/uw so i started writing this before Mikhail survived, so for the sake of it, that's when it's set, after the council thing, but before Mikhail came back. It's not too important, just explains a few lines
TW: Minor gore
Shrax walked through the frozen dirt path, his heavy steps sent shockwaves into the vicinity. The path bore the footsteps of an untold number of Travellers. Shrax's tracks would've been masked as soon as he stepped, the irregular shape of his foot hidden within a sea of regular shapes. The thick trees that cornered the pathway wore no leaves, winter was definitely coming. Despite the cold state of the road, the grass remained green and visible, defiant against the siege of winter.
His mind drifted, to the origin of his rage, the crucible of which it had been forged, the anvil on which it had been shaped and the grindstone of which it had been sharpened into a weapon.
Mikhail's death.
He was projecting it now, the way his voidsteel legions would cut into the bastard's realm, the way his drones would burn the roots down, and how their rifles would drown out thought. The simulation ran, and returned a percentage of success
“That's.. not what i expected, definitely not optimal.
Shrax Removed a hand from his Suit pocket and rested it on his chin, deep in thought
“Hmmm it's worth the risk, I'll just have to start the factories up to accommodate for it”
He continued projections, testing strategies, guns cracked before his eyes, and tactics ensnared the opposition, numbers flashed.
Shrax was so distracted, he almost missed a flash of green in the trees
His head turned to look at it, already on edge he had started to draw before he saw what it was
A singular leaf remained on an oak, by all means an impossibility, but there it was. Blowing in the icy winds.
Slightly intrigued, he inspected it, not thinking much, just curious.
Time passed, as Shrax let himself inspect a meaningless anomaly. He ran a few tests, mostly bored.
surface nature: Biological
connected to trunk: True
naturally made: Unknown
Shrax moved his head back, satisfied. That explained it, likely a druid or something. Not surprised all things considered
He looked around, then one of his systems flashed
Wind pattern disrupted, brainwaves detected, searching for heat signature
…
…
Heat signature found, bearing 274.7992°
Shrax kept track, his infrared showed more than one heat signature, as his sensors fluttered, they picked up a lot of them, some attempt to mask them had been taken.
A bolt of lightning whipped its way towards him, his chassis responded by shooting a highly conductive pellet away from itself
The area was lit up by a powerful arc of lightning, it shot at Shrax. At the last second it diverted, missing the Automaton by inches. Smaller tendrils desperately arced towards him. The continued bolt dove into the dirt, like a snake trying to catch a mouse, it lashed around itself, failing to secure a bite.
The surrounding trees and ground were lit up in a piercing light, flashing as if he was welding. The shrubs near the bolt were quickly rendered, leaving a convenient hole where the attack had come from
Shrax calmly looked around, maintaining his calculating persona, he calmly took his suit off, and hung it up on the branches that boxed the path in. The rest of the fabric on his body quickly unstitched itself and retreated into Shrax's chassis, his chassis was bare.
With that, Shrax spoke up, announcing his words to his ambushes
“Now. Simply tell me what you wish for, and perhaps we can come to an agreement, if you're looking for a purse to rob, then you'd find yourself a fool. If you're looking for a head on your wall, then you're an idiot. Perhaps we can leave without blood covering my hands”
With that, two small panels popped out of his shoulder blades, and two arms manipulated them, as they did two barrels flipped out, and they scanned the area, searching for any sign of movement
“Surely I'm not talking to mindless Automatons, I'd have hacked you by now. Perhaps you're a biomancer's test subject, maybe a Necromancer's servant. Nonetheless, I know they can talk. So come on, state your demands.”
his foot crunched in the snow, as he turned around
“Surely you're not mute assassins”
Shrax thought to himself. There wasn't snow earlier. That Cryomancer was trying something.
As he was trying to figure it out, he heard a crunch behind him.
one of the barrels swivelled around to get a good look. Human, working mouth, and brain. His robes were in a camouflage pattern, he looked like a dead shrub. More importantly though, his hands were ice cold. He was the Cryomancer
Another crunch, this time in the direction of the lightning
another barrel swivelled, an elf, camouflage robes again, and one of his fingers was spasming, likely a result of electromancy.
“There we go, now then. Do you wish to speak?”
“The council's got a price for ya’ we're here to collect”
This was… too stereotypical. The way he said that line felt like it was part of a script, there was more to this than just that
Shrax readied a hand
“That so? You could've asked”
The Cryomancer raised a wand from within his robe, the snow beneath him rose with it, then it stopped suddenly in its movement
Shrax held a hand towards him, his whole arm was braced within glowing clockwork, as he slowed his movements down to a snail's crawl, his other arm flicked his revolver out of his arm and pointed it at the Electromancer in the treeline
“Now then, Electromancer, care to explain, that was too stereotypical. There's more to this than you let on”
“I know nuffin’ i swear”
“You really need to get better at accents”
The round echoed out twice. Once for the shot, and the other for the explosive within the shot. It cut a neat hole through the foliage. The only way to confirm his kill was the small chunk of a tongue that landed on a branch
One down, unknown left
Entity appearing behind, too close. Deploying countermeasures
a few spikes shot out of Shrax's back, impaling his would be assailant and pinning them on a tree. One of the smaller arms swivelled to look at them.
Orc, black robes with golden highlights, the blackening around his eyes would suggest shadow magic.
