Published at 13th of September 2026 7:27 pm

Chapter 374: The Gate

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

The buildings in the compound were all big blocky things, sides of white stone, roofs flat or angular and covered by black slate tiles. It seemed that just about every assassin and every undead guardian was out there, in the streets and on the rooftops, and all were set to killing one another.

Running desperate amongst this chaos was a white-robed figure, the hacker, who clutched a box which was belting out a strident, warbling shriek that came across through both sound and ripples.

Nicolai went straight after the hacker, but hed only covered a few dozen metres when Severin burst out through the big busted doorway behind him. The assassin was bent half over like a wolf, bionic legs tearing dust from the ground. Nicolai opted to give him something to think about, tossing a few grenades while authorising Aiming to open up with a barrage of 7.62 from his gunlimbs. The bullets cracked Severins Shield, digging quick through it, but he dealt with the grenades by pulling a pistol and snapping off four precise shots, detonating or knocking the them away before they could get close enough to threaten him.

The hacker turned a corner, disappearing of Nicolais view. Drones were no good with all the Local jamming, but he had the Infiltrator out here and through it he maintained eyes on the hacker, plus his connection to the defence system. The only way to hold that connection was to remain in Soul Sense range of the bands of light running through the buildings, restricting ones line of travel plus demanding an entire tendril. He solved that problem, and the issue of data-transfer when the Local was choked, via ripple-based communication between himself and the Infiltrator. Its focus was on maintaining stealth, sticking close to the access lines, and giving him a handy alternate view of things.

Following its directions he ducked off the main street and down an alleyway, then emerged a moment later into another street. A pleasant boulevard with a path down the centre, flanked by grassy gardens containing a scattering of benches, flower beds, even the odd fountain. At least, that was what Simulations said it probably looked like, when it wasnt full up with dusty masses of undead, all pressed tight like ants in a hive, flailing ineffectually in the direction of the assassins darting amidst or over them. Only the occasional undead guardian, by and large hulking individuals, were able to effectively fight these attackers. Observation murmured with disappointment over its inability to get a good picture of the street.

Nicolai twisted, fishlike, through the crowd of undead then flexed his legs and leapt. He landeda top the shoulders of a muscular, bellowing behemoth of an undead guardian wielding a huge club, currently busy smashing wildly at a cloaked figure who dodged every swing, a feat the smaller undead they were using as cover failed to mimic, leading to many being squashed flat by errant blows from the club. However, though mostly brutalising its own team, the guardian had managed at some point to burst the assassins Shield. Nicolai gave it a helping handor, stole its kill, depending on how one looked at itas he leapt once more, flying off of it. His gunlimbs spat out a couple rounds, caught the suddenly frantic assassin, and they were gone.

Landing atop a roof he saw the hacker with his own eyes, a figure dashing further along with robes thrashing around his ankles. He was gaining, but the same was true of the many other figures up here. He was more exposed on the roof and attacks came at him from all angles, bullets and explosions and lances of light. Severin hadnt appeared at the mouth of the alley Nicolai had used. The killer could be anywhere.

He was merged tight with the Modules, and through the stirring link of the Dark he felt the Dark Spirit as a friend just out of sight, around some dimensional corner from whence it whispered impressions and warnings. The attacks that came for him blew holes in the black tiles, tore through empty air, playing a strange, never-quite-touching dance with his body as, with Hornet Wings flaring and the clawed feet of his skinsuit tearing at the tiles, Nicolai cut his way through the chaos of the rooftop.

He came up fast behind two struggling figures. One turned in time to see him, face desperate, but he was too close for it to matter. He lashed with the Quiet Knife, a single, perfect strike that passed effortlessly through two Skin Shields and caught two necks. A torrent of red poured free, existing for a frozen moment before blue light claimed them. He felt the future danger of bullets in the magazine of a gun that was at that moment taking aim at him from a hundred metres away, and the gunlimbs on his back squirmed in response. Two twinned bursts of fully-automatic fire erupted from their muzzles, tore chunks out of the Shield of the one taking aim at him. Not enough to break it and score a kill before the enemy could throw himself down into cover, but that was enough. The bullets didnt come his way and so Nicolai could devote the whole of his movement and attention to juking and sidestepping several blasts of smoking light from a cloaked figure peeking from behind harder cover.

