Chapter 63: The Clone Ambush

Kage struck the terrace first, cracking the floor while one prototype dropped behind it hard.

Two figures landed beside Bekka, extending arm-blades while rain crossed their expressionless faces and uniforms.

"Smith units confirmed, each carrying kinetic absorption beneath Vorn reflex pathways," Sierra warned through speakers.

Leo drew the Null Razor from his waist without any sheath technique, meeting the nearest blade through plain Iaido timing.

The parry struck his arms hard, but Kinetic Absorption drank its force before pain followed.

He released stored impact through the return cut, throwing Unit Seven through the western wall.

Unit Eight attacked during his recovery, copying Apex Evasion while its arm-blade changed direction beside his exposed ribs.

Bekka caught Unit Eight’s arm with one gauntlet, then drove her knee into its stomach.

"They absorb force. Stop feeding them punches."

"Then I keep feeding this one until its body forgets where standing happens," Bekka answered.

She twisted beneath Unit Eight’s counter and planted an axe-kick across its collarbone, cracking the joint beneath hardened skin.

Unit Nine crossed behind her with Leo’s footwork, aiming its blade toward the exposed line beneath her shoulder.

Gale-Reflex sharpened the bond, letting Leo catch the attack before Bekka recovered from her kick.

He drew vertically and caught the descending arm, absorbing another impact while sliding backward through rainwater and shattered panels.

"They copied your movement, but they cannot copy why you choose it today," Bekka shouted.

Leo changed his grip and attacked without rhythm, making every draw begin from a different height and distance.

Unit Nine blocked the first cut, avoided the second, then stepped into a third attack that never arrived.

Kage surged from beneath its foot, closing twelve shadow jaws around one leg and dragging the prototype downward.

The Shadow Domain softened the terrace, swallowing Unit Nine until only its shoulders remained visible.

"One pinned, two moving, and Gruber erased their command channel from Association records," Sierra reported.

Unit Seven returned through the broken wall, carrying stored force from Leo’s earlier strike beneath its glowing skin.

It punched the ground instead of either fighter, releasing the impact through the terrace supports and collapsing their western footing.

Bekka jumped toward Leo as the floor dropped, using wind to hold both bodies above the falling wreckage.

Unit Eight followed them upward, its collarbone resetting while copied cells tightened around the break.

"Keep it healing. I’ll keep cutting."

He opened a gravity well beside Unit Eight, pulling its recovering shoulder away from the arm-blade reaching toward Bekka.

She rotated inside the opening and struck the same collarbone again, driving the broken joint against its neck.

The prototype’s absorption caught her force, but the repaired tissue split before its skin could redirect everything into another attack.

Black fluid crossed Unit Eight’s chest while energy gathered beneath its ribs for release again.

"Move! Both kicks are coming back."

They separated as Unit Eight released stored force, blasting rain outward across the terrace floor.

Unit Seven used the pressure wave as cover, approaching Leo with both arm-blades crossing toward his neck and waist.

He caught the upper blade, letting Kinetic Absorption take the parry while his body turned beyond the lower edge.

The Null Razor received the gathered force, deepening its gravity rings before his return draw crossed Unit Seven’s chest.

"Plain draws still work when the person holding the blade understands momentum better than you."

Unit Seven opened both arms, revealing the cut already sealing beneath layers of copied regenerative tissue around its chest.

Leo stepped closer instead of retreating, forcing the prototype to shorten its blades before attacking inside their useful reach.

His elbow struck its wrist without feeding enough force to charge absorption, knocking one arm away from his stomach.

He drove the pommel beneath its jaw, then released the stored parry through a downward cut across its knee.

The leg folded, leaving Unit Seven kneeling while its healing divided between the damage across chest, wrist, jaw, and knee.

"Four repairs at once, and its Ether output just dropped beneath sixty percent," Sierra announced.

Bekka caught Unit Eight’s blade between both gauntlets, holding the edge away while its other hand reached her throat.

She released one gauntlet and struck its damaged shoulder with three short blows that denied the absorption meaningful force.

The joint collapsed again, and Unit Eight staggered toward the opening where Leo waited with his blade lowered.

"You wanted variety. Finish my ugly dance partner."

Leo activated Phase-Edge during one horizontal draw, passing through the prototype’s kinetic skin before resistance could gather around the blade.

The blade crossed its neck without slowing, sending the head beyond the railing while its body remained standing briefly.

Unit Seven lunged from one knee, but Bekka drove a heel into its back and forced it toward Kage.

The beast released Unit Nine long enough to catch Seven, closing its jaws around both arms and damaged torso.

"Kage, pin that one and keep the last prototype from sharing whatever it learned with the others," Leo ordered.

Unit Nine tore free from the sludge by cutting through its trapped leg, then launched itself toward the chalet doors.

Its target marker shifted from Leo to the bunker, proving Gruber’s command included everyone capable of preserving evidence.

Bekka fired a cyclone across the doorway, turning the prototype sideways before its remaining leg reached the threshold.

Leo crossed the distance through shadow and drew upward, feeding Unit Nine’s own charge into the Null Razor.

The returning force split its torso before regeneration started, leaving both halves trapped beneath Kage’s spreading body across the floor.

Unit Seven stopped struggling when Sierra injected Gruber’s tribunal recording through the shared command channel.

Its eyes flickered between orders and evidence, exposing the neural drive pulsing beneath the base of its skull.

"That drive holds their learning. Remove it before shutdown burns everything."

Bekka held Seven motionless while Leo opened the damaged neck casing with one careful Phase-Edge cut beneath its skull.

He removed the neural drive and dropped it into his pouch as the three bodies finally stopped healing.

Sierra opened a remote channel into the drive, finding Vorn reflex templates beneath layers of Citadel funding records.

Sierra traced the drive’s Citadel payments toward three shell accounts connected to Apex Medical Tower’s underground laboratories below.

"Gruber funded them through Apex."

"I have the receipts," Sierra said.

Bekka checked the bunker entrance while Kage covered the bodies, preventing any final command from reaching their copied nerves.

Sierra began copying its memory through the pouch link, finding Citadel accounts beneath Gruber’s commands and Vorn combat templates.

Bekka watched the flagship’s shadow cross the mountain, understanding their private war just became part of Earth’s invasion.

"Tell me this ugly little thing contains enough secrets to justify another ruined terrace after tonight," Bekka said.

"It contains Vorn patterning, Gruber’s commands, and funding routes Sierra can unravel once nobody attacks us," Leo answered.

Rain stopped between one breath and the next, leaving every suspended drop hanging above the shattered chalet without falling farther.

The clouds separated without wind, revealing a triangular Vorn flagship stretching across the stars above their mountain and surrounding peaks.

"Sierra... forget ninety seconds. Their fleet arrived early."