The bunker smelled of ozone and old dust. The silence that had previously defined the Dead Sector was gone, replaced by the frantic clack-hiss of pneumatic drivers and the low, ominous thudding from the tunnel outside.
THOOM.
The blast door shuddered. A fine rain of rust flaked off the ceiling.
"The coolant won't hold it forever," Kai said, his voice tight. He was on his knees, stripping the casing off the turret kits Nova had sold him. "That Siege Bot is built to breach hulls. Ice is just a delay."
"I know," Rin said. She was sitting cross-legged across from him, her good hand moving with a speed and precision that belied her exhaustion. She held a magnetic screwdriver, expertly threading bolts into the turret's traverse mechanism. Her mechanical arm lay disassembled nearby, its battery pack currently wired into the turret's power feed.
"You're good at this," Kai noted, pausing for a split second to watch her align a sensor array.
"I grew up in a scrapyard, Kai," Rin muttered, not looking up. Her face was pale, beads of sweat sticking her hair to her forehead. "If you didn't learn to fix things, you starved. Or you got recycled."
Kai nodded. He grabbed the barrel assembly—a heavy, dual-rail kinetic driver. It was military surplus, likely stolen from a crashed drop-ship decades ago.
[ OBJECT: KINETIC SENTRY TURRET (MK. II) ][ STATUS: DISASSEMBLED ][ ASSEMBLY PROGRESS: 60% ][ MISSING COMPONENT: TARGETING LOGIC ]
"Cipher," Kai subvocalized. "The software. These things are blank slates. They need an OS."
< I CAN RUN THEM. > Cipher replied. < BUT MY BANDWIDTH IS LIMITED. IF I'M AIMING THE GUNS, I CAN'T HELP YOU REGULATE YOUR QI DURING COMBAT. YOU'LL BE ON YOUR OWN. >
"I can handle myself," Kai said. "Just make sure they don't miss."
< THERE IS ANOTHER OPTION. >
Kai paused. "The Cube?"
< THE MEMORY CORE YOU STOLE FROM THE WAREHOUSE. IT'S NOT JUST DATA. IT'S A PROCESSING UNIT. A TACTICAL CO-PROCESSOR. IF YOU PLUG IT INTO THE SERVER, I CAN SLAVE THE TURRETS TO IT. >
Kai reached into his pocket and pulled out the heavy metallic cube. It was cold, absorbing the heat of his hand. The gold text of the Entropy Sutra pulsed around it.
[ OBJECT: MEMORY CORE (ENCRYPTED) ][ COMPATIBILITY: UNIVERSAL ][ SUGGESTED ACTION: INTEGRATE ]
"Rin, finish the assembly," Kai said, standing up. "I need to wake up the brain."
He ran to the active server console. The single green light was still blinking steadily, indifferent to the siege outside.
He found an expansion slot on the console's front panel. It was clogged with dust. He placed his hand over it.
"Decompile."
The dust vanished.
He slotted the cube in.
CLICK.
For a second, nothing happened. Then, a low, deep hum began to emanate from the rack. The single green light turned amber, then a piercing, angry red.
Lines of code cascaded down the console screen—not the green of the local network, but a harsh, militaristic orange.
> HARDWARE DETECTED: TACTICAL DEFENSE MODULE (SERIES-9)> STATUS: DORMANT> ACTIVATION SEQUENCE: INITIATED
< HELLO, BEAUTIFUL. > Cipher purred. < THIS IS PRE-WAR TECH. THIS THING WAS DESIGNED TO COORDINATE CITY DEFENSES. IT'S OVERKILL FOR TWO TURRETS. >
"Overkill is what we need," Kai said.
[ SYSTEM ALERT: NEW HARDWARE INTEGRATED ][ BASE DEFENSE PROTOCOL: ONLINE ][ TURRET LINK: ESTABLISHED ]
Behind him, the two turret assemblies beeped. Their sensor eyes lit up with the same angry red glow as the console. They swiveled smoothly, tracking Kai, then Rin, then locking onto the blast door.