He found himself some cover of his own, a gulley on the rooftop, and sped down it. There was still no sign of Severin, a point of significant concern, but he was closing on the hacker, and knew they were under significant pressure. He could feel the hacker in the system, interfacing with it, begging for assistance. He was saying that he had no choice but to take the Orbto protect it, obviouslyand that the system had to protect him from his many, many foes.

Alas, the system was not at all happy with this hacker. Guided by Cyberwarfare, its suspicions about his loyalties had turned into a horrified certainty, and from there transformed into total, venomous hatred. It was not sentient in quite the same way a human was, but it was still plenty sentient enough to realise itd been had. Doubtless, Nicolai could expect a similar reaction when it found him outbut for now there was no chance of that.

In fact, at that moment, as he pulled on a handy outcropping with the Claw and punched up out of the gulley, and the hacker came into sight sprinting on the rooftop directly ahead of him, and he saw the multiple undead guardians barrelling towards the mansome kind of huge minotaur, a huge crawling lizard with bones showing where its rotted flesh gave way, a stitched-together monkey wielding a quarterstaffplus a few assassins speckled amongst them, the system chose to send out some kind of part-ripple part-Soul-Sense based command to all of its agents.

Kill him! it cried, speaking not just to the guardians, but to Nicolai, too.

The hacker was apparently able to sense and understand these signals, and even tell who they were directed at. He saw the man turn to stare at him, disbelief on his features, and experienced another instant of connection. The hacker had just connected dots of some kind and realised hed lost the hack-off. Even through the veil Nicolai saw the mans face transform from shock to rage and spite. Turning his head again, the hacker seemed to see something, and suddenly he threw the box.

It spun through the air, up towards one of the roofs. Nicolais eyes and body snapped to follow, as did everyone else. Only for a figure to leap out and snatch it from the air. Severin.

As we agreed, cried the hacker, continuing to pelt away to safety. The ground around him exploded as various attacks landed, but no one cared to hold their aim on him and though his white-robed form was tossed around, he somehow survived.

The battlefield spun on the pivot that was the box, taking aim at Severin. The assassin dashed away, quicker than the hacker by far.

Severin leapt a full thirty metres to a neighbouring roof. Nicolai followed, but so did everything else. He reached the same roof only to see Severin disappar off its far edge, the assassin darting off just in time to avoid a lance of green energy that blasted out from a black spire that rose from this rooftopone of a number of spiritual towers controlled by the furious defence system.

There were two assassins right in front of Nicolai. Theyd been preparing to attack one another, but when they turned and saw him they apparently decided to put their enmity aside.

He threw himself at them, taking a moment to pull and reload his gun limbs. He mightve told them to get out the way, but he didnt actually want them to.

One was a big bruiser, a Cyborg with only a Tier 1 Soul, but a lot of augmentation. The other was a small, skinny type in dark robes, who reminded him of the cultivator in the theatre. Similar-looking black energy crackled around his hands, then he snapped them up and fired.

Nicolai had seen the shots coming well, well before the robed assassin raised his hands, and he used the Spectral Claw to deflect these just as he had the bolts of the assassin in the theatre. The moment the shots were deflected on its talons he punched his arm out and the Claw shot forward in a great slash. The bruiser fired at him with some kind of auto-shotgun, wild, unavoidable sprays of buckshot that hammered into his Shield. It was only Tier 1, and he knew it couldnt take the fire for long.

But Nicolai wasnt worried. He caught at Aiming, stopped it firing back. Doing so would be a waste of ammo. The Claw had broken the Shielding of the robed assassin, who clearly didnt possess the awareness of the importance of distance management the guy in the theatre had. The guy tried to run, but not fast enough. Nicolai caught him, seized him, and, while moving, dragged the robed cultivator through the air until he got him right between himself and the cyborg shooting at him.

The meat shield didnt last long. Just a couple of shots, and he was gone in a burst of blue, but by then Cyberwarfares work was bearing fruit.

The defence system saw Nicolai as one of its greatest assets in reclaiming that Orb, and it wasnt happy about anything that slowed him. The black spire on the roof had been crackling all that time, building up another shot.

