Synthetic Survivor: Machine Age

Archbishop Frederick was sitting on his silver chair facing against his bed. A small candle illuminated the room as he read a small book. The small book was the holy book of the Theocracy, containing the teachings and overall beliefs of the Fax Religion. He carefully skimmed through the pages, reading each page intently before moving on to the next.

He closed the book and placed it over the table next to his bed, the table was wooden and old but looked simple and clean. His bed was nothing extraordinary, a similar design to those of the common folk. He stood from his silver chair and glossed over his room before unraveling the sheets of his bed and tucking in. It was a long day for him, the summons, the meetings and he was finally going to take a little rest.

As he tucked in, he felt a soft breeze blow through his face. A shiver went down his spine which was uncommon for the room was naturally warm and kept him from the coldness of the night and the heavy storm. He paid no attention to the breeze and continued on to his nap.

Frederick fell asleep as the breeze began to pick up speed, unknowing of the window on the ceiling which was slowly being opened. A pair of blue lights tore through the dim lit room as a mechanical arm reached inside the window and slowly opened the cover. Blood dripped from its mechanical arm as it slowly nudged the window wide open. A strong breeze then blew in, blowing the candle out and startling the Archbishop who had just fallen asleep.

Frederick woke up and cold sweat began to fall from his face as he felt a feeling of unease. Suddenly, a creak broke the silence of the room and Frederick jumped from his bed. He jumped from his bed and immediately cast a spell of illumination, completely lighting the room.

He then enhanced his senses and looked up towards his ceiling, the window was open. He then enhanced his senses further and scanned his room for anyone or anything that disturbed his sleep. He found nothing unusual till he scanned the room until the window. There was a small drop of blood on the floor which intrigued the Archbishop. He walked towards the blood and took a closer look, kneeling down on the floor.

"Someone's here" Frederick thought, the blood surely wasn't his, someone is in this room and it's no doubt a human.

Contrary to other mages, Frederick specialized on area magic, typically explosive magic. His sense magic was not really in tune, placing him in a disadvantage inside such a confined space. He wasn't going to take any chances.

"Frisha!" Frederick called out to the mage outside his door. The door then slammed open as Frisha hastily made her way to the Archbishop. She was wearing a red velvet cloak, her eyes were red and her skin is white, she has a pointed nose and thin eyebrows coupled by her long natural eyelashes.

"What is it, Archbishop?!" Frisha asked, she was on alert and had her magic on ready which was Fire Magic, but it was also disadvantageous to them both for she risks burning down the Archbishop's chamber which was constructed out of premium wood.

The Archbishop shushed Frisha as he carefully listened to his surroundings. Frisha went silent as Frederick looked around his room. Frisha then summoned red circles on her palms in preparation for an attack, she sensed something wasn't right. The red circles she had on her palms were catalysts for her spells to form.

"Where's Ivy? The guards?" Frederick asked while whispering.

"Ivy went with the guards to the gates, bodie-" Before Frisha could finish her answer a loud explosion is then heard and surprised the two. The shock wave travelled through the castle and shook the people inside.

"What the hell was that!?" Frederick exclaimed. "We have to leave, now!"

Frisha nodded and went for the door, Frederick was close behind her. As the two were about to walk out of the room, a loud thud sounded behind them. The two then turned their backs and saw a mysterious metallic monster whose silhouette was visible against the dim light of its blue eyes which shone and faced the duo.

"I- I don't detect any magic!" Frisha exclaimed, "Your holiness! Please get out of here!" She pleaded as she went in front of Frederick and went into her fighting stance. Frederick quickly ran outside. Her fighting stance was similar to that of Kung fu's, the circles which floated on her palms glittered as her eyes began to shine faint red. The unknown intruder also went into fighting position, pulling out a small blade from its wrist much to Frisha's shock.

"Fire Blast!" Frisha placed her hands together and cast Fire Blast, flames then spewed from her palms which formed a wall of flames. The wall of flames burned the room save for the furniture which was unscathed.