"They're live," Rin gasped, scrambling back.
"They're friendly," Kai assured her, hoping he was right.
THOOM.
The blast door groaned. A dent appeared in the center of the metal, pushing inward like a giant fist. The sound of grinding gears screamed from the other side.
"The ice is melting," Kai said. He drew the Arc-Blade. "Get behind the servers, Rin. Stay low."
Rin grabbed her modified heater-disk and scuttled into the shadows of the server rows.
Kai stood in the center of the room, ten meters back from the door. He flanked himself with the two turrets.
He checked his stats.
[ QI RESERVES: 255/300 ][ WEAPON CHARGE: 98% ][ ADRENALINE: RISING ]
"Cipher," Kai thought. "Give me the tactical overlay."
The world shifted. A grid appeared on the floor. Distances were measured in real-time. The blast door was highlighted with structural stress points.
CRUNCH.
A massive, three-clawed foot punched through the metal door. Sparks showered the room.
The Siege Bot pulled its leg back, tearing a jagged hole in the steel. Through the gap, Kai could see the dark tunnel and the red optical sensor of the walker.
"Knock knock," the synthesized voice boomed, distorted and glitching.
"Open fire," Kai commanded.
The turrets didn't hesitate. They spun up with a high-pitched whine.
THWACK-THWACK-THWACK-THWACK.
The kinetic drivers unleashed a hail of tungsten slugs. They hammered the breach, sparking off the Siege Bot's armor.
The walker roared—a mechanical sound of annoyance rather than pain. It smashed its shoulder against the door, ripping it off its hinges.
The blast door fell inward with a deafening crash.
The Siege Bot stepped into the room.
It was massive, filling the entrance. Its armor was scarred and pitted, covered in patches of white frost where the coolant had frozen it. But it was moving. The rotary cannon on its back swiveled, tracking the turrets.
And clinging to its back, like a tick, was the Rat-King.
The mutant creature screeched, pointing a claw at Kai. "The Null! Rip him! Tear him!"
[ TARGET: SIEGE BOT (DAMAGED) ][ ARMOR INTEGRITY: 85% ][ WEAKNESS: LEG JOINTS (FROZEN/BRITTLE) ]
Kai saw the red text flashing on the bot's knees. The liquid nitrogen had done its job; the metal was supercooled, brittle.
The bot's rotary cannon spun.
< DODGE! >
Kai dove to the right.
BRRRRRRRRRT.
A stream of high-explosive rounds tore up the floor where he had been standing. Concrete chips exploded like shrapnel.
One of the turrets took a direct hit. It shattered, parts flying across the room.
"One down," Kai gritted his teeth. "Cipher, divert power to the remaining turret! Focus fire on the left knee!"
< COMPLYING. >
The remaining turret adjusted its aim. It ignored the chassis and hammered the frozen joint of the walker's front left leg.
PING-PING-CRACK.
The metal, brittle from the cold, chipped away under the relentless kinetic impact.
The Siege Bot staggered, its gyro-stabilizers whining. It tried to step forward, but the damaged leg buckled.
It slumped to one side, its aim thrown off.
Kai saw his opening.
He scrambled up, channeling Qi into his legs.
[ OVERCLOCK: LEGS ]
He sprinted. He didn't run away; he ran at the machine.
The Rat-King saw him coming. It pulled a jagged scrap-pistol from its belt and fired.
Kai saw the bullet trajectory. He didn't dodge. He raised his left hand.
[ STATIC FIELD ]
The air hardened. The bullet hit the invisible wall and tumbled away, losing its momentum.
Kai leaped. He pushed off the fallen blast door and vaulted onto the Siege Bot's chassis.
He landed right behind the Rat-King.
The creature spun, hissing, swiping with poisoned claws.
Kai didn't engage. He kicked the rat in the chest, sending it tumbling off the robot to the hard floor below.
Then, he drove the Arc-Blade down.
He didn't aim for the armor. He aimed for the rotary cannon's ammo feed mechanism.
SNAP-HISS.
