Chapter 201 - The Iron Sect III

*(mood song: "Su Ta Gar - Alarma Egoera")

The explosions got closer and closer as alarms blared all around the island, while enormous lighting towers illuminated the entire area.

Master Krei then got a communication.

*We have identified the enemy, it is a legion of humanoid monsters, war beasts, and soldiers from the Golden Dawn Group!*

Master Krei touched a button on his chest: "Have they penetrated the fortress defenses?"

*No, the explosions were loud but not too strong, we suspect the battleship could be their real target, wait for reinforcements*

Master Krei was about to reply when- *GUAAAAAAH!*

A bloodcurdling scream came from the deck, followed quickly by gunfire as relic rail guns and projectile guns fired.

Master Krei: "What's happening on the deck?"

One of his apprentices bowed "I shall go check!" and opened the door to the deck, but instantly he was stabbed through the chest by a black tentacle, as a lizardman looking black creature started devouring and tearing him apart. Master Krei and his disciples stepped back from the horrifying scene.

A female disciple then said: "Master Krei, do something!"

Krei stepped forward as a robotic arm with a railgun personally made by him extended from his back.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!* 

The creature was quickly torn to shreds but the apprentice was also dead.

Master Krei: "SEAL ALL DOORS AND ENTRANCES!. MONSTERS HAVE TAKEN OVER THE DECK!"

He plugged a cable into a control terminal, and an alarm blared over the boat as his previous words were announced on repeat.

Lizardmen and cyborgs sprung to arms all around the boat, as monsters tore through the doors and windows. Chaos all around as plasma shots obliterated flesh, and claws and teeth sunk into flesh and machinery alike.

Master Krei and his apprentices rushed to the power core, as long as they controlled that, no one would be able to take over the battleship.

Standing in front of the armored doors to the irradiated core room stood multiple lizardman cyborgs armed with heavy weaponry and tower shields.

One of the Cyborg's camera sensors twitched as Master Krei came around the corner.

Cyborg: *Master Krei, protection priority of the highest level, state your orders*

Master Krei waved a hand: "Keep to your directive, protect the power core at all costs"

The Cyborgs stepped aside to let them behind the shield wall and then closed it again.

Cyborg: *Orders received, resuming surveillance*

Time passed, and screeches started to be heard far away, as the monsters infiltrated other areas.

Master Krei had connected to the neural network of the battleship, and was surveilling everything and giving orders all over the battleship. Even then his face was grim, they were getting overrun... the enemy was extremely prepared this time.

-- Submarine Control Room --

Erik stood in front of the others.

Erik: "The conflict has already started, soon it will be our turn" he turned to Rose "Any way to deal with those creatures?"

Rose nodded: "They seem to be vulnerable to high frequency sounds and fire"

Erik: "Good, we will use the sonar at max power to get rid of, or at least disorient any beings in the water" he turned to Jennifer "I've prepared some new equipment, high temperature chemical flame throwers in the armory, distribute them to the soldiers, we can't allow biological contamination with those monsters. Once on board use them to clear the deck with them and wait on the deck, as a fire inside would set the entire battleship aflame. Also, the tungsten nozzle could melt if used too long, be aware of that"

Jennifer nodded: "Understood"

Erik looked at Timberly: "At last, it's the final cleanup, we will have to depend on flash grenades, plasma lances, and close combat once inside, be sure everyone understands, and don't let those things touch any of you. Keep the power armor on at all times"

Timberly nodded seriously: "YES!"

Erik nodded satisfied: "Good, I will take the lead then!"

-- Inside the battleship 

Master Krei diverted as many troops to his position as possible as hordes of creatures swarmed their fireline. It was hopeless, the corpses kept accumulating with no end in sight as the creatures absorbed their fallen comrades and sprung forward again.

One of the creatures managed to adhere to one of the cyborgs and quickly covered it like a second layer of skin, as it turned around breaking the shield wall.

