12 Miles Below

Systems within his stolen shell lit up, highlighting his target. He could sense everything in between, from the exact temperature that surrounded him to the air currents between his blade and the clan knight before him. The exact range of motion still capable of the enemy, down to the very numbers A prediction based on prior movements, superimposed on the target in a cloud of green, yellow, orange, and red. Even the very color carefully painted on the knight’s armor was identified down to a set of numbers and symbols.

A hundred other data points fed into his mind, ranging from useless to essential. He’d learned which to pay attention to and which to discard. Some would have slowed him down to even consider when he’d been human, but now he could pause the fight to read a book if he needed to.

As the man took a step forward to fight, Tenisent expanded his mind outward, forcing his will on the machine systems. It complied without any struggle, accepting commands as he thought of them. Self-destruction orders To’Avalis had tried to send again and again in the early stages of his takeover had long ago ended once he’d left any range of connection with the machine underground. Hastily made viruses and digital landmines he’d attempted to implant had likewise been eliminated with Wrath’s help. To’Avalis had fought him with everything he had and lost.

There was nothing left to attempt now, not unless the Feather fought him soul to soul again. But this time, it was Tenisent’s fortress to assault. That coward would never take such a risk.

The body moved to his cadence, flowing from strike to strike faster and faster. The knight’s earlier attempt to take the initiative instantly turned Time slowed, and the knight’s unnatural speed grew back to normality and then further below. As if he were fighting in heavy water, trapped.

A Feather’s shell had power beyond anything Tenisent could have imagined. And it worried him beyond all reason.

Human. Tsyua had hummed in his mind on the top of that mountain shrine. It is the same as the last time I saw these models. Appears weaker, likely cheaper to construct. Though your old host has attempted to mitigate that. Regardless, compared to her other machine constructs, these shells are a league above.

Tenisent had filed this information as near-worthless. The origins of Feathers were irrelevant to him, whether they were human-made or machine-made; they were simply enemies to fight. He instead asked what truly mattered. Is it in your power to build these for us? Now that you see how they are made,

Tsyua returned a negative ping. I’ve seen them before. When the protofeathers came to me for help. We tried back then too, to make more of them. The nanoswarms are the ones that hold the genuine blueprints. You cannot access them, the same as you could not control your heart while a human, or tell your blood how to heal a wound.