Chapter 377: Nexus Under Attack

The ancient tower went silent, and for several seconds, nothing happened. Slowly, Nexus began to breathe again. Power returned to several districts, emergency systems came back online, people started leaving the shelters, and Hunters lowered their weapons.

BOOM.

Kai’s head snapped toward the sound as a section of road three blocks away was thrown into the air, raining concrete and stone across the street. Something enormous was pushing its way out of the ground. First came a massive metal hand, then an armored body, and then a second and a third right behind it.

Kai stared. "Those aren’t monsters."

Lily’s scanner came alive. "No," she said, her eyes widening. "They’re constructs."

Another explosion rocked the city as an ancient machine nearly twenty meters tall rose from beneath a building. Its body was black metal and old stone, carried on four enormous legs, and when its upper body turned, a glowing core lit up in the center of its chest. A beam of energy shot across the street and tore away the top floors of a modern building.

People screamed as Hunters rushed in, shouting at everyone to get off the street.

The machines kept coming. One, then three, then ten, then dozens, climbing out of the ancient roads, the old tunnels, and the structures buried beneath the city. Some looked like giant armored soldiers and others like enormous beasts of metal and stone, some carrying weapons Kai had never seen before and others with massive shields built right into their arms.

Gabriel’s communicator flooded with reports. Constructs were emerging across the city and moving toward the Central District, civilians were being evacuated, and Hunter teams were already engaging.

Gabriel’s expression hardened. "Are they attacking civilians?"

"Yes!"

Kai watched one of the constructs raise its arm as a glowing weapon formed around it. "I’m going."

Sera was already beside him. "So am I."

"Don’t destroy the cores!" Lily shouted.

Kai paused. "Why?"

"Because they’re ancient!"

Sera stared at her. "That’s your concern?"

"Yes!" Another explosion shook the street, and Lily pointed at the machines. "We need to know what they’re protecting!"

"Fine," Kai said.

"I’ll coordinate the evacuation," Gabriel said, already turning toward the Church forces.

Kai looked out at the city. "Sera."

"Already moving."

They jumped from the elevated platform, and wind exploded around Kai as Distortion bent the air beneath his feet. He landed on the roof of a nearby building with Sera right beside him.

The street below had turned to chaos. Abandoned cars were scattered everywhere, civilians were racing toward the emergency shelters, and Hunters were fighting the constructs wherever they could. One giant machine swung its arm at a group of A-Rank Hunters, and their barrier cracked on impact.

"Fall back!"

Kai vanished and reappeared directly in front of the machine, driving his fist into its chest.

BOOM!

The construct flew backward through an empty building and kept sliding across the street on the other side.

The Hunters stared as Kai landed. "Get the civilians out first."

One of them nodded quickly. "Right!"

Another machine charged in from the side, and Sera appeared next to Kai. "Left."

Kai was already moving before she finished the word. A massive blade cut through the space where his head had been, and Kai twisted around the machine’s arm and laid his hand on the weapon. Distortion bent the ancient blade sideways, and Sera struck at once, splitting the machine’s shoulder with a sharp crack. Kai kicked out its knee, and the whole construct collapsed.

Sera smiled. "Show-off."

"You told me to move."

"I didn’t tell you to make it look easy."

"You’re complaining?"

"I’m appreciating the competition."

Another machine landed behind them, and Sera didn’t even turn around. "Kai."

"I know."

Sera’s strike hit the machine’s chest, and Kai appeared above it and slammed his foot down, driving it into the pavement.

Sera landed beside him. "That one was mine."

"You were too slow."

"I was setting it up."

"For me?"

"Obviously."

Kai looked at her. "You’re welcome."

Sera stared at him. "You’re impossible."

Kai smiled slightly, and they moved again. Sera attacked from the front, and Kai slipped through the opening she made. Kai forced a machine backward, and Sera was already striking its exposed side. Neither of them had to explain what they were doing. They simply understood each other.

When a machine swung a massive weapon at Sera, Kai caught it, and she ducked under his arm and drove her blade into the joint beside its core. The construct staggered, Kai wrenched the weapon away, and Sera finished it with a second strike.

She glanced at him. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

A massive shadow passed over them, and both of them looked up. A construct nearly thirty meters tall had climbed out of the ground, with four arms that each held a different weapon, a giant blade, a cannon, a shield, and a spear made of condensed energy.

Sera whistled. "That one looks annoying."