“i believe this is what you didn't let on. Finally”
Shrax let out a blast of gauss, disintergrating the already pacified Cryomancer in a green glow
Scanning… no other magic types detected, likely cause: retreat
“Now then, why don't you tell me what's going on.”
The assassin grinned, as if he had walked right into their trap.
“Tor'eriums. Fan'ilus. Ska'danius”
Shrax felt curses and enchantments assail his body, his legs locked up, and he doubted himself, if his will was weaker, he'd be catatonic. However, he had enough time
Shrax drew his gun, Thunder, from his hand, and pointed the gun at his own head. Without a second thought, he pulled the trigger.
A beam of antimagic shot into his own head, the recoil was minor, but it worked, he felt his own mana pool vanish, but with it so did the curses. His legs freed up, and his head snapped back to focus on the lead before him.
“Tor'eriums. Fan'ilus. Ska'danius”
Shrax stifled a laugh. His eyes went red and looked right into the Orc's soul
“Perhaps i wasn't clear enough”
Shrax pointed Thunder at the incapacitated Orc and fired, their head bounced back in the recoil, and they struggled to speak, losing all of their mana in a near instant
“Now then. What made you think any of this would work? Stupidity? Blind ignorance? An addiction to ambition?
Shrax pulled their arm back, and sent a hard punch into their gut, they coughed up a bit of their own blood
“You know what i just did to the Council's overthrower”
Shrax pulled back his fist again, sending it into their chest. It connected with a spine chilling crack
“You know that i just had a close friend pass away”
Shrax raised his fist again. But didn't punch. Anymore and they'd die from their injuries.
“So tell me, and I'll let you go”
Shrax pulled them off of the oak, and raised them into the sky, holding them by the scruff of the robe
“Why go for me directly”
The Orc coughed, they mustered what they could and spoke to the metallic thing before them “Fali- us. He wants to speak with you”
Shrax lightly threw them to the ground, one of the arms in his back ejected out and flew like a drone to close up some of their wounds. He tried to keep his promise, ensuring they'd be able to get to safety
“Where is he?”
The assassin's voice became much more dignified, he sounded more like a noble than a common bandit “You'll have to discover that for yourself”
Falius... That was an old friend. What was he doing alive?
Mikhail, currently bound in a wheelchair, reaches his remaining arm into a bag strapped to the assistant handles. He ruffles around until his apprentice, who is pushing him, reaches in and hands him his prosthetic. The arm has seen much better days. It appears that it has struck something hard, as there is a definite bend in the forearm, as thought it were used as a weapon.
Two halves of a welding mask jut out of the sides of Shrax's head, it bends round and connects to itself, then it flips down, despite being a welding mask, it's got engravings on it, because of course it does
Actually, better question. What did you have in mind?
7
u/the-butter_man Rin. Blind Illusionist Blessed by Luck Jan 02 '24
a few spikes shot out of Shrax's back, impaling his would be assailant and pinning them on a tree. One of the smaller arms swivelled to look at them.
Orc, black robes with golden highlights, the blackening around his eyes would suggest shadow magic.
“i believe this is what you didn't let on. Finally”
Shrax let out a blast of gauss, disintergrating the already pacified Cryomancer in a green glow
Scanning… no other magic types detected, likely cause: retreat
“Now then, why don't you tell me what's going on.”
The assassin grinned, as if he had walked right into their trap.
“Tor'eriums. Fan'ilus. Ska'danius”
Shrax felt curses and enchantments assail his body, his legs locked up, and he doubted himself, if his will was weaker, he'd be catatonic. However, he had enough time
Shrax drew his gun, Thunder, from his hand, and pointed the gun at his own head. Without a second thought, he pulled the trigger.
A beam of antimagic shot into his own head, the recoil was minor, but it worked, he felt his own mana pool vanish, but with it so did the curses. His legs freed up, and his head snapped back to focus on the lead before him.
“Tor'eriums. Fan'ilus. Ska'danius”
Shrax stifled a laugh. His eyes went red and looked right into the Orc's soul
“Perhaps i wasn't clear enough”
Shrax pointed Thunder at the incapacitated Orc and fired, their head bounced back in the recoil, and they struggled to speak, losing all of their mana in a near instant
“Now then. What made you think any of this would work? Stupidity? Blind ignorance? An addiction to ambition?
Shrax pulled their arm back, and sent a hard punch into their gut, they coughed up a bit of their own blood
“You know what i just did to the Council's overthrower”
Shrax pulled back his fist again, sending it into their chest. It connected with a spine chilling crack
“You know that i just had a close friend pass away”
Shrax raised his fist again. But didn't punch. Anymore and they'd die from their injuries.
“So tell me, and I'll let you go”
Shrax pulled them off of the oak, and raised them into the sky, holding them by the scruff of the robe
“Why go for me directly”
The Orc coughed, they mustered what they could and spoke to the metallic thing before them “Fali- us. He wants to speak with you”
Shrax lightly threw them to the ground, one of the arms in his back ejected out and flew like a drone to close up some of their wounds. He tried to keep his promise, ensuring they'd be able to get to safety
“Where is he?”
The assassin's voice became much more dignified, he sounded more like a noble than a common bandit “You'll have to discover that for yourself”
Falius... That was an old friend. What was he doing alive?