The air in the North access tunnel junction crackled with suppressed weapons fire and the grunts of exertion. Kai's heart hammered against his ribs, each beat a countdown against his rapidly dwindling Anima reserves. The System flashed another grim update: [Anima Core Stability: 43%. Warning: Combat effectiveness significantly impaired. Prolonged engagement will lead to Anima exhaustion and potential backlash.]
There was no time for caution, no room for a strategic retreat. They were pinned. "Breaker, now!" Kai roared, his voice amplified by a surge of desperate Anima, a draconic growl lacing his words.
With a guttural bellow that seemed to shake the very foundations of the tunnel, Breaker exploded into motion. His D-Grade Gorgon Anima, though nascent, flared with defiant power. The stony patches on his skin thickened, spreading across his chest and shoulders like a living cuirass. He wasn't just a man anymore; he was an avalanche of furious rock and sinew, slamming forward into the three intruders who were trying to maintain suppressive fire at the chokepoint.
The sheer, unexpected ferocity of Breaker's charge caught the disciplined attackers off guard. One was sent flying, his pulse carbine clattering away as Breaker's stone-hardened shoulder connected with his chest like a battering ram. The other two stumbled back, their firing pattern disrupted, forced to deal with the immediate, overwhelming threat of the enraged Gorgon. [Breaker – Gorgon Anima: Full Exertion! Kinetic Redirection active. Multiple impacts absorbed. Minor fractures sustained in petrified dermal layer. Anima Core (Breaker): Depleted by 30%.]
This was Kai's opening. As Breaker became a chaotic vortex of defense and brute force in the narrow corridor, drawing the immediate fire and attention of the closest intruders, Kai moved. He activated the last dregs of his speed, his Agility pushing his body into a near-blur. He didn't charge straight ahead; instead, he used the momentary chaos, the dust and confusion, to scramble up a pile of fallen debris against the tunnel wall, gaining a few precious feet of height.
From this precarious vantage, he launched himself, not at the intruders Breaker was engaging, but towards the two newcomers Zip had spotted further back in the tunnel, the ones who were trying to advance and reinforce their comrades. He was airborne for a split second, a crimson and shadow blur, his scaled forearms leading.
He crashed into the first of these reinforcements with the force of a striking raptor. The man, surprised by the attack from an unexpected angle, had no time to bring his weapon to bear. Kai's scaled fist slammed into his visor, cracking it, and a follow-up strike to the throat sent him down, gurgling. [Hostile Neutralized. EXP +15.] [Anima Core Stability: 38%. Warning: Critical Anima depletion imminent!]
The second reinforcement, more alert, reacted instantly, pivoting and firing his pulse carbine at point-blank range. Kai twisted in mid-air, the flechettes tearing through the side of his jacket, searing lines of pain erupting along his ribs as some rounds found flesh beneath his Dermal Plating's current coverage. He grunted, the impact nearly knocking the breath from him, but his momentum carried him through. He landed, stumbled, but was already lashing out with a desperate, scaled backhand that connected with the intruder's weapon, sending it spinning away.
"Kai, you have their full attention now!" Roric's voice, still unnervingly calm, crackled in his ear. "The two flankers from the initial group are disengaging from Breaker and turning towards you! Breaker is holding the original three, but he's taking heavy fire!"
Kai could hear Breaker's roars of pain and defiance. He had to end this quickly. The intruder he'd just disarmed was fumbling for a sidearm. Kai didn't give him the chance. He drove forward, a low, draconic snarl ripping from his throat, and delivered a series of brutal, close-quarters blows, overwhelming the man's defenses. He went down hard. [Hostile Neutralized. EXP +15.] [Anima Core Stability: 35%. CRITICAL WARNING: ANIMA COLLAPSE IMMINENT. EVASIVE ACTION OR EMERGENCY STABILIZATION REQUIRED IMMEDIATELY!]
His vision was starting to swim. Black spots danced at the edges. The hunger, suppressed by adrenaline, now returned with a vengeance, a gnawing, debilitating emptiness.
The two flankers Roric had warned about were now advancing on him, their pulse carbines spitting flechettes. He was exposed, his Anima reserves almost dry.
"Zip!" Kai gasped into the comm, barely audible. "Diversion! Now! North tunnel, my position!"
"On it, Leader!" Zip's voice, though strained, was immediate. From the gantries above, something small and metallic dropped into the midst of the two advancing flankers, followed by a brilliant, disorienting flash and a high-pitched, multi-toned shriek that echoed painfully in the confined space. It wasn't Zip's Anima; he was conserving that. It was one of the scavenged sonic stunners Roric had acquired.
The flankers cried out, momentarily blinded and deafened, their advance broken. "Good work, Zip!" Roric commended. "Kai, use that opening! Disengage if you can! Breaker is still heavily engaged!"
But Kai knew he couldn't just run. Not yet. He had to relieve the pressure on Breaker. He saw the two intruders Breaker was fighting – one was down, but the other was still hammering at Breaker's stony defenses, finding chinks in his D-Grade Gorgon hide. Breaker was slowing, his movements becoming more labored.
With the last vestiges of his strength, fueled by a desperate loyalty to the massive man who had unhesitatingly shielded him, Kai lunged towards Breaker's remaining assailant. He ignored the searing pain in his ribs, the black spots in his vision, the System's screaming warnings.
He tackled the intruder from the side, his scaled shoulder connecting with a jarring impact. They both went down in a tangle of limbs. Kai was on top, his vision blurring, his movements sluggish, but he rained down blows with his scaled fists, each impact a desperate prayer.
Suddenly, a searing pain shot through his leg. The intruder Breaker had initially sent flying, the one whose weapon had clattered away, had recovered enough to crawl forward and plunge a combat knife deep into Kai's thigh.
Kai roared, a sound of pure agony and draconic fury, and twisted, bringing a scaled elbow down on the knife-wielder's head with crushing force. [Hostile Neutralized. EXP +10.] [CRITICAL DAMAGE SUSTAINED: Left Thigh Laceration. Severe Bleeding. Mobility Impaired.] [ANIMA CORE STABILITY: 28%. ANIMA SHOCK IMMINENT. UNCONTROLLED MANIFESTATION OR HOST SYSTEM SHUTDOWN PROTOCOLS ENGAGING IN T-MINUS 10 SECONDS…]
Darkness was closing in. He could feel his Anima, his very life force, guttering like a dying flame. Through the haze of pain, he saw Breaker finally overpower his last opponent, sending him crashing to the ground.
"Kai!" Breaker bellowed, turning to see Kai collapse, clutching his bleeding leg.
The battle for the North tunnel junction had reached its bloody, desperate climax.