A deafening silence gripped the battlefield. The swarm of battle droids stood frozen, their cold eyes fixed on the last three standing. Jack stared down Gurina, unyielding. Hamza and Observer darted glances across the carnage, grappling with the suffocating stillness—blood from the slaughtered dogs pooled at their feet, a crimson river soaking the ruined mining operation. Hamza’s chest tightened, breathe shallow as if a blade pressed to his throat. The droids’ scythe-like appendages, dripping with gore, hovered, awaiting orders.
He caught Observer’s gaze—her face locked in shock—and took a steadying breath. His hand found hers, gripping tight until she jolted back to reality, clinging to him. His eyes flicked to Gurina, then to Jack, who returned a fleeting look.
Hey, system... You know what I''m thinking, right? If so then start making them.
A system message popped up as soon as he thought about it. “Got you fam”
“Aw, I’m feeling left out,” Gurina taunted, her voice cutting through the tension. “Droids, gut the pests—leave the samurai. My master’s itching for his head.” Her form twisted, sprouting grotesque appendages, a monstrous hybrid of flesh and nightmare.
“Jack! Swallow it!” Hamza bellowed, his voice cutting through the chaos as he hurled a pill with haste. In the same motion, he slammed a smoke bomb against the cracked concrete. The little device popped on impact, erupting with a hiss and a thick, gray mist that billowed outward like a living thing. Within seconds, the haze swallowed them whole, a choking shroud that stung the eyes and muted the world. Fifty GP for that? Hell yeah, Hamza thought, grinning despite the madness—a damn bargain.
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Smoke bomb
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GP points
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little bomb pops off with impact, kicking out a fat mist before you even notice. Blink, and—poof—you’re swimming in it, total haze.
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50 GP? Dude, that’s a steal if you ask me
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Droids surged through the fog, their sleek metal forms glinting faintly as they slashed blindly. Sparks flew as scythe-like appendages cleaved through their own kind in a frenzied bid to reach Hamza and Observer. The air rang with the screech of steel on steel, a symphony of destruction underscored by the sharp tang of oil and scorched circuits.
Jack lunged for the pill, fingers brushing its smooth surface, but a tendril of dark mist—Gurina’s mist—shot out like a whip. It snared the pill mid-flight with eerie precision, curling around it like a serpent. “You think I’d miss that?” Gurina snarled, her voice a guttural rasp that scraped against the silence, raw and venomous. She stepped forward, her silhouette a jagged tear in the haze, and popped the pill between her teeth. The crunch echoed, deliberate and mocking, as she savored the bitter snap. Jack’s jaw tightened, fury blazing in his hazel eyes. With a guttural yell, he swung his katana upward in a desperate, gleaming arc, the blade whistling through the air. but Gurina dissolved into the haze, her laughter echoing—a sound like ice cracking over dark water.
As the smoke began to thin, drifting away in lazy tendrils, the droids stuttered to a halt. Their glowing optics scanned the scene, searching for bodies to confirm the kill. Instead, they found only their own—hulking shells crumpled in heaps, oil pooling beneath them like black blood, their scythes dripping with the evidence of their confusion. A faint hum pulsed through the air, and one of the droids twitched its head upward. Above them, the atmosphere swirled, a ripple of energy tearing open into a jagged portal. It hung there, a gaping maw framed by crackling blue light, spitting faint sparks onto the wreckage below. A portal tore open with a vacuumous thoom, its edges crackling with unstable energy.
Hamza and Observer crouched at the precipice, their outlines sharp against the portal’s pulsing violet light. Hamza’s breath came in ragged gulps, sweat streaking through the grime on his face as he clutched his mangled shoulder—a gash split his flesh from collarbone to elbow, raw and glistening. Blood sheeted down his arm, pattering onto the stone below like rain. “Fuck—!” he snarled, spitting a glob of crimson.
His eyes burned brighter than the portal’s glare. “Still breathing, ain’t I?”Observer stood beside him, silent and unreadable, their cloak fluttering faintly in the otherworldly breeze. Below, the droids whirred, recalibrating, their optics locking onto them.
Hamza’s gaze was locked on the swarm, his eyes narrowed as he silently tallied their numbers. Beside him, Observer traced the jagged gash on his shoulder—a fresh wound from their narrow escape through the portal. Blood seeped through his torn sleeve, the metallic scent mingling with the electric hum of the rift above. Her neon eyes, glowing with circuit-like patterns, flicked downward to the droids. Cold malice simmered in her stare, sharp and unyielding.
