Published at 26th of February 2026 6:21 am

Chapter polymechanus 17.4

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

When the graveworm left the ground, Iriko assumed the world was ending.

She considered this a reasonable supposition, based on the previous forty-two-minutes-and-sixteen-point-four-seconds though she wasnt certain how exactly she was able to pinpoint the amount of time so accurately, especially amid all this panic. That was new; or perhaps very old, something shed forgotten she could do. She didnt have a lot of space for thinking right then, too busy desperately clinging to Pheiris back as he raced through an unfolding apocalypse of infinite destruction and insatiable inferno. Iriko had spent almost every moment of that time on improving her grip, shoving the underside of her body into the abscesses and cavities and whorls and curls in Pheiris beautiful white armour; she was reluctant to anchor herself with spikes of diamond and bone, reluctant to damage Pheiris shell even a little bit, even when he sent her explicit instructions to do so.

danger close///danger close///cancel warning blue-on-blue conditional APPROVE

stopping! Iriko squealed back over the tightbeam, though she was so close she could have spoken to Pheiri with actual vibrations. no no never never no no no

Iriko used every other technique she could think of hardening pseudopods into locked coils of bio-steel, extruding layers of quick-drying fibrin, speed-growing plates of suckers anything to keep herself from being thrown off Pheiris back. This was no easy task, not with the biomass shed already lost, but the adjustments and novel structures and new chemical formulae came easier and smoother than ever before.

Iriko knew Pheiri couldnt slow down. He had done his best to save her life by catching her, but if he tried to spare her the bumpy ride, he would be overwhelmed and destroyed by the wave of worm-guard racing across the landscape. Irikos job was to hang on tight. If she lost her grip and fell off, she would lose the protection of Pheiris shields and the shelter of Pheiris body. The fires would consume her.

Iriko had to be a sensible girl for the moment. She could do that, for Pheiri. No squealing and fluttering because she was in Pheiris arms. Hang on tight!

But hanging on was only half the battle; the other half was why she considered it entirely reasonable that the world was ending the backwash from worm-guard fury.

Iriko had fought worm-guard before or rather, the thing she had been before now, that thing had fought worm-guard. In defeat, Iriko had been born. Her memories of that event were fuzzy and indistinct, as if they had happened to somebody else. But in those memories the worm-guard had defeated her with flame-throwers and chemical-sprayers, weapons carefully tuned to melt and burn her body, while doing as little collateral damage as possible.

She already considered the worm-guard terrifying, without number, totally unstoppable. But she had no idea they were capable of such apocalyptic violence.

Iriko barely even understood what was happening. The worm-guard onslaught turned the earth into rolling sheets of explosion. Their weapons burned the air, set it on fire, made it ache in a way Iriko had never seen before. The sky was gone, drowned in an ocean of roiling black smoke, the dim red sunlight completely blotted out. The worm-guard destroyed everything in their path, from horizon to horizon, scorching and blasting and searing the world into a soup of red-hot molten concrete.

Yet the Necromancers hadnt died. Instead, theyd made themselves a little bit like Iriko, but faster and cleverer. Iriko almost felt offended. Necromancers were Necromancers, they shouldnt be acting like her! How would they like it if she acted like a Necromancer? Perhaps she should. She wanted to pout, but making lips was a bit risky right then.

Between the worm-guard and the Necromancers, Iriko was entirely justified to believe that nobody and nothing would emerge from this alive.

She had tried to mask her fear with a poem or two, broadcasting out into the rolling waves of destruction.

fire burn and ground shake!

iriko soft, still, serene,

the best place shes ever been

That made one of the Necromancers look at her for a split-second a tree-cluster of spinning eyeballs all in bleeding red, blinking in her direction and squirting a torrent of viral junk at her over a dozen different frequencies. Iriko slammed her counter-measures shut and spat a return volley into the void, a recursive poem-trick that would scramble anybody silly enough to risk unfolding it. Of course, the Necromancers didnt even flinch.