The plasma blade sliced through the belt feed. The ammunition drum cooked off.
BOOM.
A small explosion rocked the walker's back. The rotary cannon was blown off its mount, clattering to the floor.
The Siege Bot thrashed, trying to throw Kai off. It reared up, its servos screaming.
Kai held on to a handhold, his coat flapping in the heat of the burning ammo.
[ CRITICAL DAMAGE INFLICTED ][ ENEMY WEAPON SYSTEM: OFFLINE ]
"Get off!" The synthesized voice of the bot glitched, dropping in pitch. "Get... off... user..."
The bot slammed its side against the wall of the bunker, trying to crush Kai.
Kai released his grip just in time, dropping to the floor. He rolled, coming up in a crouch.
The bot was damaged, weaponless, and limping. But it was still a three-ton killing machine. It turned toward him, raising a heavy claw to smash him.
"Kai!" Rin screamed from the back of the room.
The remaining turret fired a desperate burst, but the ammo click-clacked empty.
Kai stood alone before the machine.
He felt the Qi in his body. He felt the connection to the server, to the Cube, to the room itself.
He didn't just have a weapon. He had the environment.
[ SKILL: DECOMPILE ][ TARGET: FLOOR PLATING (SECTOR B) ][ STRUCTURAL SUPPORT: CRITICAL ]
Kai looked at the floor beneath the walker's feet. It was a heavy metal grate over a sub-basement cooling duct.
"Cipher," Kai said. "Delete the floor."
< WITH PLEASURE. >
Kai slammed his hand onto the ground. He pushed a massive surge of Qi into the metal grating.
[ EXECUTING: UNMAKE.EXE ]
The metal beneath the Siege Bot didn't break. It vanished. It dissolved into iron dust.
The walker's feet found empty air.
It tilted forward, gravity taking over. With a metallic screech, the massive machine pitched face-first into the hole Kai had created.
It crashed into the sub-basement, three meters down, landing upside down like a turtle. Its legs flailed helplessly in the air.
Dust billowed up from the pit.
Kai stood at the edge, looking down. The bot was trapped.
[ ENEMY STATUS: IMMOBILIZED ]
He turned around.
The Rat-King was trying to crawl away toward the tunnel, clutching its chest where Kai had kicked it.
Kai walked over. He didn't hurry.
The rat looked up, its purple eyes filled with hate. "The Sect... will burn you. The Administrator... sees all."
Kai activated the Arc-Blade. The blue light reflected in the rat's eyes.
"Tell them I said hello," Kai said.
He swung the blade.
Silence.
[ THREAT ELIMINATED ][ COMBAT EXPERIENCE: SIGNIFICANT ][ QI RESERVES: 40/300 ]
Kai powered down the weapon. The exhaustion hit him then, a wave of dizziness. He stumbled.
"Kai!"
Rin was there, catching him before he fell. She was crying, but she held him up with surprising strength.
"I'm okay," Kai mumbled, leaning on her. "I'm okay."
He looked around the room. The door was gone. One turret was destroyed. There was a hole in the floor with a robot in it.
It was a mess. But they were alive.
He looked at the server console. The red light of the Tactical Defense Module was pulsing slowly, steadily.
< THREAT NEUTRALIZED, > Cipher said. < BUT THAT WAS JUST A PROBE. A SCOUTING PARTY. NEXT TIME, THEY WON'T SEND A RAT. THEY'LL SEND AN ARMY. >
"Next time," Kai said, looking at the captured Siege Bot struggling in the pit. "Next time, we'll have a tank."
He pointed at the hole.
"Rin. Do you think we can fix that thing? Reprogram it?"
Rin looked at the flailing machine. She wiped her tears. A spark of interest lit up her milky eyes.
"It's... it's just hardware," she said. "If we bypass the logic core... yes. I can fix it."
"Good," Kai said. "Because we're going to need a doorman."
He sat down on the floor, closing his eyes to cultivate. He needed to recharge.
The first battle for the Dead Sector was over. The war for the Lower Ring had just begun.