23.4

February 13, 2070 2241

Watson

Underground Northside

Church of Eternal Network’s Relic Chamber

“Monks are bullshit.” Crystal gasped as she ducked another concrete-cracking punch. Even worse, all six of these possessed punching pricks were synchronized. Attacks were not singular as a wave like the finest set of chrome dancing groups.

As she turned to escape, the circle of monks locked tight, their faces cast with glowing red eyes.

There was a weird effect on their skin, just above the surface, like invisible air armor. Cutting it took too long, so Crystal had been dancing between them with vampiric finesse.

"I can’t hold out forever." Crystal thought with a grimace. "From the blank look on their faces, I have the terrible suspicion something else is at home."

Alchemy could do amazing things, and Blood Alchemy was no slouch. It was a branch that only those who delved deep into the crimson waters dared to tread.

Crystal took a deep breath and mentally said, “Blood Boost.” The world slowed around her as her perception sped up to the limit. Blood flowed thickly at incredible speeds within her body, and her heart hammered like a thousand steel drop hammers crashing down at once.

The monks were fast, true, yet now she could see them.

She could see everything.

In a flicker, her vampiric speed had her past the possessed guardians and through the exit. “Crash the network. Buy us time. Got to get to Rabbit!” Crystal spluttered, her words blurred to inhuman levels of speed. Only the spirit link to Fluffyfeathers allowed the baby chickling to understand her. Nota immediately followed her directions, allowing the vampiric Solo to escape.

The pursuit wasn’t far behind, though. For some reason, the monks didn’t have any problems seeing her. Or perhaps they didn’t see her, but her Shroud? It didn't matter now, but food for thought later.

In the dark alleys of Night City, rain hammered down on the glistening, neon-lit streets, reflecting the myriad of colors that pierced the night. The tall skyscrapers loomed overhead, casting long shadows where the light did not touch. Holographic adverts flickered in and out of existence, their muted hums blending with the distant noise of hovercars and the buzz of cybernetic enhancements.

Crystal clutched the artifact tightly, its polished surface reflecting the neon lights. She felt its power resonate through her cold, undead fingers. The artifact was ancient, rumored to control and manipulate the vast networks of data in the city. The Church of the Eternal Network had protected it for generations while attempting to decipher it. Without mercy, she had just stolen something sacred.

Her eyes flickered as if she was not alone.

Six guardian monks emerged from the shadows, their robes blending seamlessly with the darkness around them. Their eyes glowed a soft demonic red, illuminating the passenger inside. Only a demon could keep up with her inherent vampiric speed, which made sense. Maelstrom had beckoned something from outside the Blackwall. The cost must have been insane. Her eyes flickered over the internal augments. Each monk now had a cyber-enhanced limb optimized for combat and laced with a glowing network of circuitry patterns.

Crystal's hand went to the hilt of her sword as she pulled it into existence, which gleamed with a dark, light-drinking edge. As a vampire, she had the agility and strength most couldn't fathom. The sword was a gift from her Patron and only intensified her abilities.

Details flowed before her crimson eyes, and she spat a single word, “Clones.” The recent gang war had dented the Maelstrom population, and someone wanted to cook their way past that.

Clones were illegal, though. It's not a slap on the wrist bribe yourself out of the charge, but full-on tactical nuke meltdown carpet cleaning cinder cloud level. The NCPD had an enormous hard-on for anyone who tried to pull something like this.

The first monk lunged at her with a cybernetic arm that extended with a whip-like motion. Crystal sidestepped swiftly, her blade slashing out, carving a slice into the strange magic protecting her opponent. But even as she did, two others circled her, attempting to flank her.

This wasn’t a fair fight, after all.

A monk lunged, attempting a leg sweep. Crystal jumped, gracefully spinning mid-air, her Shroud flowing around her like the wings of a dark angel. As she landed, she delivered a thrust, her blade narrowly missing a monk’s heart as he barely dodged in time.

"Piercing attacks could break the protection around their forms." Crystal thought as her body continued flowing into the fight.

Another monk activated a concealed blade in his cyber-arm, slashing at her from the side. Crystal parried with the quick reflexes of her vampiric state. The two edges sparked, neon lights flickering and dancing around them. The monk's augmented strength was formidable, but Crystal's supernatural abilities evened the playing field.

After all, her weapon was [Sharpened] able to slash and pierce without compare.

The rain grew heavier, and the water droplets mingled with blood, creating a mesmerizing dance of red and clear.

Behind her, a monk lunged, fingers transforming into sharp talons. Crystal spun, deflecting his attack with the broad side of her blade, then kicked him square in the chest, sending him crashing into a pile of discarded electronics.

Yet, despite her skill and supernatural strength, the numbers were against her. Two monks grabbed her arms, their enhanced grips like iron vices. The remaining monk approached, a menacing grin on his face, as a stun baton crackled to life in his hand.

Crystal focused; her vampiric senses heightened. She could hear the faint buzz of electricity, the muted heartbeats of the monks, and the distant drone of hovercars. She needed a plan and fast.

Without warning, she unleashed a blood-curdling scream, a sonic weapon of supernatural intensity. The monks holding her reeled back, disoriented. Using this momentary advantage, she delivered a spinning kick, knocking one monk into another, causing a chain reaction that sent all three tumbling.

She found herself tet-a-tet with the final monk, blades crossed, each pushing against the other. The neon lights reflected in their eyes, painting a picture of intense determination.

In the brief moment of respite, Crystal's crimson eyes darted around, searching for an escape route. The neon lights above a door nearby flickered, revealing the entrance to a tech bar, which could provide a temporary haven. The shadows of patrons and the low hum of electronic music spilled out from the opening.