After that she risked no more poems. The Necromancers might have copied her physical techniques, but they were all nasty critics.

Elpida and Kagami and Hope had started chattering on the tightbeam; Pheiri looped her in, let her listen, which helped her keep calm.

A few moments later the physical assets crashed through the sky and bore a storm with them. That was when the graveworm reared up from the ground like a snake.

When it leapt into the air, Iriko knew this was the end.

She had not realised it until that moment, but the graveworm was the one constant in Irikos unlife, since long before she had met Pheiri, before she had become Iriko, before she had become whatever shed been previously. Down the long tunnel of indistinct memories lurking in the core of her mind, over every half-forgotten night and scrambled scrap of human warmth, over every guilty mouthful of human flesh, over every ripple of change across the outline of her once-body, there was the graveworm, towering over all.

Iriko knew there was more than one graveworm, so perhaps she had been around others in the past, before she had become herself. But all the graveworms looked the same.

A dark grey mountain range, unassailable and unapproachable, an imperishable wall forever rising at the edge of her world. Sometimes it was in motion, grinding through the guts of the city; often it lay in repose, weather breaking against the giants hide. Occasionally it could be dangerous, sending out its little minions to burn and purge some intruder at the periphery. But the graveworm was always there, the roots of the earth translated into eternal metal.

Iriko realised that she rather liked the graveworm. She liked that it was always there, always the same, always keeping on and keeping on, no matter what happened down in the world of shivering zombies and raw meat.

Never in all her wildest fears had Iriko considered it might be able to get up and jump.

When the graveworm leapt, Iriko abandoned caution. She split the refractive armour on her back to extend a wet and glistening bulb of sensory organs the best eyes she could grow, plated with transparent bone and cradled in a cup of ablative meat, just to watch that titanic leap.

The graveworm coiled high, then lunged forward, a predatory pounce that Iriko recognised so well.

A vast maw cut through oceans of air, the atmosphere itself screaming, superheated by the burning blue dot at the centre of the graveworms mouth. A shock-wave of air pressure washed back over Iriko, burning her eyeballs and singing her flesh, sending the dark banks of smoke swirling in every direction. The sheer size and weight of the graveworm was beyond anything she had ever witnessed in motion, larger than anything out there in the wastes or in her memories. If Iriko had a jaw, it would have hung open. If she had a heart right then, it would have stopped.

Centrals nasty little machines tried to swerve aside. The trio of golden-bronze darts flickered and jumped through the air, as if in two places at once, lightning crackling from the points of their angles.

Iriko wished she could pout. That wasnt fair! They werent playing fair!

But the graveworm twisted as it flew, flicking its head aside, as if it knew exactly how its prey would tryto flee.

The airborne worm caught one of the bronze darts.

That single shining point of nanomachine-blue in the centre of the graveworms head came into direct contact with the body of the dart; Centrals machine attempted to save itself, cloaked in a sphere of electric power, shooting jagged lines of bright red lightning in every direction. It thrashed and shook, wailing a single high-pitched note, blurting out torrents of incoherent data-stream into every available corner of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The graveworms forge-fire dismantled the machine, atom by atom at great speed, as if flaying a billion layers from it, one after the other, each strip only a single molecule thick, each one devoured by the worms titanic maw as if sucked down a great black whirlpool. The bronze dart was disintegrated into its constituent atoms, the same way the graveworm dug through the core of the corpse-city.

It took less than a second. Iriko watched the whole thing, eyes wide and burning, unable to tear herself away.

The moment the bronze dart ceased to exist, Iriko felt the distinctive discharge of an electro-magnetic pulse, the leading edge of a wave a thousand times more powerful than any prior experience.

She panicked, sucked her organs back inside, and rushed to turn her refractive mail into a mesh of bio-extruded metals. EMP wouldnt do her any lasting harm, but it could disorient her, and that might make her lose her grip on Pheiris back. The wave from the destruction of that nasty little machine would undoubtedly be the most terrible she had ever felt.

