SlaughterBot

90: New World, New People

‘What are they talking about now?’ Jo whispered.

‘Food, sounds like they’re running low.’ Beth wore a focused expression, frowning towards the door as though able to see through it. Which, somehow, it seemed like she could.

‘And him?’ asked Jo.

‘Sitting, thinking...

89: Nicolai, Ear of Kindly Sympathy

Outside, he set Kleos onto a handy table where it could watch proceedings. John started towards him but Nicolai waved him off. ‘A moment,’ he said, pulling Jo into a quiet corner of the main area.

‘I’m guessing you’ve not told her about what you had to do, to get all those Seeds,â...

88: Sibling Struggles

After a time, as the Integration continued, Beth’s moans of pain turned into gasps of pleasure. Nicolai recalled how he’d felt in the same moment as the consuming pleasure of the finalising change wracked his body. There was a vague pulse of voyeuristic lust within him which he stamped to dea...

87: Minions

Nicolai was feeling very pleased with himself as he left. He’d used up his two remaining Contracts, but he felt it well worth it.

He’d already seen how effective the woman, Jo, was with her sniper. Under other circumstances he’d have taken it for himself, simply because he tended to b...

86: Contractual Capture

Jo moved quickly, jogging through the castle, her drone moving out in front of her. She knew this latest haul of crystals wouldn’t be enough, but until she reached her sister she could pretend to herself that they would.

She slid through the crack in the wall concealed behind the tapestry...

85: Coin Flip

‘Don’t go,’ broke in a new voice, and Nicolai looked up to see Cait looking at him. The squirming of the dark in its cage faded as his attention shifted away from it. ‘We don’t all agree on this,’ she said, and glanced at John, eyebrows raised. Her throat flexed as though speaking. Co...

84: FPS Player

‘What about the guy who ran?’ Nicolai continued his questions, gesturing behind the Chosen field leader, to the tunnel the only survivor of her group had ran through.

She threw a glance over her shoulder, following his pointing finger, an unconscious reaction.

There was a flicker ...

83: Vikrum

‘This is Vikrum. Everyone, get back here. Now. We have a problem.’

The Radio receiver clicked and Vikrum placed it aside.

‘Are they all gathered?’ He glanced at Katnin, his second in command, doing his best to wrestle his anxiety down.

The red-haired woman was p...

82: Bullet Dodger

Bullets snapped around him, cratering the walls, chips of stone raining from where they impacted. None of them touched Nicolai. He was behind a column, a grin on his face.

Nicolai felt achingly, gloriously alive. The gunshots and the chips of stone pattering on his back and the sme...

81: Guns and Bombs

Wearing everything of use, Nicolai lurked in the crack like a spider, peering down into the Gauntlet.

The big skeleton was pressed up against the tunnel out. When he’d began watching, he’d seen a few bullets blast through it, splinters of bone spraying out whilst it flailed with anger. ...

80: Treasure Hunter

He hadn’t been at his practise for long, less than a minute, but already Nicolai had drained the two Oma crystals and his Node was guttering, almost out of Oma.

Regretfully, he returned to the ground and recalled his rapier. He cancelled the shield then breathed in the Oma that was releas...

79: Kleos Observes

Nicolai snatched his glove from the ground and tugged it on. Immediately he felt it, connected to it, and the same blue lines as always crawled through it as he injected Oma into it and shaped the Art.

‘Curved,’ he murmured, focusing intently, and the shimmering disc of energy ...

78: New Powers

Nicolai tapped the Blue Hornet, thinking I choose you. Immediately the statue shrank away, the other Symbiotes disappearing, and at the same time a new hand emerged from the statue, holding a small pouch which Nicolai, teeth grit, struggled to grab.

The reason for his struggle was ...

77: Snake, Hornet, Water

[Author note: for those who saw the last chapter right after it was posted, I've made a small change since then. Now, he cleans himself immediately, so he's not covered in filth the whole time lol. Just to help with your mental image]

‘There’s a ma...

76: Cultivator

Nicolai felt the Seed’s eagerness and desire to start, pushing out from it, pressing against his mind from the other side of their connection. It knew it was in the right place, it knew it was ready, but it required his permission and it was begging him to grant it.

Nico...

75: Free to Soar

[Author Note: MAKE SURE YOU READ CHAPTER 74 FIRST (below)

By the grace of a Patreon update that broke things and published this chapter early, today is a double chapter day.

Chapter releases will continue as normal so there will be 4 in total this week, and the Patreo...

74: Just as Suspected

Nicolai encountered no issues in the night. He awoke rested to the light of the torch. He was filled with a nervous energy, like a child on Christmas day, eager for what was to come.

After taking Kleos from it’s jar, force of habit drew him through his morning routine, calming his mind an...

73: Disagreement

‘If anyone harms Kleos, I will kill them.’

The fading echo of Nicolai’s words was still faintly audible in the room. The others were staring at him, shocked.

From how taken aback they seemed in response to what he’d said, Nicolai realised he might have been a little too straig...

72: Home at Last

Nicolai’s Seed’s strain was increasing, and he knew it was nearing its limit. Perhaps this is unwise? But he wanted to know what was up the crack, and now was a good time to check.

He floated up and into the crack. He found the stone around him close, pressing, a vertical climb...

71: Nicolai, the Hero

‘Do you trust him?’ Perro asked Azure, sending his virtual voice message through their connection.

‘No. He’s a creepy asshole and he took my ring. But what choice do we have? We need a safe place. The barricades almost broke last night.’

Perro nodded to him...

70: "Friends"

Nicolai and John matched gazes, hands still half-extended, Nicolai considering John’s refusal to return the SMG he’d seized from the Chosen.

He knew why John wanted the gun, even though it had no ammo. It was because John assumed that back at Nicolai’s safe place, there would be ammo....

69: MY SEED!

Nicolai closed his eyes, standing there, doing his best to centre himself. He breathed slowly out, forcefully slowing his heart, calming his body, emptying his mind. I’m calm and I’m in control. Calm. And in control. The urge to kill retracted slightly, slithering away to watch him f...

68: Murderer!

Nicolai gazed at John, his eyes squeezing at the man’s face, guessing at his thoughts from the movements of his facial muscles.

He’s not keen on making this decision, even if they call him leader. He’s just going to see which way the lot of them are leaning, and go with it. N...

67: Hello, Fellow Humans

Nicolai awoke to a painful throbbing radiating from the back of his skull through his head, pulsing in time with his heartbeat. Alongside that major pain were various sharp, burning aches in his side where he’d been shot. His ears were immediately assaulted by the sound of an argument, multiple...

66: Cool Like a Cucumber

The Chosen’s leader stopped in front of Nicolai and gazed at him a moment, eyes moving up and down, taking in his various weapons and scavenged armour. Then he let out a little snort of laughter.

‘This guy really brought into this place. Nice sword.’ He smirked, leaned forwards and ex...