SAYONARA ROBO-TACHI

Deep below the surface of the war, a single man rested on a metal bed with nothing but a gown to cover his privates. His eyes closed, his body rigid, to his left and right two metallic beings meticulously worked over his body.

Beeping every now and then, that was the only way they were able to communicate with each other.

But each beep was characterized by how low and slowly it vibrated through the empty white room. The room which held no more than the bed the man laid on, and a few tables full of complex technology and organic materials.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

That was neither the droids, but the beeping of the heart monitor tied to the man's wrist. Every now and then a droid would stare at it before beeping to its compatriots.

The time limit their lord had set them was swiftly approaching, but they weren't worried, they had already completed 90 percent of the process. All that was left was to insert the apostle's core into its slot and connect it with the tube bus that sat below where his heart should be.

What was worth noting was that there happened to be a slight pause in the process when the rumbling from the fight above caused a slip up that left their lord without a beating heart longer than they intended.

In any case everything was fine now. They felt slight relief when it turned quiet up above, unfortunately that didn't last long as an incredibly loud rumbling emanated from above after a dozen minutes. Suddenly the white fluorescent lights that lit up the room glew an intense red.

Sirens sounded and a large screen descended from the roof and covered the wall at the end of the room. Though there was no audio, the sight was as clear as day for them to see.

The barrier had been pierced. Their brethren were slaughtered by the tens in mere seconds. Against the magical tsunamis made of fire that enveloped the compound from all sides, they didn't stand a chance.

They were built to just wield weapons that fired projectiles after all. Other than that they were about as strong as the average person, albeit capable of lifting five times their body weight.

Such strength didn't mean much when being melted by a wall of flames they couldn't even touch. At the rate things were going, it'd only take ten minutes for them to all be wiped out.

The only feature they were given was that the weak magic cores inside their bodies allowed for them to use artifacts, as for producing magic themselves, without a semblance of organic flesh to transmute energy into a magic spell, it was impossible.

Even with their lord's partners fighting alongside them, the number of apostles made it impossible to protect everyone.

The droids glared at each other before nodding. The best thing they could do for their brethren was finish their work as soon as possible. If even a single apostle made it down to the lab, they would do whatever it took to save a single second.

BANG BANG BANG!

And it seemed such a scenario had happened upon them.

A gaggle of Apostles bursted into the room, coldness on their faces. Looking back at the screen, the others were still occupied by the large number of apostles that were raveging the outside. It seemed the group that had broken in attacked from a blind spot using their Disintegration rays.

"Irregular spotted, preparing for lethal force."

The rest of the apostles followed suit, charging their signature move and aiming it toward the hospital-like bed.

BANG!

A droid beeped loudly, seeing the approaching rays of light it jumped forward after leaving a message behind. Instantly, it melted into ashes.

The rest of the droids didn't allow their brethren's sacrifice to go to waste, they unlocked the bed's wheels and used their lord's ring to carry the rest of the medical equipment. The underground level was compromised, the best thing, albeit risky, was to go to the surface with their lord's body in hopes the others could take him far away.

They still worked on the surgery while running, using the secret routes and emergency tunnels prepared to circle around the apostles and approach the elevator. It was the strongest point of the facility, so without hesitation they locked themselves inside it.

Three droids now worked on their lord's body, the banging from the elevator doors all but indicated that their little trick didn't buy them much time. They threw caution to the wind, there wasn't enough time to be meticulous.

What they were worried about was if their lord would even wake up after the process was complete, they had used a ton of anesthetic just to ensure that he wouldn't feel the pain of having most of his veins and nerves replaced with mechanical tubes and circuits.

In the end they put their faith in him, after all he himself intended on going through the operation to save his comrades. He likely took into account that he would need to wake up immediately to take care of the dangers.

They were using the amount he recommended, so such a hope wasn't so far fetched.

*BEEP-BEEP!*

*BEEP-BEEP!* *BEEP-BEEP!*

Only a few seconds left, normally it would've taken another three minutes but as a result of their rushing they had managed to speed up the process, it was truly a miracle considering the risk.

A single push of a button and a blue liquid flowed from the core into the pipes. The core pumped itself therapeutically, regulating the flow of the 'blood'. His body just had to absorb the contents through every part of him and the process would be complete.

Essentially, their job was done.

SKREETCH—!

The worst scenario happened, all six of the apostles had used their swords to pry open the elevator doors. The sound of the metal bending to make way for them was loud enough to resonate to the surface.

One droid pointlessly pressed the button to take them to the garage, knowing full well that with the doors being pried open the elevator wouldn't move. Soon enough there was a gap large enough for an apostle to stick its arm in.

And that was exactly what she did.

There was a beam of white light for only a second, and in the next second another droid had disintegrated. Though it hadn't been the target of the attack, it rushed forward to protect its lord.

Now all that remained were two droids. Both of them rushed the arm the apostle had stuck through the door. Forcing it with both hands to point upward. The sound of metal creaking resounded once more, this time it was the sound of the droids exerting their bodies to the fullest.

"Foolish puppets, cease your futile attempts to deter our mission." The apostle spoke with coldness in her voice, time and time again it was the droids that made their mission more of a pain than it needed to be.

Another arm had forced its way through the doors, and both droids pressed their feet onto it, locking it to the ground. But another trouble arose when another arm made its way through, this time they forced their heads into the hand's wrist, forcing it upward.

And when one more arm snuck through they— well, they couldn't do much more. Every limb of theirs was too busy holding another apostle's arm down. It was the end, they had bought as much time as they could.

Was their mission a success? That didn't matter to them. They tried their best. Even when their brethren faced doom, they never gave up. To them, that was a win. And though they couldn't smile, an apostle that had stared in between the gap to make sure her aim was on the target couldn't help but feel that they were both smirking at her.

"...."

BANG!

Both the droids were consumed by the white light and disintegrated within a second, their smirk staining the apostle's mind.

"Obstructions eliminated, now proceeding with the elimination of our target…" The apostle shook her head to regain her bearings, charging her Disintegration beam once more, this time hopefully to end the madness that was occurring on the surface.

"I'm going to have to stop you right there…" The apostles on the other side of the elevator doors were startled as a figure appeared inside the elevator.

She was short, very short, her long golden hair stopped right above her waist. Pristine clothes and a pretty black bow settled on her hair. Black stockings ran up to her knees and after that gap a short black skirt. Her white coat extended down to her thighs. But if the apostles were asked what was the most eye-catching thing about her, it would be the crimson red eyes that stared daggers into them.

Yue Korei entered the battle!

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Downed some G-Fuel so I'm going to ride the wave and write another chapter, despite it being very late for me. I must reach the end of this fanfic soon, I have too many ideas and need to start working on them while they're still fresh on my mind. I also need a lot of time to read source material, practice with the educational material I bought, reference other work, draft, revise, and finally produce the actual work. After this we'll go straight into dealing with Ehit himself, after a brief one chapter interlude that is, the Orcus Labyrinth still holds some secrets after all!

So hey, thanks for reading today's work! Oh yeah, I gave up that minecraft modpack, not because I disliked it or anything, but because my pc was incapable of playing it in the first place. I mean, playing a game at 15fps was not very enjoyable, and it would only make mid-game content such as boss battles difficult to complete

On that note, please support my pat.reon so I could buy a new pc, of course it will be used for work as well. That being editing, photoshop work, writing, and then my actual job.

Have a great evening, and I'll see you all next time~!

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