Chapter 32: Chapter 26

The steel figure placed a hand over the thrashing reclaimer's mouth, allowing a sedative-laced needle to slid from her wrist, piercing the enemy's armored gorget, biting him in the soft neck, and putting him to sleep. Another reclaimer, with his arms and legs broken, lay on the ground a few steps behind her.

She sneaked to the window, allowing her advanced cameras to discern the enemies’ figures on the street below. An officer in full power armor and two bodyguards. Six soldiers were preparing a defense position dangerously close to her allies and the water processing facility. Her ally reported that he took down two more soldiers in a nearby building. Thirteen soldiers. Her steel lips twisted in a leer. The reclaimers underestimated them, it seemed. If all goes well, she will be able to get people out safe and sound in no time. Sending a signal to her ally, she glanced at the street one last time, noticing how the officer raised a hand to the head. No doubt awaiting a report from the soldiers.

Chochmingwu leaped from the building, appearing between the reclaimers. Her steel body allowed her to twist and bend each part of her body at the most impossible angles, even turning her torso full circle around her body. And now she was busy pushing each part of her body to work. The officer in charge of this group never stood a chance, with two kicks, she broke the knees of the officer, landing a chop with her arm at the shoulder of the nearby soldier, shattering the clavicle. The man started to turn toward her, the pain in his shoulder not yet fully blinding him, his good arm trembled, trying to point a rifle at her.

Chochmingwu jumped from the enemy officer, leaving the officer to fall facedown, the woman’s knee bent backward during the fall. She leaped away from the aim of the soldier, moving faster than his eyes could follow. Reaching for the enemy weapon, she broke the rifle, throwing the man on the ground and turning to the last soldier.

The reclaimers equipped their soldiers with quality gear, this much Chochmingwu was willing to admit. But beneath her steel fists, the man’s armor crumbled and broke like paper. She made sure to avoid the vital areas of his body, leaving the soldier alive.

Chochmingwu Bento was a figure made of steel. Wohali really tried his best while working on her body, for the outsider's eye, it was hard to even notice the small lines, places where her limbs connected to her torso, or places where her joints were. There was no heart in her chest, no air circulated inside her body. Her brain floated in the armored jar, keeping itself alive with nutrient fluids. Her eyes were the countless sensors around her body, the lenses in her head were merely a decoy for the enemies. Wohali ran simulation after simulation using his terminal, trying to deduce the original facial features of Chochmingwu, and then he put them on the steel body that served her as both prison and home now. The elder did so much for her, even though she was never one of his people…

Now comes the time to pay some of that debt back. Wohali was against her joining the army, viewing it as a waste of time. But could one truly stand aside when one’s home is at risk? No. Chochmingwu decided. Against his wishes, she enlisted in the force, ready to lay down her life for her new family.

She and her people were assigned to guard Belaz city. Most of the Bentos who came here were still in training, and when the reclaimers came, the Bentos crumbled like paper. Not Chochmingwu, however. Unlike others, she was granted the full body of steel, and she put it to use. Skulking around the streets, she was busy breaking and tearing apart soldiers of the Reclaimers, leaving behind her just dead bodies. She didn't have a heart, but she felt pain when she saw families torn apart by artillery shells, dead animals, people suffocating beneath the rubble, and the sheer desperation on the faces of her new allies...

The reclaimers did this. They brought death to this place. It made her job all the more painful because right now she had to ensure that her foes would remain alive.

She turned away from the three broken bodies and faced the six soldiers on the road before her. Her sensors scanned them, from their breathing all the way to their posture. The prediction engine told her that the foes were in panic. Chochmingwu could guess this much herself. She charged at them in a straight line. The moment the first soldier lifted his weapon, Chochmingwu dodged to the left, allowing the prediction engine to guide her. She weaved around the incoming bullets, not thanks to her skill, but thanks to the warning of her system. Chochmingwu remembered Wohali’s lessons well. Many members of the Bento tribe looked down on the enemy, believing all too much in the superiority of their steel bodies. However, where new breeds and normies had ways to heal on their own, each cut, each slash, each blunt hit that a Bento would take would slowly wear him or her down, unless they had an opportunity to use the proper maintenance. Therefore, Chochmingwu tried to make the art of dodging the attacks into her own style of combat, and the body that Wohali gifted her suited the best for such choice.

She reached the first foe and saw how Itu jumped from the second floor of the building, landing behind the reclaimers. She and this soultaker met each other after their units got decimated. Unlike her, Itu was a born killer, when she met him, he was standing over the corpses of five enemies, cleaning his machete. Itu warned the bento that he was only staying with her for a short while, but right now she was thankful for any help.