Their faces paled as Master Krei gave a mental command, the other cyborgs gunned down the infected and quickly hurried to close the gap, deploying grenades into the mesh of bodies.

Suddenly, a vibration overcame everything, the walls of the entire battleship vibrated and their ears rang, Master Krei and his apprentices felt sick and dizzy, some vomiting on the floor.

Meanwhile, the monsters completely stopped and suddenly started to tear each other apart.

Master Krei: "What... was that...?"

The few surviving cyborgs used the chance to clear the hallway, by now only two remained, and only three of Master Krei apprentices were still alive, all had picked up guns from the dying cyborgs to fight for their lives, even Master Krei's emergency weapon was now running on fumes, his internal batteries almost exhausted.

Their backs were against the door to the fusion reactor room as they started hearing sounds from farther away. And then the vibration came again and again, stronger and stronger.

Female apprentice: "Master Krei... huff... huff... it might be... reinforcements..."

Master Krei: "Reinforcements... but who could it be... the imperial family wouldn't move a muscle for us, at most to steal our technology, stay sharp everyone, we can't relax yet" pointing his gun once again to the empty hallway.

The strong sonar pulses had blown the eardrums of all the attack beasts and soldiers of the Golden Dawn group, a tactic devised by Rose after she hacked their data and learned of all their tactics. The monsters were kept in line remotely, with their herders gone they would succumb to their instincts and consume each other until only one remained. 

The submarine got closer and surfaced, the turrets flared to action as the railguns quickly blasted any survivors.

The lizardmen that had already secured the deck started firing back, but Rose had to hold fire, as the turrets would also blow up the battleship, any damage from their crossbows and small railguns was quickly repaired anyway.

Erik stood ahead of everyone as they stood in front of the hatch to the submarine deck. Erik, Rose, Inky, and Timberly would lead the assault, all were decked in custom power armor with jetpacks to quickly board the deck. The rest of the octopeople would use boarding hooks once the deck was clear.

Erik: "Be ready everyone, today we will obtain the foundation of our new empire" he turned around "Open the hatch" 

Rose nodded and the hatch instantly opened, the four of them quickly ran out and with jets of plasma soared through the air and heavily landed on the deck, their weight leaving indents on the thick steel floor.

The Golden Dawn warriors all turned to them ready to attack, but even a second was too much. Each sprinted in one direction, with Inky and Timberly going for the back, while Erik and Rose went for the prow. 

Inky swung a plasma spear graciously, while also incorporating some footwork Erik had taught her, spearing through enemies as she danced around them.

Timberly on the other hand had turned invisible thanks to a new power armor Rose had made for her that copied her skin. Her long heavy spear kept appearing out of nowhere and impaling one enemy soldier after another.

Rose was direct and to the point, unfazed by enemy fire as she just charged from one to the next, blowing up their head with her mace like rotten pumpkins.

Differently from the others, Erik just walked calmly as he just as casually sniped the heads of the enemy lizardmen with a railgun. He could even see them hiding, as he could see through walls, so it was quite easy to kill them. And their attacks were either deflected or absorbed by his armor, without any heavier weaponry their resistance was futile.

Creatures then started pouring from inside the submarine, tearing at anything nearby as they absorbed both lizardmen and each other.

The deck was quickly cleared as Erik took the lead, his power armor completely impervious to the infection attempts of the creatures, absorbing them in instead and grinding them to a paste inside it. Small shark like teeth covered the power armor, ready to fold over anything anytime to take a chomp or just to hold on to it as the nanites of the armor rapidly dissolved the flesh into energy and its basic components, only absorbing the DNA into Erik's secondary stomach and transforming everything else.

The process was not energy efficient though and would drain all the electricity in his body if it wasn't for the green cubes generating energy constantly.

The deck was cleared and octopeople used hooks and ropes with knots to climb onto the deck.

Timberly: "Take cover and keep an eye on the perimeter, specially reinforcements coming from the island"

The octopeople nodded as they took their positions.

