Published at 24th of January 2026 7:20 am

Chapter 324: Solid Soul

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Going somewhere, human? rippled one, wings barely moving as it hovered between him and the way out.

They had him boxed in the centre, where there was a cluster of jagged rises and falls.

He didnt know the names of these two Hornets, but one point was in his favour: from their Soul Senses, they werent at the peak of Tier 2. They were somewhere between the lower and middle range. They were weaker than Vorath and Khoren and the Blade would have made quick work of them. But the Blade was not in his hands.

The closer one, between him and the exit, was the stronger, and it had spread its Soul Sense wide. Around that one spun a metal ball, gripped in the tip of one of its Soul Sense tendril. An Artifact, Tier 2, whizzing in endless circles. Threat Analysis wasnt sure what it did, except for what they could see. If it hit him, he would be broken.

Both wielded two Soul Sense tendrils, as all at Tier 2 dida significant advantage, especially as these Hornets would likely rely on their stingers. One hit from a sting would collapse his shield. A second would stun him long enough for them to sting him again and again. That would be the end of him.

These caverns were an ideal battleground. Without the Blade, fighting them both together and winning was unlikely. But he could employ his preferred methods. Hit and run, find an opening.

All of these thoughts moved through him and the Modules in a singular mass, an instant of understanding. A tough fight, edge of the knife, which could go any way. But victory was possible.

That mass of thought birthed in him a wonderful rush, a flare of energy. The Dark rose like a river bursting its banks, the air crystallised.

Surrender, and we will kill you mostly painlessly, said the same one.

I am going to rip your stinger off and shove it down your throat, he promised, taking care to enunciate the ripples.

The closer Hornet lunged straight at him, Soul Sense tendrils reaching. On the tip of one tendril shimmered a stinger, activated and deadly. The other tendril carried a different strikesome kind of attack aimed to disrupt and damage Nicolais own Soul Sense.

His H-gram flashed a demonic face as he dropped into the Zero-Twelve state. Darkness and the Thrill coiled through him. The Spectral Claw extended from his right hand, while his bionic snapped down, seized his pistol and rose with both pistol and laser firing.

A line of red caught the Hornet in front, lancing through one eye, while the pistol rounds were deflected around it. It was protected by the Silver Net, and bullets were useless against it. But the laser worked fine and it shrieked in pain, half-blinded, exoskeleton sizzling. Almost instantlybefore the line could cross onto the next eyea Symbiote flared. A great ball of water formed around the Hornet. Steam spat and hissed as the line of red was absorbed by the water.

Nicolai flicked his aim at the second Hornet, but that one flashed immediately into mist. The same Symbiote Xyrrith had possessed. The mist poured toward him and an instant of realisation shot through his mind.

These two had not come randomly. Vorath had spoken to the other Highspawn of his capabilities and this pair had been picked because they possessed Symbiotes that countered him. The M99, arguably his most powerful weapon, was useless against them.

The water-shrouded Hornet didnt sit around. It rushed him, tendrils snapping out, the ball Artifact whistling through the air.

The Quiet Knife was still in his skinsuit because he needed to keep it a surprise. Hed unzipped the top of his skinsuit and could seize the weapons handle relatively quickly, but wouldnt draw it unless certain he could score a kill. The Claw, his most reliable spiritual weapon, rose before him.

In that first collision, he almost died.

The two stingers came in, left and right. The ball was contained in the right. He flicked out the Claw, looked to score a parry with the first deflect. But he didnt quite have the timing yet, against this new opponent.

He deflected the left stinger regardless, then the right, and was leaping immediately at the enemy. He just had to get close, and hed drag the Knife out and stab it to death. The other one was close and the surprise of the sudden death of its ally would allow him to spring at it, seize it, stab it, and the fight would be won.

But he realised as he sprung forward that, though hed deflected the tendril holding the ball, the ball hadnt been deflected with it. It flew out, unguided by Soul Sense, homing in on him as fast as an arrow from a bow.

In the air his momentum was committed. He lashed at the ball with the Claw but the heavy chunk of metal just blasted straight through and kept on coming, unhindered.

