The body of the Warped Queen rested in the city ruins. Yaegir positioned himself in a strategic location with his sniper rifle, while the other members of his group were preparing traps and explosives.

Luna carefully studied the machine's anatomy, its enormous steel dress concealed nearby buildings in layers of steel feathers. Around her slender torso, two crossing rings of fire were rotating, each with seventeen closed eyes. Her head was a flat disk with a veil, and instead of arms, she had heavy spiked balls on long chains.

Yaegir warned his hunters via intercom, telling them not to approach the machine yet. - “It has a powerful jamming field, so your technology will be useless. In melee combat, you can count only on your physical strength, or your fast and painless death.”

Luna scanned the target, which seemed to confirm their leader's words. - “What's the plan?”

“We'll leave a lure.” - Yaegir explained. - “The fallen, like her, survived by assimilating weaker entities.”

“You want to sacrifice someone?” - Luna asked.

“That's what you are here for.” - Yaegir pointed at their armored vehicle. - “You'll find an infected Raptor there, it's a non-sapient machine with valuable modules. Where you heal it, retreat. The Queen will sense a dinner, and we'll be ready to act.”

“Remember, I need her alive.” - Luna pointed out.

“Everything depends on your ability to heal her fast.” - Yaegir stated. - “If you fail, we will use lethal measures. If any deviation from the plan happens, we'll do the same.”

Luna nodded. - “I'm ready.”

---

Avi connected to her multitask cell to track Luna down and ran as fast as her breath allowed. When she arrived at her destination, she noticed that all of her spacesuit's modules stopped working. Only the cell was still working, but it wasn't fully functional because she had lost the information about Luna's possible location. Avi's surroundings were concealed in electrified fog, and it was suspiciously silent.

“Luna!?” - Avi shouted.

“Here...” - She overheard a quiet calling, somewhere underneath the rubble of a collapsed building. She quickly approached and removed the fallen steel supports, finding a half-crushed body of a bald android. It kept spitting out a brown liquid. Its entire artificial skin was melted off, revealing its steel skeleton. Next to it was a sword with a blue blade, stained by hot plasma.

“Wait, I'll get you out of here.” - Avi was ready to help.

“T-too late.” - The android's voice stammered. - “She pierced my corrective core and soon my brain will be melted from the inside.”

“Hold on! I'll find Luna and we'll help you.” - Avi assured.

“She... she disappeared in the mist. In that cursed mist.” - The robot coughed, spitting out more of its boiling coolant. - “...there is zero chance that she could survive on her own, but maybe Fieari and Gen... could still rescue her.”

Android's face started to melt, and droplets of liquified steel slowly dropped to the floor.

“Where can I find them!?” - Avi shouted, desperate.

“Beyond the winged statue, there is a transmission tower. T-theereeeeeeeeeeeee...” - Android's voice turned into a static screech, his skull burst into smoke, then ignited itself.

Avi wasted no time. Her eyes found the barely visible above the mist, twin tips of the wings, and she immediately headed in their direction.

---

When Avi was running, she could hear explosions of mortar shells in the distance. She was hoping that whoever was there was fighting to save her friend. She found the base of the tower and climbed the ladder, but right when her head peeked above the observation platform, there was a pistol's barrel next to it.

Whoever it was, they pulled the trigger immediately. Avi's multitask cell also reacted instantly, as if controlled by Avi's survival instinct, and stopped the fingers and arm of the to-be killer. However, her enemy detached the limb and leaped back, reaching for a hammer that leaned against the railings.

“Wait!” - Avi shouted.

“No! NO! NO!” - The android screamed. - “YOU WON'T DECEIVE ME!” - He swung his weapon right away, but Avi managed to create a barrier to block the attack. A powerful shockwave caused the supports of the steel tower to bend, and with a loud creak, its tip almost fell and now hung down at the right angle.

“Listen to me, please.” - Avi begged. - “Fieari...? Gen...?”

Hearing his name, the android calmed down for a short moment. It was enough to let Avi approach.

“Gen.” - The robot replied, but the nervous tics in his right arm and face revealed that he wasn't fully sane.

“Gen, I'm looking for Luna.” - Avi said. - “I heard you can help me.”

“Luna? She's there...” - Gen pointed at a streetlamp in the shape of a spike. Not Luna, but another female android, was impaled on it. Her long ponytail hung down loosely, and a black grease dripped down it. - “I-I...” - Gen grabbed his face, piercing through his cheeks with his fingers. - “...I killed her. My queen ordered me. A-are you my queen? N-no. W-who are you?”

“Avi.” - Avi answered.