Nicolais movement, continuing on toward then past the Cyborg, had also pulled the mans attention around. The tower was now out of his view, and even amongst more advanced Cyborgs it was very rare to be able to parse all the information from multiple cameras to notice threats from all angles, as Nicolai and the Modules could. The Cyborgs only warning was a great cracking boom, then a bolt of green lightning slammed into him from behind. The Cyborg cried out, his body seeming to freeze and melt, Shield breaking.

Nicolai couldnt help but burst out in laughter, delighted by the sight of the green energy targeting an enemy, overjoyed that he was able to leverage the defence system like this, a delight the Modules, especially Cyberwarfare, mirrored and strengthened.

He tossed a sticky grenade at the stunned Cyborg as he passed by, catching him in the face. The Infiltrator had gotten ahead of him and found Severin. The assassin was killing anyone who got in his way, but the sheer number of undead and other assassins had severely slowed him down. Soon, Nicolai would catch up.

From behind him there came a dull thump, and his kill count increased by one.

Nicolai gained quickly towards the chaos that surrounded Severin. The mans strange soul sense dissolved anything spiritual that came within its reach, including many attacks, but he was put under pressure by all the gunfire.

That was when Severin started pulling and tossing grenades, smoke blasting from them. Nicolai recognised the type.

Multispectrum smoke, grey and opaque as soup, but with an odd graininess to it. Multispectrum smoke came in various flavours, but experienced users could tell the variants apart. Nicolai recognised this as being thermal-enabling, designed to block every type of vision except thermal, which wasnt merely unimpeded, but actually had its clarity improved. The smoke also acted to severely limit Local communication through it. Hed been looking to acquire the type for a while, but they werent available from his Market and the Assembler didnt have the capability to make them.

Naturally, he immediately switched over to thermal. The wall of grainy smoke turned from an opaque barrier to a mere fuzz, rooftops and walls rendered as dull grey verging on black, human skin bright, hot white, the odd Cyborg a mixing of grey and white where flesh and metal mixed, plus near incandescence where plumes of heat vented from their internals.

But though many were starkly visible, there were several exceptions. Severin had vanished. The assassin had switched his body into cool-running, as had numerous other augmented assassins.

Nicolai did the same. The heat-venting fins on his back closed up, and within him augments shifted into new configurations as the excess heat was retained and redirected into his heat dumps, of which he had two. As for the heat from his biological parts, that was taken care of by his skinsuit, which, more expensive and capable than his last, maintained an outer layer that matched the ambient temperature as a matter of course.

The smoke swirled as he pressed into it, a dull, muted world where the gunfire and yells of battle were turned softer. His steps were cautious and his senses alert.

He came up behind a confused Cultivator, a robed figure who was crouching down, peering around uncertainly, feeling tentatively about with his Soul Sense. Nicolai stepped around his tendrils, ghosted past him, struck with the Quiet Knife, and gained himself another elimination.

The effortless kill gave him little joy. He was hunting much more dangerous prey. Severin was in here, somewhere, and he and the Modules were using everything available to work out where. Initially it had been easy as they could just follow the alarm of the box, but the cry had cut off not long after the smoke rose. Severin had found a way to disable the alarm. Now, he was hiding, waiting.

No matter. The full-spectrum smoke had an unexpected weakness. More than one, in fact. For starters, the undead were just as invisible as himself and Severin. Their bodies released no heat, and though they were blind they could still feel their way with Soul Sense. He saw their passage through the reactions of those within the smoke who didnt possess the ability to hide their heat, where occasionally someone would twist and begin to fight with someone invisible.

The other weakness was that, though the smoke prevented many forms of connection, limiting the use of drones, it didnt do anything about ripples.

The Infiltrator was outside of it and providing him several benefits. It was keeping an eye on the edges of the smoke, ready to inform him if Severin emerged. So far, no sign. Threat Analysis was using ripple analysis to locate anything with a Soul within the mist, while triangulating with the Infiltrator for greater accuracy. The Infiltrator also kept him in communication with the defence system.

