Gods & Gilds

Battle Rage

I slammed through the sorting room's double doors, shouldering several oblivious heroes aside. I received many strange looks from the individuals I was storming past. My pace quickened, & soon enough, the Immortal Project room was long gone. I moved quicker & quicker, until I broke out into a sprint, running faster & faster. "EPI!" My personal artificial intelligence, known in hushed tones as the Endo-Personified Intelligence, blipped into existence inches away from my face. Having no true form, she materialized as a high school teenager, with a translucent blue letterman jacket, & pants to match. Her hair was styled in a simple bob, to reflect her simple personality compared to more complex thinking AIs. "Hey Daniel, what's wrong" I gritted my teeth & turned a corner, not breaking my stride. "Open a Taxidd Tunnel to the training room". Taxidd Tunnels were somewhat of a breakthrough in travel-based technology. They were similar to the modem tunnels in terms of speed & effectiveness, but that was where the similarities ended. The Taxidd Tunnels concentrated on the hard-light aspect of holographic technology, creating literal doorways of energy. To give a level of understanding, compare them to the iconic portals from the popular titular game. The Tunnels literally created a "portal" to your destination, warping space to create an opening with which to walk through. Don't ask how it was created. My father has been a busy man. "Sure thing boss". A teal circular opening burst into existence in front of me & I practically leapt through it.

It transported me to a slightly empty training dotted with old practice dummies. I shouldered aside a decidedly feminine one & concentrated my thoughts on a single aspect of the room. "EPI, activate the Hell-Naught test". She materialzed beside me, & predictably, she attempted to dissuade me. "Daniel, the last person who used this test, died!" I shrugged her off easily. How else was I to prove myself? I gritted my teeth. "Now EPI". She huffed, and scowled at me. "Fifty volts, bio-enhanced speed, extreme cognitive senses, it's insane!" I got up I her "face". " NOW, EPI". Her normally turquoise face blushed a dark blue. "F-fine, if you wanna kill yourself, who am I, an omnius-omicrix level intellect, to stop you". I sneered. "Good". The room hummed with large quantities of electrical input and I was instantly surrounded by twelve humanoid robots. Each was laden with heavy armor, jet-boosted rockets, & lightning-powered batons. I growled. "Bring it on!" Half a millisecond later, I was jabbed in the chest, stomach, and face by batons. My body surged with several dozen volts of electricity, and I screamed. Lashing out blindly, I cleaved one of their heads off and hurled it aside. Another lunged at me and thrusted my fingers into its monochromic red eyes and slowly ripped its head in two, an action that spurned the others into increasing their attack speed and ferocity. I locked arms with a third, headbutted a fourth, and received another electric shock from yet another robot. I spat and swung my captive at the felon. The two collided, their combined force smashing the two instantly. Success was fleeting, as my head was torn apart by a bout of agony caused by a blunt blow to the back of the head. Coppery fluid coated my mouth and I brought my fist down on the head of the robot facing me, tore out its cerebral processor and whipped it around, its spinal cord slicing the air like a makeshift whip, severing the neck of my most recent attacker. I fell to my knees, breathing heavily, my mind making count of my productivity. "S-seven down.....five to go". I stood slowly and the robots adapted to counter my fighting style. I grinned, my voice exiting my throat in a macabre tone. "Adapt to this!" I split the air molecules with a forward kick and struck one of the remaining robots in the solar plexus region, causing it to double over. Not missing a beat, I dodged six other batons and leapt on the fallen enemy. The other attackers fell over me, striking me over and over, but I ignored them, as my task lay elsewhere. Digging my hands into the folds of my captive's back, I started to tug its wiring out, malfunctioning it from the inside and out. It blinked out, but behind me, the robots' attacks persisted, & I was forced to face them head on. My anger boiled and threatened to overtake me, so I channeled it in other direction. I held my right arm out, an action that seemed to confuse the robots, an unequal reaction that would be prove to be their undoing. Several hundred metal fragments latched themselves onto the outstretched appendage, coating it in a thick, white, iron substance. My fingers curle, and they too were cloaked in a steelish glove. The procedure ended as soon as it started, most likely frying their sensory arrays. I flexed my newly armored arm, testing out its limits. My eyes tracked slight movement, as one of the robots advanced on me waringly. Rotating my wrist, I activated a series of innate technological mechanisms, and the wrist opened up, revealing a set of slanted barrels. The robot sensed an imminent threat, and it lunged at me, receiving a bullet in each cranial section for its incompetence. In return, I received electric shocks to my neck, stomach, right leg, hip, and left shoulder. I stumbled and glared at the Hell-Naughts. "My turn". The gauntlet vibrated intensely and I pulled back my wrist. Unsure of how to respond, the robots merely watched. Bending my knees, I launched myself into the air, spinning in an incomplete rotation, flying higher than any robot could. Gravity seized my frame & pulled me down to the ground, which I met with a an armored knuckle, cracking the ground and dispersing an immense amount of sonic force, flattening the mechanical miscreants. Their parts littered the floor in a cadaverous heap. I coughed blood onto their abrogated bodies and stretched my aching limbs. "EPI, end the Hell-Naught test". There was no answer, but that was fine. I wasn't expecting one.

Arthur Eligio brandished a large pair of gold-painted scissors. The crowd looked to him expectantly. This was not peculiar inany fashion. Lately, it seemed that many people looked to him. He let them, only because he knew that the public needed some form of authority to look up to. Without order, their would be utter madness and chaos. And so, he let them. A very simple conclusion. Just as simple as the reasoning behind the scissors. Before him, on a large velourous stage, was an incredibly thick, magenta cord, which was hung from two iron wrought poles sticking out of the sides of the scaffold. Directly behind it, a highly advanced hospital loomed over the crowd, a hospital built through the donations of the people of Tulcea, Romania. Being the prime shareholder for the Eligio-Caritate Charity event, it was only proper for him to "cut the rope". His partner and lifelong friend, Dimitrovo Caritate, smiled warmly, beckoning him forward. Arthur sucked in a breath. "I pronounce the Vindecare Hospital, the New Land of Healing....." He paused for a moment, allowing the suspense to build up, before slicing the cord in a single motion. "Open!" The crowd erupted with cheers and several champagne bottles popped open in celebration. Caritate grinned and joined him for a photo. A low humming noise in Arthur's right ear caused him to pause. "Hold up Dimitrovo, I need to take this call". His friend nodded. Arthur held his finger and spoke obliquely. "Yes EPI,what is it?" The earpiece chuckled quietly. "Well, it's Daniel". He froze. "What? What is it? EPI, what's wrong with my son?" She made somewhat of a gulping noise. "He.....um.....he finished the Hell-Naught test". Arthur winced. "Is he fine?" "Yeah, other than an inflated ego, he's as good as, well, not new, but......he's Daniel". He groaned both inwardly and openly. "And why didn't you stop him?" EPI scoffed. "Arthur, he's your son, what was I, an AI, supposed to do? Pretend I was smarter?" He sighed, exasperated. "No".