“Avi... did you c-come to s-serve her?” - Gen asked.

“I came to cure her disease.” - Avi tried to calm things down.

“Heal?” - Gen tilted his head. - “The Queen i-is ill?”

“Yes and only...” - Avi stopped and looked at the corpse that the android mistook for Luna. - “...my friend can help her. She's somewhere in the mist.”

“The mist?” - The robot looked at the bottom of the tower. His pupils widened. - “The m-mist... Fieari.”

“Do you know where they are!?” - Avi exclaimed, but she was ignored. Instead, the robot loaded another shell into the mortar in the corner of the platform.

“Fieari... is my enemy. I must kill him.” - Gen said, staring at the screen of the locator, then launched a shot.

“No!!” - Avi shouted and sent her cell to stop Gen.

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Immobilized and chained up, Gen looked at Avi, only saying. - “Enemy. Must kill.”

It took a fraction of a second for Gen to activate his autodestruction and explode, sending a wave of flames and shrapnel towards Avi. The multitask blocked it almost as if it was self-acting, but the girl was still pushed off the tower and fell onto the roof of a building below. When she regained consciousness, she could only notice the fire and smoke devouring what was left of the tower.

---

Avi, although bruised from the fall, stood up and kept staggering towards the location of the mortar's shell explosion, then followed along the line of craters.

Her ears were ringing and she was barely conscious, but she managed to find a fountain in the middle of a vast square. She approached it and dipped her hands to rinse her face, but something reflected in the water surface – a shape like an umbrella rising in the air.

Avi summoned her multitask cell, creating a shield, but a wave of invisible energy penetrated her barrier, as if the physical obstructions didn't affect it. Avi felt her body going numb and collapsed, paralyzed, with her eyes still open.

She could only watch the feet that were approaching her, and two curved blades scratching the pavement. The stranger knelt next to Avi and moved his head closer to hers. The look in his diamond eyes was hinting at his lunacy, and a black skull was tattooed on his face.

“This trap wasn't meant for you, meatbag.” - The android spoke. - “You made me lose a great opportunity.”

Avi's eyes moved to look at her captor, but her vision was too blurry.

“...but you know how to order a Black Beast around.” - The android continued. - “Are you here to replace the weak links?” - He pulled out a syringe, then pierced Avi's neck with its needle. - “We'll see soon.”

---

Avi woke up, tied, she was hanging head-down from a sign above the street.

In front of her, a few dozen meters away, on the roof of an old gas station, her android captor was sitting with crossed legs. His hand was holding the multitask cell.

Avi regained her awareness almost instantly. - “What are you doing!? Free me!”

The android didn't respond. In silence, he observed until a tall shadow appeared from behind the mist. Avi turned and noticed two rings of fire rotating around a massive creature that towered above all of the buildings located on the sides of the highway.

The android kicked the multitask cell underneath Avi, but her tool still wasn't reacting.

“The Black Beast doesn't listen to you, even when you're so close to it.” - The android spoke. - “You're too weak, so you'll become food for the strong.” - He stood up and turned his back on Avi, leaving.

Avi watched in fear as the oracle approached her. She tried to focus on the multitask cell, but it was lethargic. When the Queen sensed advanced technology nearby, she screeched and her tentacle-arms began twisting and thrashing in all directions, leveling the apartments around her.

A few dozen meters.

A dozen or so.

The torso of Warped Queen opened, revealing rows of rotating cylinders with spikes and teeth.

“No.” - Avi uttered. - “Luna, save me, please.”

“That's polite of you to ask.” - She heard above her and turned her eyes. It was Luna, holding a laser spear.

Avi let our tears of relief.

Luna didn't seem interested in freeing her, though. She gazed at her target, waiting for it to come closer.

“Luna?” - Avi uttered. - “Cut the rope, fast!”

“No. You'll only be in the way.” - Luna replied. - “Watch as I cast off all the shackles you used to hold me back.” - She jumped down and slowly walked towards the oracle.

The spiked balls struck the road, right where Luna stood, causing all the cars around to fly upward. A cloud of dust rose, and fragments of asphalt scattered beneath Avi.

Luna ran out of the dust, unhurt. She aimed at her enemy, and the spear flew between the oracle's arms, to her veil, then Luna quickly turned into a sphere, disappearing. When her weapon was about to hit the machine, the oracle deflected it, but Luna predicted it and materialized on the tentacle, grabbing the weapon. She slid down the enemy's arm with a cat's grace, then jumped to another limb that was rising.

One quick swing and the veil was cut in half, revealing a cluster of antennas and electronic boxes.