Within seconds, the beetle-like droids snapped to attention. Their iridescent wings buzzed to life, a low, menacing drone that filled the air as they launched skyward. Dozens of them—maybe a hundred—surged toward the portal, their scythe-like appendages gleaming with lethal intent, slicing through the wind as they closed in on Hamza and Observer.
“You sure about this?” Hamza asked, his voice tight but steady, eyes darting to the dark mass of droids drawing nearer. “There’s more or less a hundred down there. You remember the plan, right? Line ‘em up.” He shot a glance at Observer, his brow creasing with a mix of doubt and adrenaline.
She smirked, a flicker of a tense smile and amusement crossing her face. “You still owe me that pet iguana, asshole,” she quipped, her tone dripping with defiance. Without another word, she leaped from the portal’s edge, plummeting through the sky like a missile. The rush of air roared in her ears, tugging at her cloak as the droids adjusted their trajectory, their wings thrumming louder. The droids pivoted, scythes slashing upward to meet her fall—but Observer’s fists were already clenched.
Observer’s chest heaved as she drew a deep, shuddering breath. Rage and bloodlust churned within her, fueled by the memory of Hamza’s pained grunt when the droids had slashed him earlier. Her body tensed mid-fall, muscles coiling as she channeled that fury into her core. With a snarl, she clenched her fist and threw a punch into the empty air.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
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Telekinesis
(evolving trait) T3
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As the name suggests. An evolved version. Better and finer control and more weight can be handled.
Has limits
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The invisible force erupted from her strike, a ripple of raw telekinetic energy that slammed into the droids hurtling toward her with her even being near the droids. The front line crumpled instantly, flung backward like ragdolls, their metal shells screeching as the droids wrenched backward, slamming into the ground hard enough to crater concrete.. She threw another punch, then another, each blow unleashing a concussive wave that shattered the droids mid-flight. Shards of steel and sparking circuits rained down, littering the fractured ground. Dozens swarmed closer, relentless, but none could breach the devastating radius of her telekinetic fury.
The earth groaned under the onslaught. Cracks spider webbed outward, rubble trembling as she unleashed her final strike. Her fist stopped inches from a droid’s twitching form, the blow never connecting—but the sheer force birthed a shockwave. It tore through the air with a deafening boom, pulverizing everything within ten meters. Droid husks buckled and burst, oil gushing like dark geysers, pooling in slick, glistening puddles.
Observer landed hard, her boots crunching into the debris-strewn ground, her breaths ragged and heavy. The air stank of burnt metal and ozone. She straightened, neon eyes blazing as they locked onto the twenty or so droids still twitching in the distance, their circuits flickering weakly. A low growl rumbled in her throat, her fists still clenched, as the battlefield settled into an eerie, oil-soaked silence.
“You worthless hunks of scrap!” Observer rasped, her chest heaving as she sucked in a ragged breath. Gritting her teeth, she clapped her hands with a sharp crack, the sound reverberating through the shattered landscape. An invisible force seized the remaining droids, wrenching them from their scattered positions. They jerked into a tight, trembling line mid-air, their beetle-like wings buzzing furiously as they squirmed like pinned insects. Sweat beaded on Observer’s brow, her hands shaking with the strain of holding them aloft, muscles burning under the weight of her telekinetic grip.
“Now!” she screamed, her voice raw and splintered, desperation clawing at every syllable as her arms quivered. Several hundred meters away, Hamza crouched amidst the rubble of a collapsed building, clutching a weathered bow he’d scavenged from the wreckage a spare a he made that was in bad shape. His left shoulder throbbed, blood soaking through his sleeve and dripping onto the cracked stone beneath him. He nocked a crimson jewel-tipped arrow, drawing the string back with a taut
twang
That sang through the air. Pain flared as he pulled harder, stretching the bow to its limit, his wounded arm screaming in protest. He squinted toward the chaos where Observer and Jack fought, the distant hum of droid wings and her piercing cry sharpening his focus.
I won’t miss this time, he vowed silently, her life teetering in his trembling hands.
“Boom,”
He whispered, releasing the string. The arrow erupted with a sonic crack, tearing through the air like a thunderclap. A trail of furious winds spiraled in its wake, shredding debris and whipping dust into a frenzied storm. It streaked toward the droids in an instant, a crimson blur slicing through the first one’s chest with a wet crunch, then the second, then the third—carving through their metal hides like butter. A chain of detonations erupting down the line. Fire engulfed the swarm, molten shrapnel raining down as the blast wave rolled outward, shaking the earth. Fire and shrapnel burst outward, the shockwave rattling the ground and hurling twisted remains skyward.
