✴

You instead redirect your aim and fire down at the wolf--a direct hit while the beast’s focus was full extended toward their enemy.

With no time to think about forming a text message, you send a quick empathic notice to Akiko: sorry, fear, friend, need.

You feel her response: confidence. You think she can handle this one fine on her own.

You descend in a relentless assault, forcing the lupine cultist to rise its shield at you. Zeta takes the brunt of the construct drones’ attacks before the cultist pulls them away to fly up to intercept you. Its shield is broken, and its avatar is losing integrity, distorting into glitchy patterns around its edges.

????-??-?? ??:??:?? Ætherglow > Protogen get out of here! withdraw immediately!

????-??-?? ??:??:?? Protogen > you can’t take this one on alone Ætherglow he’s too strong!

The shiny metal surface of the turret drones reflects the bright flashes above you as they swarm around you.

????-??-?? ??:??:?? Ætherglow > I don’t care, go! you’re injured!

????-??-?? ??:??:?? ε Scorpii > Protogen, WITHDRAW, that’s an order!

????-??-?? ??:??:?? Protogen > ...understood. good luck!

Zeta opens a gate behind it and falls back along its path, escaping intact.

“Three on three, that’s more fair, don’t you think?” The æthereal voice of the wolf echoes from his drones, reaching your mind as a deep voice with a metallic texture. The turrets fire at you chaotically. You dodge some, your shield absorbs some. They force you to reposition until they have you fully surrounded.

They start coordinating their fire, striking your shield all in unison. The pressure is enormous. You struggle to hold it back.

“What’s wrong, False Messenger? ÆON not coming to save you this time?” he says.

The drones form a spherical swarm around you, all aimed inward. Electricity arcs between them, connecting them in a bright blue grid, leaving barely any space to escape. They start to orbit around you fast, changing directions often, making the openings even harder to find. Their muzzles glow bright with the coming attack.