The metallic monster suddenly jumped onto the ceiling, avoiding the wall of flames and seemingly clawed its feet into the ceiling, suspending itself. Frisha then pointed her hands towards the ceiling.

"Fire Balls!" She repeated over and over as she ran across the burning room. Balls of fire flew towards the monster who jumped all-over the room completely avoiding Frisha's attacks. Frisha then stopped as she realized she was trapped, the burning room was beginning to collapse and rubble fell near the door. The flames were smoldering hot and even as a Fire Mage she wasn't able to withstand such heat. This was the byproduct of the wood used to construct the room. The wood burned hotter and longer than normal wood much to Frisha's dismay upon realizing.

The monster then appeared against the smoldering fire in-front of her, appearing from within the flames like a shadow of a demon coming out of the depths of hell. The monster wasn't affected by the heat nor did it seem to care. Frisha gritted her teeth and summoned forth her fire sword. She was trained in hand-to-hand combat and was more than ready to confront the monster whom she thought would resort to melee.

The monster dashed towards Frisha. She barely dodged death as the monster raised its sharp blade and slashed through her hair, cutting it in half. Frisha and the monster then engaged in a melee. With each swing of her sword, the monster would block and retaliate in full force without showing signs of fatigue. As the fight raged on, Frisha's cloak and skin were getting slashed little by little as the monster seemingly predicted all of her moves.

Then, the monster swung its blade from its back and over its head at amazing speed. Frisha held her sword up high in an attempt to block. The blade shattered her sword as it moved through the iron and made its way to Frisha's face. The blade of the monster pierced her forehead and sunk deep into her skull. Her eyes were fixated to the monster's menacing blue eyes before finally dying.

-

Alpha pulled its blade from Frisha's head causing her body to slump down to the ground. Blood was pouring from the hole on her forehead and dripped onto the floor. The drone's right blade was stained with her blood, dripping steadily onto the floor. The flames were getting ravenous by the second and so, the drone went outside.

Thanks to its fire-resistant armor it barely felt the effects of the heat from the room as it walked through the soaring flames. Frisha's body remained on the floor and was burnt along with the rest of the room.

Alpha made his way down the stairs as their cover had been blown, a malfunction in Echo's weaponry caused an unwanted short circuit which triggered Echo's explosive weaponry and subsequently blew a portion of the castle.

As Alpha ran through the corridors, blood stains and corpses littered every hall. The drones' were massacring the people inside as they went by in an attempt to quell any alarms but to no avail.

"This is Echo, we have a group cornered at ground floor, near gate" Echo said through its internal transmitter.

"I am en route" Alpha responded.

-

Ivy held her ice spear tight. Sweating profusely, she held her head up high. Ten guards were with her, with their swords drawn and they surrounded the archbishop. They were in the main lobby and the exit was just in-front of them. Pools of blood and bodies were scattered all-over the lobby, vases were broken, tables were turned. The banner of the Freetan Theocracy lied on the floor, ripped.

Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo surrounded the group on all directions. Bravo blocked the exit as the other three drones were positioned exactly east, west and south of the group. Ivy and the guards gritted their teeth, not wanting to remove their eyes on the four demons surrounding them. Frederick wanted to help but his magic would only kill them all, all he could do is to wait.

"Milady, orders?" One of the guards asked in a shaky and low voice, his eyes fixated on Bravo who was just standing near the exit, not moving an inch.

"Don't separate! We must protect the Archbishop and wait for reinforcements" Ivy answered, she was noticeably tired after running endlessly through the halls as the drones chased them. Charlie was responsible for the bodies on the halls, direct orders from One himself.

The archbishop was quivering and staring at Ivy who had her gaze switch between the drones.

Alpha burst through the ceiling directly above the group, he was holding onto a flat disc. The flat disc was a Barrier Emitter which would create a blue-hexagonal dome which was transparent. Ivy and the guards withdrew their gazes from the other drones looked up as Alpha dived towards them.

The four other drones then pulled out their blaster rifles from their knees and aimed towards the group.

"No!" Ivy shouted. Yet it was too late.

The blasters opened fire.