Its movement seemed to slow and he saw himself from a distance, felt the sudden lack of options. It is dangerous to be overly aggressive in the first moments of a fight, when you do not yet know your opponents capabilities. His need for a quick kill had pushed him into overcomitting.

But theres always a way. His bionic lanced forward. The handcannon snapped with a boom and the ball was deflected by the.50 cal round at the last moment, sent screeching past him.

He spun through the air, movement shifted slightly by the recoil and the water-wrapped Hornet hed aimed to clash with had time to slide out the way. He landed, skidded, sought out the ball.

It was coming back around, and it was still unguided by Soul Sense. This broke the rules he had become accustomed to. What was guiding it? Did it have some kind of simple magical AI in there?

No, said Threat Analysis. The ripples. The moment the Module drew his attention to it he understood. The Hornet was sending out directed ripples, aiming them at the ball. Using them much as one might use digital commands transferred via radio waves to control a drone.

There came a shift in his mind as Cyberwarfare began to burn hotter, drawing more power from his implants. He could feel the Modules eagerness.

If the Artifact worked like a drone, perhaps they could hack it.

But for now, he had to focus. The Hornets were closing fast. The one which had turned into mist had moved around the outskirts of the cavern, reached its ally, and now it hovered behind the other, reformed into physical form, where it could benefit from the barrier of water.

They dove for him, four tendrils and the Artifact ball. In his last fight, hed struggled to deal with four at once with the Claw and Blade together. With only the Claw, he was in trouble.

They all came at once but Nicolai was in that sacred place. The walls were breathing and the shadows twisting. He read their Intents effortlessly, and the Dark whispered what the ball was planning.

The Claw darted through the air, swooping like a bird of prey. He severed one tendril, another, but the Claw couldnt be in two places at once and the last shot at him. He focused, an image of Serrin flashing through his mind, raised his empty hand, felt the movement of the tendril, the Hornet behind, understood everything that went into this strike.

And lashed out with a Soul Strike just as the stinger stabbed for him. His hand caught it just on the side of the vicious barb and flicked it away. A bell-like ripple washed out and the tendril spasmed, stunned by the perfect parry, and a sense of utter satisfaction rolled through him.

The ball and one more tendril were closing fast, coming simultaneously, ball on the left, tendril on the right. Nicolai held himself, still, steady, muscles bunched on the edge of action. He deactivated his Burst Shield in favour of the Brawler, felt a flood of strength pour through him and a loose speed settle about his limbs.

The moment arrived and he used all that strength and speed to launch himself up the wall. Scuttling like a spider, his skinsuits climbing clawsbiting stone that bulged with hallucinatory eyes. The ball blasted through the space hed occupied, smashed into the wall and bounced off at an angle, chips of stone flying in its wake. He could almost feel its frustration. The tendril caught nothing.

The ball was slowing, wanting to come back at him, but all that momentum had sent it wide and he had some time before it came back. The tendrils were another matter. The ones hed severed were reforming, and the one that hed dodged was already turning to dart up at him. At least the one hed stunned with the parry was out of action for a bit longer, though he was dismayed to see that stunning one tendril didnt stun the entire Soul Sense.

He kept scuttling over the wall, now angling toward the exit, and extended one hand to position the Claw between him and the tendril.

But that was when the Hornet at the back, hiding behind the water-shielded one, peered around its companion. From its extended hand burst a grey wash of energy, moving fast and expanding in a cone toward him.

His eyes widened at the speed of the attack. It was unguided by Soul Sense and thus couldnt be deflected. Threat Analysis didnt know what it did. It was spreading, would impact a wide area. He would not be able to avoid it, didnt have time to re-activate his Burst Shield.

So he positioned the Claw between him and the attack, held his Sheltering Glove out with the shield Art active and in that moment launched from the wall, pulling up his legs and shaping himself into a ball so his whole form was behind the two protections.

The grey energy passed over him in a dull wave. It did nothing to his Soul, his Soul Sense, or his body. It didnt bother his electronics, his balance, or his sight.