Erik: "Well, we better get this boat out of here then, we have to search for the control room"

Rose: "I have an idea for that" dozens of small drones popped up from the back of her power armor, flying off inside the battleship as they scanned their surroundings "That should give us the advantage"

Erik smiled: "Indeed, let's clean up the inside then"

Rose took out a sphere from her power armor chest piece: "With this, I will take over the control room, and with some time the entire battleship will be a part of me too"

Inky: "Ugh, let's get this over with i wanna go back to take a shower and watch something with our daughters"

Erik smiled: "haha indeed, perhaps I should have given them some homework for today so they won't be lonely"

Inky: "Just leave them be, they will find something to do"

Timberly interrupted them as she appeared next to the door in: "Let's go" before turning invisible again, only her fairly heavy steps telling of her position.

Rose soon took the lead though, as her drones were scanning the place.

Rose: "Interesting, the ship's systems seem to be connected to living brains, but they seem to be in a pinch though, we should head there first"

Erik: "How are they not dead?"

Rose: "Their egos seem to have faded long ago, you will see"

They advanced through the hallways, killing the occasional monster or amalgamations of them, or even cyborgs that had been absorbed.

Finally, they reached an armored door, it had been ripped open from the outside, so whatever did it, it could still be inside.

Timberly reappeared, taking a tower shield from her back.

Timberly: "Should I?"

Erik stepped forward: "Let me do the honors, I'm more durable" he took the shield and advanced into the room, holding the shield with his left hand and a railgun with his right. His feet then crushed something, he looked down to see the remains of one of Rose's drones.

Rose then suddenly threw a flare inside the dark room, illuminating all around. Flesh tendrils covered all the walls of the room, and in the center dozens of the monsters writhed as they fused with a multitude of lizardmen, absorbing their flesh and melding together.

Rose whistled: "Seems like it's trying to absorb all the technology connected to the room"

Erik reeled back in disgust, he blasted the heads of the lizardmen and suddenly the power went off, now only the lights of the flare and their own suits remained.

The creature seemed enraged as the flesh started congregating, Erik didn't give it time though, he pointed his left arm at it and a bolt of lightning discharged into the creature, blinding everyone in the room for an instant. The creature spasmed as it fell to the floor, a tendril then came from Erik's power armor and started dissolving the creature.

Inky: "Eww, are you gonna absorb that?"

Erik shrugged: "The best way to get rid of it for good, is to get rid of the body completely"

Rose on the other hand walked to the remains of the lizardmen and ripped them off their seats, cables ripping off the back of their heads.

Rose: "So they can't make computers but they make this... baffling" She then set a sphere on one of the stations and tendrils of nanites grew from it, connecting to the other cables over the room as the power was restored. Then they slightly lost their balance as they felt the battleship moving.

Erik: "What was that?"

Rose smiled: "This is literally the brains of the battleship, and now it's mine, I started the engines, it's not very fast, but it's ours now"

Hurried steps then came from the hallway, they exited to see six lizardmen, all of them with various degrees of machinery on their bodies, with the one in front not even having eyes, just cameras.

-- Minutes Earlier --

Master Krei and his students suddenly noticed the power going off and panicked, they were guarding the reactor, so the creatures must have taken over the control brains.

Master Krei: "There's no other option, we must retake control of the battleship, follow me!"

But when they were getting closer they heard shots and became hopeful reinforcements had come. The idea was soon reinforced by the light coming on again, only their Iron Sect knew how to link to the battleship after all.

The battleship started moving and they hurried even more, wheezing as their heavy bodies were not athletic enough for that kind of speed.

As they arrived at the control room they froze in place, emerging from the room were four figures, a gigantic figure carrying a spear, a smaller individual carrying a thinner spear, a bulk wide figure that seemed like a machine full of glowing lines, and finally a humanoid with glowing silver hair with a helmet over her face and a power armor full of blue lines as well as a glowing mace.

They were confused, but one thing was clear though, they were no match for them.

Master Krei kneeled as he sighed: "Who are you?"