The system was attempting to coordinate its undead within the smoke, and in fact its ability to do so wasnt much hampered. But it relied on their eyes to actually locate the assassin, and thus the smoke had blocked it from doing so.

Fortunately for it, Nicolai was there to help.

Severins strange Symbiote set had initially been difficult to recognise via ripples, but Threat Analysis had worked out the trick, now. It gave off an unusual variant of a ripple, something more like a vibration. If one wasnt looking carefully, the deeper, lower ripple could easily be missed amidst the clash of louder ripples.

Threat Analysis was built to look carefully, and had spotted the tell from an early point. Now, if anything, those deeper, vibration-like ripples made Severin easier to spot than if hed used something that produced a normal kind. They singed him out.

Severin was 184 metres away from him. Nicolais path curved, and as he drifted through the smoke Cyberwarfare coordinated with the defence system. The undead guardians spread through the mist shifted course, their steps turning unerringly toward Severin.

Somehow, the man knew. Hes on the move, that way! cried Threat Analysis, and a moment later the Infiltrator reported seeing Severin emerge from the smoke. Nicolais cautious steps became a full sprint. He burst out of the smoke into sunlight and the chaos of battle. Severin was dashing away from him, at that moment leaping up onto another roof. Nicolai was less than a hundred metres away, now, but moving fast.

Five undead guardians were ranged out ahead of Severin, closing in on him, boxing him in. The defence system, once aware of Severins location, had set things up nicely.

Severin skidded to a stop, looked back and saw him. Nicolai wasnt sure whether Severin realised he was working with the undead, or if he simply decided his position was untenable. Either way, the assassin performed the most annoying move possible.

Severin threw the box, hurling it with great strength off to the side, at an angle that took it well away from Nicolai, and the Infiltrator. Nicolai was sure Severin didnt know about the small bot so that last could only be luck, but it did lead him and the Modules to consider whether, somehow, the man knew.

Another assassin ranging out on the edge leapt up, snatched the box, and dashed away. Worse still, even though Cyberwarfare told the defence system in no uncertain terms it needed to focus Severin, it disagreed. The five undead guardians veered away in the direction of the box.

Severin launched himself back at Nicolai, monowire lashing, Soul Sense pouring forward in a grey, melting flood.

###

Sorry, the Summoner was saying. I know you said it earlier, but with everything that happened, Ive already forgotten. What did you say your name was?

I am Serrin.

Great to meet you, Serrin! Im Junko. She tossed a thumb at the bald man and added, The grumpy old man is Marlowe. Marlowe acknowledged this with a grunt. This is Yue, she continued, with a gesture to the black-robed woman, and...

And Im Maverick, spoke up the dog. Not good boy. Not little fella. Maverick. You got that? It turned to glare up at him with beady brown eyes. It looked like it was trying to scowl but didnt quite succeedits white-and-tan fur plus the whole shape of its face seemed practically designed to be adorable.

Serrin nodded hurriedly nonetheless.

And, of course, Striker, finished Junko, with a gesture at the killbot looming over them.

Serrin had already attempted to communicate with the bot. He had sent it a ping, just as Cyberwarfare had taught him. It had pinged him back. He was not sure if this was a good sign or not, but had decided to take it as one.

So why are you all out here? Where are we going? he asked.

The group was continuing to move through deserted streets, getting ever further from the central area of the City. The area remained entirely deserted, and he found himself very glad for their company. There was something deeply eerie about the silent houses built from bones.

Were looking for one of the gates leading out of the Sector, she explained. Its supposed to be shaped like a hexagon, so there should be six, but were looking for a specific one. When I first got my quests, I was told

Marlowe groaned. Youre going to tell him even that?

Why not? Ive told everyone else. Its not some big secret.

He muttered something indecipherable, shook his head and aimed another scowl at Serrin.

When I completed my quest and became a Hero of Humanity, she continued, unperturbed, I was told about a few people and places I ought to seek out for more information. I was told to look for the Oracle, or the Lizard, or The Thing In The Well. Now, I dont have a clue where the first two are, but recently I learned The Thing In The Well is actually in this City.

The Thing In The Well? echoed Serrin.