But then she realised the EMP was not from the death of Centrals machine. It came from the wave of worm-guard.

A wide pulse of electromagnetic discharge washed forward as the worm-guard played out the final piece of the graveworms plan; Pheiri and Iriko were caught in the backwash, but they were not the target.

Six Necromancers still fought, while one hung back, still in human form. The EMP slammed into them all, perfectly timed with a final blast from the worm-guards collective firepower.

Four Necromancers were destroyed, turned to meaty goo and atomised dust, the same way they had been destroyed over and over again for the last hour. But this time they didnt reform, scattered to the winds to join the black smoke.

All this happened as the graveworm was airborne. A second later it crashed back to earth.

Iriko would have screamed, if shed had a mouth.

The earth shook with the graveworms landing, though they were miles distant now. The ground vibrated like a drum, grinding and roaring and bucking. Pheiris tracks left the path beaten for him by the worm-guard, flying into the air, actually airborne for two whole seconds, before smashing back down with a terrible deep crunch. Iriko almost lost her grip on his armour; up on Pheiris turret, Lykke went flying, launched into the air, cartwheeling with her arms and legs wide, blonde hair trailing after her.

Stupid Necromancer, Iriko didnt have the spare biomass to babysit her!

Iriko briefly considered letting Lykke go. But Lykke had been nice to Iriko. Shed even called her beautiful. Maybe Lykke wasnt totally dumb, just clumsy.

Iriko caught her with a cluster of pseudopods and reeled her back in.

Hahahahahaaaa! Lykke laughed over raw radio, since her mouth was seared shut and her face all burned from the backwash of the battle. Oh, blob-girl, did you see?! Did you see that?!

Iriko was too overwhelmed to answer properly. Of course shed seen! The graveworm had leapt, Centrals physical assets were in disarray, and four Necromancers had been banished back to the network. Pheiri and his zombies were actually winning! Not that Iriko had ever doubted Pheiri. She would never let those filthy Necromancers touch him again. Except for Lykke, maybe. And Shilu, she supposed.

Too many thoughts in her head, too many things all at once. It was making Iriko twitchy.

Instead she extended a cluster of fleshy trumpets and hooted as loud as she could. She hoped the graveworm could hear, even over this terrible din.

Yeah you did, girl! Lykke yelled, though her physical ears were bleeding. You sure did!

Iriko made sure to lash Lykke to her flank this time. She didnt want Elpidas special friend to fall off again.

As sharply and suddenly as it had begun, the battle between the Necromancers and the worm-guard ended.

The tidal-wave of worm-guard stopped firing all at once, their blinding white beams cutting out, gigantic rotary cannons shutting off, strangely crumbled spheres of destruction winking into nothing. The whole line of advancing machines peeled away, flowing back toward the graveworm; it needed them, as Centrals physical assets started to recover from the counter-attack.

Only three worm-guard remained with Pheiri as he raced across the burned and blasted landscape the one on which Elpida rode and one on either side, though none of them resumed firing their weapons.

Ahead of the chase, the two remaining Necromancers finally burst free from the wide curve of destruction cut by the worm-guard, to join the third remaining Necromancer, the one who had not been part of the battle.

Three!? Kagamis voice crackled over the shared tightbeam uplink. Three worm-guard is all we get?! Elpida, Commander, this isnt enough! Get back in contact with your new friend, we need

Elpidas voice cut in. Its all she can spare, Kaga. And its all we need.

All we need?!

Weve already won.

There was no more time for argument; Pheiris tracks left the end of the pathway which the worm-guard had beaten flat for him, out into the raw concrete jumble of the blasted city once more, beyond the burned and blasted landscape of the worm-guard wrath.

Pheiri skidded to a halt, tracks throwing up a shower of concrete dust and black mold and the lingering waters of the storm. Iriko hardened her refractive mail, dusted with debris.

Smoke-muffled silence settled for a few seconds.

