Chapter 132: Blood in the streets

The defenders surged forward. All of Korrath’s Mechanosite seemed to be coming to live at once to confront the daring invaders who dared to trespass into their territory. Their blades caught the dim light, curved hooks designed to slice through flesh and armor alike. They moved in perfect rhythm, a chorus of steel on stone, their footsteps pounding like a war drum. Clayton met them head-on. BZZZ! Roots burst from the ground, tearing up metal plates, snaring legs, breaking the neat formation of Korrath’s soldiers. Before the first could swing, Regalia’s strike cut it down. The spear’s blade hissed through alloy and bark, the body collapsing in a spray of green sparks. Behind him, Torren bellowed, flames bursting from his Pyreaxe. He swung wide, carving a half-circle of burning destruction through the enemy line. The flames clung to the biomechs, eating through their armor, until their shrieks turned to silence. Soren was next. His Emberblade cut clean, each strike fast, deliberate, and merciless. Sparks danced in the air with every clash. He moved like a storm, his weapon arcs blinding in the narrow street. Kaelin slipped through the chaos unseen, reappearing only long enough to slit a throat or drive a dagger through a gap in plating before melting back into shadow. His movements were whispers in the noise of battle, deadly and quiet. After becoming a Luminous Seed Awakened, Kaelin was no longer just a scout. Now, he was an assassin. And in a chaotic battle like this? An assassin like him thrived. Behind the others, Veyra directed her orchestra of ranged destruction. WHOOSH! She loosed arrow after arrow from behind, each strike precise. The air whistled with her shots. One arrow pinned a biomech through the chest into a wall. Another pierced the glowing core of a soldier mid-swing, dropping it instantly. Each shaft hit like thunder, leaving nothing wasted. Harrick’s spear spun in wide arcs, stabbing and slashing with brutal strength. Every thrust lit up with verdant power, exploding inside his enemies like roots tearing through steel. He fought like a wall, his presence steady and unyielding. And Lorn? Yes, she joined the final battle today. Clayton held nothing back. If his Verdant Lord form could move, the big guy would be here too in their final push to destroy Korrath. Lorn’s roots spread outward, lashing and binding, pulling injured allies from danger, pushing healing waves through her vines. Where her team faltered, she held them together. She was the knit that kept the Rootsite army together. Clayton pushed forward, leading from the front. "Don’t stop!" he shouted. His voice cut through the chaos. "Every second we waste, that Engine spins faster!" The team didn’t question. They carved through the enemy and kept moving. The street bent sharply left. And there, a roar met them. From the shadows, something massive burst free. It landed with a quake, its frame shaking the buildings around it. A Stalker Titan. Ten feet tall, this Behemorph was armored in steel plates fused with blackened bark, its arms replaced with jagged scythes. Its eyes burned crimson, fixed on Clayton with unblinking hatred. It charged. Clayton planted his foot, vines exploding upward to slow its rush. They snapped under the Titan’s weight. It slammed forward, swinging a scythe at his head. Regalia met the strike. BAM! The clash rattled his bones. Sparks shot in all directions as he slid back, his heels digging into the ground. "Torren!" Clayton barked. "On it!" Torren responded, roaring as flames burst along his axe. He swung upward in a flaming arc, smashing into the Titan’s side. The heat warped its plating, searing its bark flesh. The Titan shrieked, lashing out blindly. Soren darted in, Emberblade striking twice, cutting deep gouges across its leg. It staggered. And that was when Kaelin appeared... like a ghost. Untraceable. Unseeable. Kaelin appeared behind it and struck, his dagger plunging into the cables at its spine. He twisted, severing them, before vanishing again into the shadows. The Titan stumbled, fell to one knee, exposing its core and immediately... WHOOSH! Veyra’s arrow pierced its core. The creature collapsed, burning from the inside out. There was no time to celebrate though. More Behemorphs accompanied by mechanic constructs poured from the side streets, spider-like crawlers scuttling across walls, spear-wielders rushing from behind, and a winged biomech shrieking overhead as it swooped down. The team fought on, their blades and powers flashing in the smoke and fire. The running battle began. Street after street, block after block, the defenders never stopped. Every corner brought new waves, every building spat out more soldiers. Korrath wasn’t sending them to win. He was sending them to grind, to bleed Clayton’s team dry before they ever