It only did one thing. When it passed through the Spectral Claw, his Sheltering Gloves shield, and the Big Mouth, the Arts burst apart with twinned flashes and were gone. Simultaneously a dull pain erupted through his arm, radiating from the Nodes containing the Claws Symbiotes. Symbiotes which had barely had time to recover since hed hit one of those crystals with the Claw.

He was still slipping through the air, and his motion was aided by one thing that hadnt failed. The Pegasi rings were working fine. No, not only that. The Brawler Symbiote, the Wolf Bugs, and the Red Tendonswhich hed distributed in his bionic armall worked without issue.

The Dark wanted him to somehow push through all obstacles and kill these Hornets but he knew then that it couldnt be, not here and now. Later, he assured it, and even as he firmed his objectiveescapehe felt the utter clarity it gave him fading.

The tendril was still coming at him, but once more he focused, extended his arm. It lunged, and his arm slashed to meet it.

He deflected it, but not quite perfectly. Flicked it away, but only just, and he felt a strange pain. A strain through his Soul.

He was only Tier 1 and was deflecting Soul Sense attacks from Tier 2s. The Claw had been able to match them without issue, because of its great spiritual power. Without it, his Soul was struggling.

He landed, rolled, sprang up and sprinted for the exit. He was past the Hornets, he just had to get away, buy some time, reach his base.

But they were coming after him, gaining quick, tendrils lashing, and he realised he wouldnt make it.

One tendril struck and he spun. He breathed out and slowed down and the tendril became his world. He bent his knees and his arm swam out to meet it, the motion strangely gentle. He flicked it, flailing and stunned, with the bell tone of a perfect parry.

His satisfaction was gummed by intensifying pain in his Soul.

Another came from the left, so fast his arm wasnt yet ready to meet it, so he used his Soul Sense tendril. Another perfect bell-tone, another tendril deflected. He could feel the Hornets disbelief as the two tones overlapped.

The third came and once more he flicked it aside with his arm, the third perfect deflect. The pain rose another notch but he was so close, now. He could see the ball humming toward him. Itd arrive on the heels of the next tendril.

His Soul Sense shifted, coiled, darted up to meet the tendril. The movement was perfect, and he knew it would be a perfect deflect.

But the pain became something vicious and numbing, and his Soul Sense tendril, though it landed perfectly, only let out a faint, whiny attempt at that bell-tone. It felt like kicking something you were trying to break but the kick landed bad, knee jerking sideways, ankle straining.

His Soul had reached a limit, and the tendril wasnt deflected. It just twitched, then the stinger stabbed his own tendril.

A rush of evil green venom poured through the tendril, flooding toward him. Once it got to his Soul it would stun him, and hed be a free kill.

The ball was only feet away, and he was out of options.

But he had the Modules.

Cyberwarfares outpost on his Soul let out a series of ripples, tightly directed. Will it work? he asked. He could feel the Modules uncertainty, but after a millisecond of thought that turned to confidence. The ripples beamed right at the ball.

He chose to trust in the Module, turned and slashed with one hand, one more Soul Strike. His Soul was far too weak to manage a perfect deflect, right now, but he wasnt going for that.

Instead he severed his own Soul Sense tendril. The soul-stuff thatd made it up, and the spiritual venom thatd infected it, all puffed into the air.

At the same moment there came a roar of air and a faint sting on his ear. The ball, responding to Cyberwarfares commands, had veered at the last instant, shot past his head instead of smashing it like a melon. It turned a tight circle and shot past him again on the other side, right at the Highspawn.

That gave him the time he needed. As the Hornets yelled and dove out the way of the ball, he dashed to the exit. He analysed it with his GPR as he approached, and found some good news. Drawing the last of his grenades he activated their sticky-mode and slapped them all into one specific spot, then kept on running.

The Hornets were pursuing, the ball-controller having regained mastery over it as soon as hed touched it with Soul Sense. But theyd have to find another way around.

He turned a corner and the grenades hed left let out a solid thump, felt through the stone. Right at a fault, they caused the ceiling above the tunnel entrance to cave in, blocking the Hornets.

The next time he met them he intended the fight to go very differently.

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