The blast’s roar yanked Gurina’s attention from her prey. Her carapace shuddered—a twitch she couldn’t control—as if her exoskeleton rebelled against her.
Is this the strength of the samurai? she thought, her mind a swarm of dissonance. My strikes could sunder mountains… yet this flesh-bag still breathes? Something slithered beneath her chitin plates, like oil contaminated with grit, a cold, wrong sensation.
She had Jack pinned beneath her, their blades locked in a screeching clash—his katana trembling against her razor-sharp appendages. One of her scythe-arms spasmed, the movement jagged, off-rhythm. Jack seized the hesitation, heaving upward with a guttural roar. Gurina’s compound eyes flickered, their usual precision blurred at the edges. A glitch? Weakness? Me? Impossible
Her mandibles clacked furiously, spraying acidic drool that hissed against Jack’s armor. No. This is… interference. The thought slithered, unwelcome. Her body had never betrayed her before.
Not like this. Not ever.
Her cluster of eyes, glinting like polished obsidian, darted toward the fireball. As the smoke curled upward, she spotted them—Hamza and Observer, still alive, defiant amidst the chaos. Droid carcasses plummeted, clattering against the earth like broken toys, oil splattering in dark, glistening arcs. Gurina’s grip on Jack froze, her blade locked against Jack’s katana. Six insectoid eyes flickered toward the inferno. As ash settled over the battlefield. Her mandibles clicked, a sound like bones rattling in a tin can.
The troublemakers still breathed. I am done with playing games Gurina thought as it locked eyes on them.
“Worthless junk,” Gurina growled, her voice a guttural snarl that vibrated through the air. With a vicious swing of her scythe-like arm, she sent Jack hurtling toward a jagged slab of broken wall. He crashed into the concrete with a bone-rattling thud, the impact stealing his breath. Gasping, he staggered to his feet, dust clinging to his sweat-soaked skin. His eyes locked onto Gurina—just in time to see her vanish, her form dissolving into a blur of an afterimage of a shadow.
Jack’s gaze swept the ruined landscape, landing on Observer. She knelt a dozen meters away, chest heaving, her neon eyes dim with exhaustion. Panic surged through him like wildfire.
Too late.
He bolted toward her, boots pounding the cracked earth, but dread clenched his gut as Gurina materialized behind her. The demon’s elongated arm honed to a knife’s edge, reared back for a wide, lethal arc.
“Take cover, Observer-san!” Jack’s scream tore from his throat, raw and desperate. She was already moving, instinct driving her to roll aside as if death itself breathed down her neck. Gurina’s strike missed its mark, the blade whistling through the air. It grazed Observer’s hand, severing three fingers in a spray of blood. The force of the swing unleashed a shockwave of wind, a roaring gust that sliced through everything in its path—rubble, twisted machinery, and the skeletal remains of buildings. Jack raised his katana to parry that swings shockwave, but the blast hurled him backward, his body skidding across the debris-strewn ground.
Hamza, crouched behind a shattered pillar, ducked just as the wave roared overhead. The sheer power shoved him off balance, his bow clattering from his grip as he tumbled into the dirt. Dust swirled thick and choking, settling slowly over the wreckage. Every structure in its path within the mining operation city lay in ruins, its towering structures cleaved like paper, collapsing in a cascade of broken steel and stone. The echo of that single slash lingered, a low, menacing rumble that seemed to shake the sky itself.
Jack hauled himself up, his wide eyes struggling to process the devastation—one swing from that demon henchman had torn the world apart. Observer’s piercing screams snapped him back to reality. Hamza was already sprinting toward her, teeth gritted, his face pale with horror. She clutched her mangled hand, blood soaking the ground in dark, glistening pools. Her severed fingers lay nearby, stark against the gray dust, as she pressed her wrist tight to stem the flow, her breaths ragged with pain.
How the hell is that thing still standing? hamzas mind raced as he rushed to her side. Jack scooped her up with frantic haste, her weight slumping against him, warm and trembling. With his katana gripped in one hand, he bolted for the nearest cover—a crumbling wall a few paces away. Her anguished cries sharpened his senses, his heart hammering as he stole glances over his shoulder. Gurina didn’t pursue. She stood frozen, her towering form eerily still.