And she was thankful that he was keeping himself in check. He spun around, his long black hair swirling around him like a cloak, he used the hilt of his weapon to break the bones of the reclaimers, instead of killing them outright. Chochmingwu herself grabbed the man’s arm before her, twisting it until it snapped and crashing the fingers on the other hand for good measure. They had no need for prisoners, the reclaimers could care for their wounded themselves. All that they needed to do was to ensure that the enemy soldiers were left alive long enough for their allies to pick them up.

Her elbow found the jaw of the next foe, shattering the bones within and causing the woman to give a loud scream of pain. Chochmingwu hit the soldier with a low kick across her leg, dropping her on the floor and shattering the enemy's palm beneath the steel feet. The bento danced away, evading the bullet of the machine gun and allowing Itu to take care of the foe by shattering both shoulders. She leaped past him, crashing into the last soldier, grabbing him by the wrists. She clenched her hands, sensing how soft flesh and bones were crushing beneath her.

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"All done?" Itu asked her, nodding at the nine bodies laying on the ground. Several of the soldiers lost their conscience from pain, but most of them were either whining or screaming from pain. The bento was deaf, her ears were long gone, along with her eyes. Only her brain remained. But just like with eyesight, the sensors of her body were catching the vibrations in the air, "decoding" them and transmitting the information into her brain, allowing her to understand the words and tone of others. Itu looked calm, not a single drop of sweat was on his body. Instead of armor, he was wearing a simple black suit that left his legs and arms bare. Not a single scar marked his slightly reddish skin, giving him a slight resemblance to a member of the Bento tribe. His eyes were green, an unusual sight for a soultaker. A single pistol was in the holster on his leg, the man put the machete in the sheath behind his back.

"THIS SHOULD OPEN THE WAY." Chochmingwu replied to him in a monotonic mechanical voice. Her lean body produced no sound when she was walking or running. All the internal workings of her mechanical body were carefully crafted to bring her as close to perfection as possible. But she had a flaw. Her brain was connected to the dynamics and, technically, she should have been able to speak freely… Only something was always stopping Chochmingwu. Wohali explained to her that this was caused by the trauma she suffered as a child. There was a reason why the Bento tribe was slowly upgrading their bodies instead of jumping into divinity right off the bat. The brain could be seriously shocked by such rapid change, and Chochmingwu’s brain endured not one, but two such shocks. Instead of speaking, she was using another device in her body, essentially typing the words for her dynamics to speak the words.

Itu raised a hand to his ear, listening to something over the communication, before nodding: "Katriana just told me that someone attacked the Deliverance. She and the boy made a temporary truce with the reclaimers of all people and are now trying to save whoever they can. Apparently, the numbers used the confusion to get a drop on us as well. The orders came for the rest of us to meet with Yasen and Chort at the palace and prepare a final line of defense. Is Wohali still silent?"

Chochmingwu gestured to him that the answer was yes and walked toward the screaming officer, lifting her up and placing her on her back to give the enemy some relief from the pain in her shattered knees.

Her teacher was silent. The last time Wohali sent an update to her was several minutes ago, when he said that he had found something incredible in the skies and was now sending drones to collect the "curiosity". After this, all she got was silence over the network. She was not overly worried, Wohali was not a fool, and other acolytes would lay down their lives to protect the flesh carver. There had to be a reason why he refused to answer her calls.

"I am leaving. Keep the people safe." Itu said, reaching for the machete. Chochmingwu turned to him, feeling an actual shock and surprise when he plunged the weapon into his own chest, piercing through his heart and twisting the weapon in the wound. His lips trembled from the pain, and blood poured from the wound. She made a step towards him when the soultaker disappeared, leaving a blood smear on the street.

Chochmingwu cocked her head in confusion. When Itu and her found the enlistees near the facility, Yasen sent them here to guard the maintenance team. The people were under-geared, scared and afraid. Chochmingwu had no idea what was so important the maintenance team was doing in the facility, but she was not going to let her allies die. The work can wait, she took command and ordered everyone to prepare to run for their lives. Together with Itu, she cleared one of the potential retreat routes. If they had killed any reclaimers here, no doubt the enemy would have wanted to enact the revenge. Hopefully, with enemy troops alive, there was a chance that reclaimers would leave them alone.

"ENSIGN," Chochmingwu sent a message over the network to the leader of enlistees. The maintenance team stubbornly refused to leave the facility, claiming that Yasen was relying on them, "PREPARE YOUR…"

"The dogs are here!" The man shouted in panic, and Chochmingwu heard the sound of gunfire from the facility. She turned toward the facility, confused and scared for the second time.

Doggies. The mutant freaks of the reclaimers. The elite frontline forces of the enemy. According to the reports, they were mostly staying away from the battlefield… And now they are here, coming to hunt down her allies.

By the Sun Mother, I will not let you die. Chochmingwu swore and charged toward the battlefield.

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