The figure with the mace stepped forward, taking off its helmet, underneath stood a face as sleek and shiny as polished metal, with glowing lines of energy over its skin.

Master Krei couldn't help but mutter to himself: "A living machine..."

The being then spoke: "I see there were still vermin alive on board, what a bother" her mace glowing brighter on her shoulder.

Master Krei became alarmed: "Please wait, we know all the rituals to manage the battleship, from the oils to the calibrations, we are useful"

The being cackled ominously: "Rituals you say? not maintenance or procedures?"

Master Krei was confused but explained anyway: "The spirits of the machines need of our rituals to keep them operational, if not done periodically that would anger them, and they would stop working"

This time it was the figure with the shield that started laughing, as it passed its shield to the figure with the big spear.

Erik and Rose found it funny, like a caveman claiming to know how a spaceship worked.

Rose just stepped aside, letting the lizardman see the nanobot cluster that was reorganizing the entire cables and technology in the control room, she had made them even more efficient after studying Erik's adapting nanobots, making her own version less powerful but many times more efficient and completely obedient to her will.

Master Krei fell to his knees, the beauty, the complexity, that liquid metal just flowed with grace as it dissolved the control panels and interfaces, and in its place emerged chairs and screens. Everything brimming with purpose.

Erik whistled: "They work faster than the nanites in the submarine, it looks like the control room on the submarine but two times the size"

Rose: "They are a new batch of nanites, as for the inspiration it's just the style I like, simple and to the point, no decorations, just a white room with control panel screens~" She pointed at the middle where a set of six chairs with helmets started emerging "Chairs prepared to take over turrets or other systems on the boat already incorporated, that way it can be piloted like a part of your body"

Inky: "You have been saying things for a while, so... we kill them and move on already?"

Timberly nodded in support: "Yeah, I feel like exploring, also I'm kinda hungry" putting her shield on her back.

Rose: "But of course" she turned to the flabbergasted lizardman "Well then, time to die~" lifting her mace higher as it started glowing.

Master Krei snapped out of it and slammed his head on the floor, cracking some of his sensors, bellowing: "PLEASE! ALLOW ME TO SERVE YOU OH GODLY MACHINE!!!"

Erik: "What do you think Rose? didn't their ancestors try to enslave you? Might as well reciprocate"

Rose pondered: "Hmm, that makes some sense" She went inside the room and lightly tapped the nanites, making them produce six metallic balls, she then presented them to Master Krei and his students "If you truly wish to serve me... then eat these, you won't be able to refuse any of my commands from then on, eternal servants to my will~"

One of Krei's students turned around to run away scared "No way! no way! no way!!!", Rose was about to say something when *BANG!* Master Krei's back mounted gun had shot his apprentice dead, blowing his chest apart.

Master Krei took five balls from Rose's hand and gave one to each of his four remaining apprentices, while instantly swallowing his, and his apprentices followed suit.

Master Krei kneeled to Rose once more: "It is our utmost honor to serve you, we will follow you on the path to immortality master"

The apprentices followed suit: "MASTER!" all kneeling to Rose.

Rose smiled pleased: "It doesn't feel too bad~ I can also test how my nanites assimilate with flesh... guess I will keep some alive from now on"

Erik put his hand on her shoulder: "Well then, lets wrap it up no?"

Rose nodded, looking at Master Krei: "From now on I have access to your minds, so if you think of rebelling I will quickly know about it, now go do something useful, collect all corpses and gather them near this control room, my nanites will process them"

Master Krei: "Of course, as you command!"

Rose then tapped her neck, talking to the people on deck and the submarine: *Takeover successful, send in the boxes I prepared*

Erik: "Boxes?"

Rose: "Just more nanites, the more we have the faster we fix this junk boat, next batch goes to the power room and to start adapting the living quarters"

Inky: "Let's go exploring then?"

Master Krei was about to go and saw the four masters talking, he didn't know what they were saying moments ago unless they talked to him as they did so in his language, but after swallowing that ball he understood everything they were saying.

