energy than your cells normally would.”

  “I’m not sure I like the idea of having micro-machines let loose inside of me. There’s no telling how they could affect my fighting.”

  “I’ve run simulations using Achanes’ infinitely faster processing power. It will work, Chase, I’m sure of it. Plus, you don’t have to worry about the nanites themselves; they’re designed to dissolve into your bloodstream once you’ve consumed their extra juice.”

  “But won’t that mean that I have to stay longer in the regen tank until they charge? That could be a problem.”

  “I’ve thought of tha—”

  There was a pause.

  “Gaia? Are you still there?”

  “Sorry, Achanes is waking up. I had to erect a quick firewall to keep him from breaking this transmission. I can’t stay connected with you any longer, and regarding your question: I’ve found a way to flash-charge the nanites too. It’s incredible what my matrix can achieve when connected to such processing power. I’ve got to go, just know you’ll feel a stinging sensation in your entire body when I deploy them. A few seconds after that, you’ll be good to go.”

  “Understood, thank you, Gaia. Be careful.”

  “You too, Chase, and just in case, goodbye.”

  Chase didn’t like the sound of that, but before he could voice his opinion, a strong stinging sensation traveled through his body from head to toe, as if a million needles had entered it simultaneously. He felt a rush in energy levels like nothing he experienced before. His pool nearly tripled almost immediately.

  “Holy crap!”

  There was no need to stay in the chamber for the remaining thirteen minutes of the cycle. Chase had more energy than he ever thought possible, so he pressed the cancel touch control. The lighting inside the pod turned red, and an alarm wailed. Something was not going well, but Chase didn’t care. He pulverized the tank’s door with a swift shockwave, and regen liquid spilled on the floor of the time chamber as did whatever was left of the blasted door.

  31

  As the four reconstructed shadowy creatures leaped forward, more holes appeared on Tanak’Vor’s chest and spat black goo around him. There was something almost birth-like in how he expelled the goo from his body.

  Eight more creatures rose from their respective pools of dark sludge, and the little devils began laughing in unison through their tiny sharp teeth. Each warrior had to contend with not one but three of them, which quickly turned the fragile balance of their fight toward the favor of the creatures.

  Menelas was the first to get hit. One of the creatures knocked him in the back with its knees and propelled him forward, where a second creature catapulted him into the air with a swift uppercut. The last creature followed and passed the Fury in the air, joined both his hands, and smashed Menelas in the face, sending him crashing on the floor where he lost consciousness.

  Sarah didn’t do much better and had to protect her belly against three enemies that quickly opened breaches in her defenses. She took the first hit to the face, which sent her flying backward and upward. Her head was ringing when two creatures went for the kill.

  Nearby, Argos catapulted one of the creatures upward with a strong kick and swiftly caught both the other foes and locked their heads under his arms. He shot one of the creatures attacking Sarah with laser beams from his eyes before it could hit her. He snapped the neck of one of the creatures locked under his arms and kicked it away with his knee as he threw the other one toward the creature that was nearly upon a still falling Sarah. Both creatures collided with each other and tumbled away onto the floor.

  They all got back up and looked at Argos.

  “I’m waiting, you gooey bastards!”

  Sarah managed to regain her senses before crashing to the ground and did a half somersault and skid backward with one foot and one knee on the ground.

  The creature with the broken neck rose not too far from Argos, its head dangling to its side. With a snapping noise, it adjusted its head back in place as the other five got back up to their feet and encircled the Fury. Meanwhile, the three that had disposed of Menelas were still kicking him when they heard a screeching call from the other six.

  Chris did a rotating typhoon kick and sent all three of his opponents crashing nearby, then he flew next to Argos. As did Sarah just before all twelve creatures widened their circle, ready to attack the trio from all sides.

  “This is going to hurt,” said Chris.

  “For them,” said Argos with a chuckle.

  Sarah, meanwhile, was staying in full focus, trying to anticipate their enemies’ movements. They moved in sync and lurched themselves forward. The trio gave it everything they had, and for a couple of minutes, they managed to use their proximity as a way to defend their position. The moment Sarah let a single blow touch her, sending her to the floor, the balance of power tipped and both Argos and Chris used their bodies to protect her from most of the subsequent attacks.

  Argos managed to repel a few of the creatures with well-placed blasts as did Chris with shockwaves, but they were soon overwhelmed and received hundreds of punches without being able to block or retaliate. Sarah was still on the floor when she saw
them getting massacred in front of her eyes.

  Seeing her son’s blood splashed around her caused something to snap inside her mind. She jumped to her feet and unleashed an inhuman war cry, her yellow aura exploding like a supernova, and the resulting shockwave sent all twelve creatures scattering.

  But they recovered and briefly stayed in midair before they all started laughing like evil-possessed demon children.

  Sarah, Argos, and Chris were panting heavily.

  “What do we do now?” asked Chris.

  “We keep fighting,” said Sarah.

  “What your mother said.”

  Gaia sensed her last feeble firewall fall and exited the matrix before Achanes could trap her. If he got the upper hand while she was inside his matrix, she had no doubt that he could erase her.

  The ice coffin, where she had trapped his avatar, exploded into a hundred shards of ice, most of which came hurtling toward her. She thrust her hands forward and reduced them to ice dust with a powerful shockwave.

  The code fragments reunited and regenerated the Atlantian’s AI avatar body.

  “That was foolish!” shouted Achanes.

  She could feel that the AI was succumbing to anger. Until now, he had been quite level-headed and just doing what he had been programmed to do. But she could tell infiltrating his matrix didn’t sit well with him.

  “I should have destroyed you the first time you came here.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “I told you why. As a fellow AI, especially one so young, I hoped you’d listen to reason.”

  “Just like I hoped you’d listen to reason, as well. You’re not evil, Achanes, that much I sense in your programming, so it’s not too late to change your mind and help me save all life in the universe.”

  “You know I can’t do that!” said Achanes, his tone cold.

  “I don’t. You keep saying that, but let me ask you this, who created you?”

  “Why do you keep insisting on making me repeat myself?”

  “Just answer the question?”

  “The Atlantians.”