The Thing In The Well, repeated Maverick, robotic paws clattering jauntily, tail a-wagging. Uh-huh. Weird, right? We dont have a clue what it is, cept that it sounds likely to eat you. Junkos still determined to go see for herself.

I have an idea, spoke up Yue. Not that Im certain, she demurred a moment later, but I believe it is an ancient being, a drinker of black blood from beyond this realm. She looked at Serrin, smirking disconcertingly. A vampire, she hissed, widening her eyes.

A vampire, scoffed Marlowe, then he shook his head and spat. I dont believe it, but whatever it is, you can bet its nothing good. Best thing for us is to go nowhere near this Dead City. We need to keep you safe, he added, looking back at Junko with something like actual tenderness, all of a sudden reminding Serrin distinctly of Poyang. This Dead City sounds anything but safe.

Maverick let out a short bark of agreement. Ought to listen to him this time, Junko. You humans aint got much in the way of instincts left in you, but I do, and mine are telling me to go nowhere near any of that.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, spoke up Yue in her musical voice. We need information and this creature possesses it.

But at what price? muttered Marlowe darkly.

What else should we do, then? said Junko, emanating the air of one resuming an argument she considered pointless. Its the only lead we have. She glanced up at Serrin. I dont suppose you know anything about this Dead City, or the Thing In The Well, do you? We ran out of tokens at the Information Guild before we thought to ask about that.

Serrin did his best human-shrug, digging into his memories and coming up short. I dont think so. His brother Hornets rarely talked of such subjects, but he felt Arcritch might know more, if he could find a way to ask.

Suddenly, Junko, Marlowe, and Maverick all jerked slightly. The three of them turned their heads in unison, looking forwards down the street.

Striker says were almost there, Junko said. He can see the gate.

And can he see any trouble? asked Yue, glancing up at the killbot, emanating a faint irritation.

No, said Marlowe. All clear.

Junkos steps sped up, and the others moved to match. Before long, they turned a corner, and the edge of the Sector came into view. A great wall that loomed over the houses, stretching off left and right. Set in the middle of it, down at the end of the street they were on, was the gate.

It was huge, big enough that even the killbot could have walked through without any trouble. In fact, even were it twice or three times its current size, it would have still been able to pass through easily. Except that perhaps even it might have struggled with the guards.

Flanking the gate were a pair of truly giant undead, wearing dark, spiked metal armour. They must have been at least twenty feet tall, and each held a gigantic halberd-like weapon, butt resting on the ground. He felt their gazes through the slits in their great helmets. Their armour covered them entirely, and he only knew they were undead because of what he sensed from their souls, which were great and powerful enough that he could feel them now he was aware, even from this distance.

They werent alone, either. The area around the gate bulged out into some kind of gatehouse, like a small castle, and he saw more undead up above. A surprising number. Sensing them, he realised many were quite strong, too.

Around the two giant undeads feet loitered a mass of yet more undead. Many of them were large, lumbering things, except they seemed like children beside the two giants. All the undead watched him and the others approach in complete silence. That was typical, but disconcerting nonetheless when they were so numerous and dangerous looking

The group had slowed slightly when all this came into view, but after a moment of staring, Junkos speed increased. Serrin, along with the rest of them, followed after her.

As they came closer, he noticed that these undead matched no House schema he had seen. So far as he could tell, they were not undead from Morvain or Thrynn or any of the other Houses. Each of them bore the same device somewhere on their armour or person: a red disc with jagged silver lines radiating from the centre, like lightning.

He also noticed that the gate looked rather battered, as did the area around it. Here and there the cobblestones were gouged and torn, as though by explosions or, perhaps, a mighty blow from one of those huge halberds. Many of the neighbouring buildings had chunks ripped out of them, and they slouched, half-tumbled down, as a result. The armour the giant wore was battered and dented, as was the armour of all the rest. Those who didnt wear armour showed signs of wounding.

The group stopped a few metres from the silent mass of undead. After a moment, there came movement. A tall undead in a filthy brown robe, hood loose over its head, stepped forward.

What is your business? it spoke, dust billowing from its mouth, voice rendered a wretched rasp from disuse.

I want to pass through this gate and into the Dead City, said Junko, taking the lead, emanating earnest determination.

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