Behind lay the black-and-red boiling landscape of melted concrete and molten metal that Pheiri had just crossed, wreathed in deep dark sheets of reeking soot; Iriko could only see through it by experimenting with her sensory organs, extruding sensitive probes to cut through the murk. Beyond those miles of destruction, a fresh and even more terrifying fight was taking shape thousands of worm-guard pouring back toward the graveworm, Centrals physical assets sparking and crackling with lightning, muffled by the mountains of black soot and smoke.

Ahead across a loose crater of concrete crusted with black mold stood the three Necromancers which had survived the graveworms EMP trick. Two were sucking themselves back into loose approximations of human form, folding away layers of bleeding meat and blackened bone. The one in the middle stood unchanged, a silver-white mirror of Lykke.

Perpetua. Iriko knew that Necromancer by name. Shed heard all about it, from Howl. A very naughty girl.

Beneath Iriko, Pheiri was shuddering with the exertion of the flight. She didnt understand how she knew this, but she felt the tremors and tensions through the bulk of his armour, as if pressing an ear to a human chest. Through her suckers and pseudopods she listened to the thud-thud-thud of his nuclear heartbeat, of his engines so grand and delicate, and she knew he needed to rest.

But he couldnt lower his shields, not yet. Poor boy! Iriko wished she wasnt so small. If only she were bigger, she could have washed over those three Necromancers all by herself.

She eyed Pheiris turret and the forward portion of his hull. Maybe if she got up there and tooted at the Necromancers?

Three worm-guard halted behind Pheiri, bringing billows of black smoke with them. The central worm-guard strode forward, squatting over Pheiris body; Elpida was on top of that one, controlling it directly.

That was moe like it! Elpida and her zombies, they owed Pheiri everything, and they were his. He wasnt alone.

But Iriko couldnt help noticing that Elpida looked pained.

Alright then, Commander, Kagami hissed through clenched teeth. Thats still three intact Necromancers. What now?

Now were in a stand-off, said Elpida. But we have the upper hand.

what? Commander, have your eyeballs been burned by all the atomics out there? Did you not just see how they fought? One of those could wipe us out in seconds! Let alone three of them

Naaaaaah, Lykke cut in. Nah nah nah, babes. You dont get it! Theyve had their little clawsies clipped! Clapped then clipped!

The tightbeam connection went silent for a second, all except Pheiris timekeeping.

Who was that? Kagami hissed.

Elpida sighed. Lykke

Heyyyyyyyyyaaaa Elpi, Lykke purred.

Lykke herself wriggled politely in Irikos grip, asking to be let go. Iriko released her pseudopods and Lykke bounced free, skipping across Pheiris armour, before leaping up onto his turret. Her flesh was rapidly re-forming, her burned face turning back into sun-kissed pale skin, her white dress reconstituting itself from scorched fragments. She stood up tall and straight, put her hand on her hips, and grinned across the crater at the trio of Necromancers.

Iriko didnt mind Lykke being up on the turret. After all, Iriko had lost too much biomass to help. Hadnt she?

And hiiii-hi-hi-hi all you other zombies, Lykke went on. Dont worry about little old Lykke right now, kk?

Lykke, Elpida said. I think I know whats happening, but my cadre needs

Yeah yeah yeah, Lykke huffed. Those three filthy sows over there have lost their extended permissions, because theyre no longer fighting the graveworm. Get it? No graveworm, no permission to draw all that energy from the network. Lykke made a funny gesture, flicking her fingers under her chin, looking toward Perpetua. The other Necromancer frowned. The two either side of Perpetua were almost human again now, but warped into massive, skinless forms studded with blackened bone. So theyre back down with you and me. Or just me, you know!

Lykke opened her mouth and shouted across the crater. Hey Petty! You wanna get all messed up on my fingers again? We never got to finish properly!

Perpetua opened her mouth too. Cease your prattle, she called, her voice carrying as if right next to Irikos body. We are three, you are one

One?! Lykke exploded into laughter, shaking her blonde hair and doing a little stampy-circle dance up on Pheiris turret. Iriko approved. What do you call all this then, you infant?