"Very," Kai said.

The machine’s core brightened, and its cannon fired. Kai grabbed Sera, and they vanished just as the street behind them exploded.

They reappeared on a nearby rooftop, and Sera looked at him. "You could have warned me."

"You were busy."

"I noticed."

The cannon fired again, and Kai raised one hand. The air twisted, and the blast bent away from them, curving around the building before exploding harmlessly in the sky.

Sera stared. "When did you learn that?"

Kai looked at his hand. "Just now, apparently."

The machine charged, crashing straight through a building, and Kai and Sera leapt to meet it. Kai reached it first and struck its shoulder, but the machine barely moved. Sera landed on its back. "Kai!"

"Core?"

"Under the chest armor!"

"Got it."

Kai vanished as the machine swung its blade at Sera, and she ducked beneath it. He reappeared under the machine and drove his fist into the ground, warping the pavement beneath its legs, and the construct lost its balance and fell. Sera jumped and drove her blade into the gap beneath its chest armor, prying it open to expose the glowing core.

Kai appeared beside her. "Now?"

Sera grinned. "Now."

They struck together.

BOOM!

The core went dark, and the enormous machine collapsed in a cloud of dust.

Sera landed beside Kai and looked from the fallen machine to him. "We’re getting pretty good at this."

"We were already good."

Sera laughed. "There it is."

"What?"

"The ego."

"I don’t have one."

"You absolutely do."

"More coming!" a Hunter shouted.

Kai and Sera turned. Hundreds more machines were climbing out of the ground, and the ancient network beneath Nexus had become a battlefield. The city was fighting an army that had been asleep beneath it for thousands of years.

Nexus mobilized fast. Hunter teams moved through the streets, Church barriers protected the evacuation routes, and healers treated the wounded while ranged Hunters fired from the rooftops. Shield Hunters formed defensive lines, and A-Rank Hunters fought side by side with lower-ranked teams, but the machines kept coming.

Across the battlefield, Kai spotted a group of civilians trapped inside a damaged building as a construct closed in on it.

"Sera!"

"I see them!"

They split up. Sera ran for the civilians, and Kai cut the construct off. Its blade came down, and Kai caught it, the ground cracking beneath his feet as the machine pushed harder. His expression stayed calm. "Too heavy."

The construct raised another arm, and Kai twisted, sending Distortion through the weapon until the machine’s balance shifted and he could throw it aside.

Sera reached the building. "Everyone out!"

A mother pulled two children behind her. "Where do we go?"

"Follow me!"

Sera raised her shield, and a wall of golden light formed in front of them just as another construct’s attack slammed into it. She staggered, and Kai appeared beside her. "Need help?"

She glanced at him. "No."

Another strike came, and Sera blocked it before Kai hit the machine and sent it flying.

Sera looked at him. "...Maybe a little."

Kai smiled. "Thought so."

Together, they pushed forward. Minutes passed as the fighting spread across several districts, and slowly, the number of machines began to fall. The last few constructs were driven back toward the ancient roads, and the Hunters regrouped as people began emerging from the shelters, waiting to see what happened next.

One of the remaining machines raised its weapon, and Kai prepared to attack. Then it stopped, and Kai froze.

The machine lowered its weapon. Another construct went still beside it, then another, until every ancient machine on the battlefield had stopped moving, and the whole city fell silent.

Sera lowered her sword slightly. "What happened?"

Kai didn’t answer. One construct turned, then another, and then every machine in the city was rotating in the same direction, toward Kai. Hundreds of glowing cores faced him, and none of them fired.

Sera moved closer to him. "...They’re doing it again."

Around them, the Hunters began whispering, asking each other why the machines had stopped, whether they were targeting Kai, and whether they should attack.

Gabriel’s voice came through the communicator. "Kai. Don’t move."

Kai kept his eyes on the machines. "I wasn’t planning to."

"Kai..." Lily’s voice came through next. "I’ve scanned them."

"And?"

There was a long pause. "They’re not preparing to attack. They’re responding to you."

Kai’s expression hardened.

Then the machines lowered themselves, one by one at first, then all at once, until hundreds of ancient constructs were kneeling across the city.

Nexus went completely silent.

Sera stared. "...Again?"

Kai didn’t answer, because this time it wasn’t a handful of creatures inside a forgotten ruin. It was an entire ancient defense network, and every single machine had chosen the same target.

Him.