“Too shallow.” - Luna hissed and retreated into her spherical form once more, right before another tentacle was about to hit her. She landed on the oracle's dress, next to rings of fire, whose eyes were still closed. - “What might be its purpose?” - Luna wondered aloud.

Without a second thought, she stabbed at it, but she was stopped by a forcefield.

“Tsk.” - Luna clicked her tongue. - “That doesn't bode well.”

Luna wasn't allowed to rethink her approach because dozens of hatches opened on the dress of the Warped Queen, and ruby spheres flew out of them. Luna retreated again, but when she tried to turn into a sphere, she felt a sharp pain in her skull. Not only were her metamorphosis systems jammed, but her movement speed decreased every minute. She knew it was a fight against time.

Strangely, the Warped Queen stopped moving. Only her ruby spheres created a minefield. A few of them gradually heated up, and when Luna ran between them, a scarlet lightning pierced the air. She wanted to dodge, but a second lightning bolt ripped open the ground below her. Luna barely managed to dodge again, but another lightning strike stopped her. She was forced to return to her starting position, and the Warped Queen seemed to ignore her now and wait.

Luna cursed. - “Yaegir was right. She predicts all the attacks in melee range and counters them...” - She took a deep breath, then analyzed the path toward the top. When her calculations were over, she gazed at the wound in the oracle's armor. She already knew that there was a method of attack that the Queen couldn't defend against.

However, Luna still had reasons to worry. On each of the fiery rings, the first of the eyes opened.

Without thinking twice, Luna rushed between the lightning and jumped on top of the first sphere before it completely heated up. Avi's eyes were unable to follow Luna's speed. It was like a smudge of light leaping and flashing between the spheres. For an inexperienced observer, it could appear to be random, but the lightning generators required some time to cool off, which Luna abused to prevent being hit. For over two minutes, during which five of the rings' eyes opened, she created a pattern that led her right to her target.

Luna flashed last one time and with her free hand, she tore the cables from the spot where the armor was damaged, then quickly disappeared to retreat back to the beginning. The coolant spurted out of the wound, followed by a short explosion. The Warped Queen screeched in pain, her body collapsed, but Luna felt it was not over. She had to continue the assault, so she knelt in front of the enemy again, calculating the safe route to the top. To her surprise, the spheres moved slightly, adjusting their positions, and instead of two minutes, Luna now required three more.

Luna was aware that her situation wasn't the optimal one, because the machine kept evolving. She immediately decided to attack as she had planned, and when thirteen of the rings' eyes were already open, she was already under the veil.

“Which one is...” - It took her a fraction of a second to find the box with the module responsible for consciousness. She pierced it with her hand, trying to hack the machine. Right now, healing queen was a secondary matter. She wouldn't be able to do it in time with her having awareness.

The red diodes lit up below the veil, starting a loud alarm. The head of Warped Queen detached and flew up high, right under the ceiling, dragging Luna with it.

When Luna's body couldn't react, Luna understood her big mistake. She was counterhacked. The fraction of a second that she had already passed. A red lightning struck her back, burning a wide hole in her and cutting her in half.

“Luna! NO!!!” - Avi was watching in dread as what was left of Luna hit the ground, right before her. The corpse's immolated edges glowed with a red light, which slowly seemed to devour what was left of Luna.

Avi began struggling even harder in her bindings, but it didn't make a difference. She stopped, with her face full of tears. - “Luna, speak to me... you've come out of similar trouble in the past... it will regenerate, right? Luna?” - There was no answer, though. - “LUNA!!!”

The last of Oracle's eyes opened, and her fiery rings expanded, scanning Luna's body.

“Detected Anaari's unit.” - An angelic voice spoke. - “Identifying. Error: an unknown model. Notes: Detected many layers of restrictions. The security signature: Echo of Apocalypse. Level of danger: Medium. Potential level of danger:” - The voice stopped for over half a minute. - “Goliath. Directive: Remove threat without delay.”

Before Avi could utter even a single word, the fiery rings whirled, and a ray of flame turned what was left of Luna's body to ash.

Avi's face trembled. There was not even a trace of Luna. She believed it was over and waited without moving until the fiery rings expanded towards her.

“Detected Anaari's technology linked to biological unit.” - The rings spoke. - “Identifying. Error, an unknown technology. Notes: Detected many layers of restrictions. The security signature: Unknown. Level of danger: Low. Potential level of danger: Unknown. Directive: Preventively remove the threat and the biological unit.”

“Mom... Dad... I'm sorry.” - Avi closed her eyes and her last tear dropped at the multitask cell, merely a second before Avi was able to part with life.

And then, the darkness came.