reached the Nexus Engine. But they didn’t falter. Clayton hacked a path through, his Aspect raging like a storm. His vines grew faster than the enemy could cut them. Thorns impaled, roots crushed, and every step forward was drenched in green light. Torren fought like a wildfire as every swing of his Pyreaxe ignited whole clusters of enemies. His flames burned so hot the streets glowed red beneath his boots. Soren cut with precision, every strike aimed at a core, a joint, a weakness. He didn’t waste strength. Every movement was deliberate, lethal, and fast. Kaelin moved like smoke, always unseen until the moment he killed. His daggers flashed in the dark, quick as lightning, gone as soon as they struck. Veyra’s arrows rained down endlessly, glowing trails of light piercing steel and bone. She never missed. Her bowstring never went still. Harrick fought in silence, his spear breaking through enemy lines, his presence like a tower in the storm. And Lorn... her Aspect spread everywhere, healing wounds as fast as they came, holding the strike force together with her roots of life. The streets shook as another roar echoed. This time, two Spore Crown Behemorphs lumbered into view. Their hulking forms were twisted masses of steel and root, crowned with jagged growths of bone that pulsed with foul light. They blocked the road ahead. Clayton’s eyes narrowed. "We don’t slow down. Take them down, now!" The Behemorphs swung massive arms, smashing into buildings, sending shards of alloy and stone raining down. Torren charged the first, flames surging. He met its swing with his axe, sparks flying, fire spreading across its crown. Soren and Harrick struck together, one blade, one spear. They pierced its flank, their weapons glowing with power. The Behemorph howled, thrashing violently. Kaelin appeared on its back, daggers carving deep into its neck joints. Veyra’s arrows hammered its crown until the bone cracked, light spilling through. It fell with a crash, shaking the ground. The second roared and charged. Clayton stepped forward, vines exploding from the ground, wrapping its legs, holding it just long enough. Regalia cut in a clean arc, slicing through its chest. Lorn’s roots surged in, bursting upward through its body, tearing it apart from the inside. And then, the Behemorph collapsed in a shower of green sparks. The strike force pressed on. Hours passed. The city bled them. Cuts, bruises, exhaustion, they all carried it now. But none spoke of stopping. Because the Nexus Engine was growing larger with every block. It dominated the skyline, a tower of black steel and pulsing veins of energy. Its gears turned slow and steady, each rotation groaning like thunder. Every fighter felt it. The weight of it. The power inside it. And Korrath’s voice came again, this time soft, mocking. "I feel you drawing closer, Verdant King. Step faster. Feed me your strength. When you fall, I will use your corpse as mortar for my city." Clayton didn’t answer. His silence was sharper than any words. They broke through another choke point. This time, the defenders weren’t soldiers. They were construct horrors. Bodies of captured Awakened, fused with machines, their eyes hollow, their limbs twisted into weapons. They moved like puppets, jerky and unnatural, but their strength was undeniable. Veyra’s face hardened. "Those are people." "They were," Clayton said. His grip on Regalia tightened. "Now they’re Korrath’s toys. Put them down." The strike force fought with grim determination. Each blow ended something that was once human, once alive. It weighed on them, but they didn’t falter. They couldn’t. Finally, they reached the outer ring of the Nexus Engine. The ground shook with its power, the air thick with heat and smog. Black vines of alloy ran from the tower into the streets, feeding life into the biomechanical city. The defenders grew thicker here. Stronger. Every soldier fought harder, every construct burned brighter. But the Rootsite fighters cut them down. Step by step, block by block, toward the heart of Korrath’s domain. At the base of the Nexus Engine, the final defenders waited. Dozens of armored biomechs stood in perfect formation, their weapons glowing with the same power as the tower behind them. And at their front, three towering generals stood, elite constructs infused with cores nearly as strong as a Verdant Lord’s own. The generals stepped forward, their voices booming in unison. "Verdant King. You will go no further." Clayton’s eyes narrowed. His grip tightened on Regalia. "Then we cut you down here." The Rootsite strike force spread out, shoulders squared, weapons ready. The running battle was over. Now came the true fight. The streets of New Chicago would run red with blood before this ended. And high above, in the Nexus Engine, Korrath’s mechanical heart beat faster, waiting for his moment.