Elpidas voice joined in, projected via the worm-guard, booming out across the crater: Necromancers. Perpetua. Understand our position. We have Pheiris guns, and the gravitic engines in these three worm-guard. Thats more than enough to pin all three of you in place. Once we do that, we can inflict pain as we please. Perpetua, you understand what that means. Your companions there will learn as well. Back down, back into the network. Weve already won.

Kagamis voice hissed on comms, You dont really believe that, Commander.

Maybe. Maybe not. But theyve disengaged. For now.

Perpetua raised her chin; Iriko didnt like her face, all pinched and nasty, eyes red-rimmed with pain and crying. She looked like she would be very boring to talk with.

All of this is dead flesh in motion, Perpetua said. The tank will require a direct approach, but the rest can be frozen and dismantled. Even you, Lykke.

Elpidas voice rang out again, different this time, alight with a cackle.

Oh yeah?! Howl spat. You think so, huh?! Yeeeeeah, thats right, hey there little miss womb-stealer. Remember me? You think you can just freeze us all, huh? You wanna try? Wanna take your best shot? Come on, bitch, line up on my forehead and shoot. But if you miss, Im gonna be the one cutting you open, and Im gonna do it with my teeth.

As Howl spoke, Pheiris top hatch opened, only a few feet from the edge of Irikos biomass. Three dark figures slipped out onto his armour Shilu, sharp as a knife, Hafina, half invisible and draped with liquid armour, and Serin, who shot a glowing, red-eyed, smirking wink at Iriko. A pale hand reached up and yanked the hatch shut from inside, a pair of wide eyes staring out at Iriko for a split-second.

With us, friend? Serin sent over radio. The other two were already hurrying around the side of the turret.

necromancer hunting hunting? iriko damaged small biomass loss loss bad small bad

One Necromancer will fill you up good. Serin waited a beat, then turned away, black robes swirling. Your choice, friend. I will save you a cut of meat.

Iriko gently unstuck herself from Pheiris back, reeling in her bio-steel tendrils and unmaking her suckers. She was not exaggerating, she was smaller than before, vulnerable and damaged, though still much larger than the average zombie. Part of her wanted to shelter on Pheiris back, but a much greater part wanted to help defend him. She could never be one of his zombies, but she would rather be nowhere else than here, protecting this little slice of what Elpida called Telokopolis.

She slid forward, out and around Pheiris turret. Serin and Shilu and Hafina were already up front, facing the trio of Necromancers. Iriko clung to the hull on the opposite side, extending as many sensory organs as she dared, getting a better look at the foe. With normal eyes they were almost invisible, wreathed so deeply in the roiling black smoke. She picked them out with infra-red and echolocation, then peered into the surface of the network with her new techniques. The Necromancers were like dancing stars, bright with in-flow and out-flow. Iriko didnt know what it all meant, but they were big, in there.

Two, Shilu said, out loud.

Across the crater, Perpetua frowned. You

You dont know me, Shilu said. I dont know you. Dont care to, either. Ill take you apart easily enough.

Perpetua gritted her teeth and raised one hand, eyes burning with humiliated anger. Some of you will have to be fought directly. Sadly true. But the bulk can be dispensed with. She pointed directly at Serin, then at Iriko. You and you.

Iriko felt her body freeze. Necromancer trickery!

But then she saw a shudder pass across the surface of the network, as if a stone had been tossed into still water, then a boulder dropped onto the ripples, obliterating the effect with no hope of recovering such delicate equilibrium.

Perpetua staggered back, blinking hard and gritting her teeth. Iriko felt her body unfreeze. Serin shook herself, then produced her sniper rifle from inside her robes, aiming across the crater.

Try again, corpse-rapist, said Serin.

Iriko extended three fleshy trumpets and hooted a little tune, then squirted a very nasty poem with lots of meaty words.

The Necromancers couldnt stop them anymore! Howl was too clever!