Master Krei: "Master, if it's not presumptuous of me" he beckoned his female disciple forward "This is Erandra, she could guide you around"

Erandra was trembling in nervousness but still bowed as best as she could: "I would be pleased to guide you, masters"

Erik: "Hm okay, what do you think Rose"

Rose: "My drones are still mapping the spaceship, so yeah why not~ take us to the power room first"

Erandra: "T-then... please follow me, I will guide you to the power room"

It took them around ten minutes walking and they arrived at the power room, piles of corpses of cyborgs and monsters piled down the hallways.

Rose regarded the cyborgs and shook her head, using bots was way more efficient: "Better get the bots here or we will never finish cleaning all of this"

Then Erik tapped his neck as a message came in from the deck.

Scout: "Elders, one of the dead Golden Dawn soldiers seems to have a communication device, and its beeping, should I bring it in?"

Erik looked at all the corpses around: "Not yet, the risk of contamination is still high, Rose was about to send bots to clean up, stand by for now"

Scout: "Understood"

Erik looked at Rose and she nodded, no further conversation was needed.

The door to the power room was extremely thick like the door on a bank vault, as they opened it they could feel tingling all over their bodies as Erandra retreated alarmed, but too afraid to say anything, as while fusion reactors produced no radiation, two fission reactors kept the magnetic fields of the fusion reactor operational, not only that, the temperature inside was at least a hundred degrees centigrade, enough to burn your skin and blind you.

Rose sighed and tossed a clump of nanites inside, closing the door again.

Rose: "How do you usually refuel the reactor?"

Erandra: "W-well, a volunteer is chosen and then-"

Rose stopped her: "And then they refuel it and die... sigh, figured... I can do better, we need to add a mini reactor as an emergency starter, and use batteries for regular maintenance and keeping the magnetic fields... yes, lots of work to be done here too"

Erandra: "A-anything else you wanna visit, ...master?"

Rose turned to her: "Master heh... nothing else for now no, it will take months at least to organize all this mess, guess we are going back for now"

Erik: "Back to the main base?" Erik was enthusiastic about the idea. He missed Crabina, and he wanted Shana and Megan to see his daughters. Also, it wasn't fair to make Anhuka raise Crabina alone.

Rose nodded: "We are, and we will go past the industrial complex on the way, lots of machines that didn't fit the submarine could fit the battleship" she sighed

Erik: "Nice, maybe we could get Betsy to pull the battleship"

Rose frowned: "There are so many tasks accumulating, recreating the bio replicator and turning it into an edible food printer, as well as remaking an entire battleship made of scrap into a floating city... it's not the best time now, first, we would need to at least make sure the battleship is operational and has proper structural integrity before having a giant creature pull it forward" She exhaled even though she didn't need to breathe "Erik, come with me, I will give you some stuff to do, I'm sure we can make this thing faster" walking in the direction of the back of the battleship towards the electric engines.

Erik shrugged: "Glad to help"

Inky: "So... we are done? can I go back to the kids now?"

Erik: "Yeah, the bots will do the cleanup"

Timberly: "Okay, I will call the troops at ease and set guards on deck. Time to let the current ones rest and start a new shift, might go exploring the battleship later too"

Erik nodded: "Sounds good, see you later for martial arts training then" waving his hand as he went with Rose.

-- Back at the base --

After weeks of an induced coma, a humanoid woke up on a floating tank.

Anhuka was awake after asking Rose for help with her changes. Her body was now bipedal, and she had defined hands and feet. She also had slightly brown skin covered in sections of thin chitin, like the shell of a prawn but way more flexible and rubbery, making her appear to be almost made out of plastic.

The tube emptied of water and she took off her respirator mask and tube, she still couldn't get used to having lungs and breathing air, and walking seemed like a challenge, but when she opened her eyes and saw a bot there waiting she smiled.

Anhuka: "How do I look?"

Bot(Rose): *Stunning~*