Howl shrieked with laughter: Thats right, you rotten shit-eater! Network permissions?! Mine is bigger than yours now. Wanna compare sizes? Wanna get your stupid slut face knocked in by my bulging

Kagamis voice cut across Howl, from Pheiris external speakers. We have permissions of our own.

Iriko did a little toot; how did Kagami sound so confident when shed been shaking over comms only a minute or two ago? Iriko would never understand.

Perpetua straightened back up. The pair of Necromancers on either side shared a glance with each other, clusters of eyeballs forming and dissolving in their flesh like bubbles on frothing blood.

We can still overwhelm you, Perpetua said. It makes no difference.

Then why are we still talking? Kagamis booming voice asked. Leave, or we open fire. Commander, orders?

Elpida echoed Kagami. Leave, she called, voce amplified from the three towering worm-guard. Or we open fire.

On the tightbeam comms, her answer was quite different: They wont take the way out. Were going to have to fight this. Perpetua herself is the only one who feels pain, and shes afraid, I can see it in her eyes. The other two dont care. Theyre untouched, and I dont think Howl and I can change that, not with how Perpetua warned them. Kagami, Im going to transfer the worm-guards gravitic engines to your control. Our only chance is to trap them and then have Howl try to crack whatever extra layers of protection theyve got. If we can inflict enough pain, theyll break just like Perpetua

Fuck that! Lykke said out loud.

She hopped off the turret and strode straight down the middle of Pheiris forward hull. Shilu ignored her, but Serin and Hafina stepped to one side. Silly zombies, Lykke was both harmless and extra dumb, she wasnt any threat. Lykke ignored the zombies too, striding straight forward and leaping off the front of Pheiris hull. She landed on the concrete without so much as a scratch, straightened back up, and flashed a nasty smirk at Perpetua.

We didnt get to finish our little fight! Lykke shouted. You and me, Petty

Do not call me

you and me. You keep dodging me down in the network, girl! As if you dont want to find out what it feels like when you take it alllll the way. Dont you wanna know, huh? Dont you? Lykke tossed her golden hair over one shoulder. And you two babies, she snarled, gesturing at the other two Necromancers. You are boring, boring, boring. Ill give you one chance to run, or else mommy is going to show you why auntie Petty cant walk straight anymore.

Lykke, Elpida said over the tightbeam. We appreciate the help, we really do, but

Like fuck we do! Kagami spat.

Buuuuuuut, Im not good enough to be one of your girls, Elpida? Lykke purred. Maybe youll change your mind after this. See, that nasty little goblin youve got there

Me? Howl snorted.

That. Nasty. Little. Goblin. Shell take too long to teach these two what real flesh feels like. Minutes? Hours? No no no, that wont do.

And you can? Howl growled. Bitch, please

Wait, Elpida interrupted. Lykke, are you serious? Can you rewire their permissions like Howl did with Perpetua?

Howl snapped. Itll take her hours, too! They got hardened, Elps, theyre warned against it.

Mmmm? Lykke purred. I can do it in seconds. Hand-to-hand. If you want three girls quivering and panting for you, Elpida, Ill deliver them right to your feet.

Nah, Howl grunted, but she sounded amused.

See, Lykke went on. You dont know what its like to be one of us, runt. But I do. I speak the lingo, native-style and all that. Let me try. Pleeeeease, Elpida? Im being such a good girl, all for you. Let me try? Elpidaaaaaaaa, pleeeeease?

Lykke didnt wait for approval; she leapt forward across the concrete debris, white dress and blonde hair trailing out behind her, hands hooked like claws, racing straight for Perpetua.

Elpidas voice cut in over the comms. Back her up! Everyone, follow that Necromancers lead!

Serin was already dropping to one knee, sniper rifle locking into position. Hafina raised her guns too, a bristling wall of weapons. Shilu sprinted forward, leaping from Pheiris hull, following in Lykkes wake.

Iriko didnt need Elpidas orders.

Twice shed almost eaten Necromancers alive. Twice they had escaped. This would be her third time lucky.

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