Dashing towards the entrance, Crystal sensed the recovery of the monks and predicted their movements. While they were fast and strong, they also fought in patterns. One was already racing ahead to cut her off while the others regrouped. She needed a diversion.

Her hand reached into the inner pocket where she’d stored the artifact. As her fingers touched the item, a siren song of power tickled her mind like the caress of a lover’s whisper. Crystal steeled her will, thrusting the phantom sensation away and focusing. Using the artifact's power, she tapped into the vast networks of the city. Streetlights began to malfunction, plunging parts of the alley into darkness while others became blindingly bright. Screens displaying holographic adverts glitched and changed into blinding strobe lights. The drones overhead, delivering goods or capturing footage, faltered, creating chaos in the skies.

She muffled a scream as the tips of her fingers burned to cinders before starting to regenerate.

As she approached the tech bar's entrance, the monk aiming to intercept her lunged, seeking to snatch the artifact. But she was prepared. Crystal swung her sword in a wide arc, the blade clashing with the monk's cybernetic limb, forcing him off balance. With a mighty shove, she sent him sprawling onto the wet ground.

Patrons gawked at her entrance inside the tech bar, but the ambiance was eclectic and surreal. Some patrons had cybernetic limbs, while others wore virtual reality goggles, lost in their digital worlds. It wasn't uncommon to see bar fights in such places; most were too engrossed in their activities to care. Crystal needed to blend in quickly.

She glanced around at the faces before she used Many Faces and created an agglomeration obscuring her facial features. Her appearance now resembled one of the many tech junkies in the bar. It was a face on the border of familiar but subtly different. She secured the artifact in a hidden compartment within her coat as her fingers finished regenerating.

This item was a little hot right now in many ways.

The monks wouldn't be deterred so easily. Moments later, they entered the tech bar, their demonic red eyes scanning the scene meticulously. To stay would be to trap herself, but to leave would expose her disguise immediately.

Using her acute senses, she heard a whispered conversation between two patrons, discussing an underground exit used for illegal trades. It was her best chance. Silently, she moved through the crowd, ensuring she remained out of sight of the monks.

As she neared the concealed exit, she realized a massive, cyber-enhanced bouncer guarded it. But instead of relying on violence, Crystal used her vampire charm, her voice a hypnotic melody. "I need to use the exit," she whispered. While the chrome might make him strong, it didn’t shield his mind.

The bouncer’s eyes glazed before he nodded and granted her passage. It left a sticky feeling of disgust to do this, but needs must when the devil drove. The hidden door slid open, revealing a dimly lit tunnel. As she stepped inside, the sounds of the tech bar faded, replaced by the distant hum of underground cables and pipes.

The underground tunnel smelled of dampness, rust, and long-forgotten memories. The faint hum of distant cables and pipes felt hauntingly comforting after the tension of the tech bar. Crystal's footsteps echoed softly as she navigated the labyrinthine paths by scent and digital deliverance. Fluffyfeathers pulled a map from somewhere on the Net. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than nothing. But her keen ears detected the soft pattern of footsteps that weren't hers, closing in. Despite her diversion, the monks managed to track her once again.

She suspected they were trailing both the scent of her magic and the artifact itself.

They eventually cornered her in a circular chamber where multiple tunnels converged. The walls were wet, dripping with condensation, and the only light came from the dim bioluminescent fungi that grew in patches along the ceiling.

Her escape routes were cut off with her back against the stone wall. The six monks closed in, their once demonic red eyes now an angry shade of violet, suggesting they had activated advanced combat protocols in their cybernetics or whatever was riding along inside was no longer in a pleasant mood. There was no escape this time. Running down a random tunnel sounded like an excellent way to end up dying tired.

Feeling trapped and outnumbered, desperation clawed at Crystal's mind.

She needed power to cut through the strange protection the monks had. It was the only thing keeping them from being carved up like Thanksgiving turkeys.

Text flowed and writhed into her sight like worms crawling from the air.

Call my name Alchemist of Blood.

She stared at the message, her mind flashing through alchemical rituals. Her Patron, Eve the Silver Witch, a spectral force of unparalleled power. However, summoning her had weight.

It had [Cost]. Like the old story of Pandora's Box, it couldn't be closed once opened.

"Only the living can regret a mistake." Crystal thought, firming her will. With rapid precision, Crystal shifted her sword into a dagger and began to etch the intricate designs of the makeshift Blood Alchemy circle onto her forearms, chest, and face. Each cut stung sharply, but she continued, her crimson blood mixing with the water droplets on the floor. As the final glyph was carved into her skin, she crushed the artifact she had stolen earlier in her hand, letting its essence merge with her blood.

Dancing around while she performed self-mutilation had been tricky, but defense was always easier than attack.

The ground trembled, the air thickened, and a palpable silence fell. Sensing the ancient power being unleashed, the monks paused, a hint of uncertainty crossing their possessed faces.

From within Crystal, a brilliant silver luminescence began to emanate. Her eyes turned a glowing shade of silver, and her voice, echoing and layered, reverberated through the chamber. She felt her mind wrapped in thick cotton and placed to the side.

"I see you, little worm. Little shadow from a fallen world. You thirst for things that are not yours. You wish to drink from wells you do not own."

Crystal's body moved, her hand moving the crushed artifact before her face. Her mouth opened impossibly wide, and a series of crunching sounds occurred. Power flooded her limbs like a dry baked desert soaked with rain. With newfound elegance, she strode forward, her dagger shifting. There was a crackling snap-hiss, and she no longer held a physical sword but some strange blade of dark energy.

Eve, her Patron, now in control, waved the dark energy blade in a few small motions and then launched herself at the monks with speed and agility that seemed impossible. Her movements were like a deadly dance, blending ancient martial arts and pure magic.

"Patrons are bullshit." Crystal thought blearily. "But a higher quality bullshit than whatever that demon is."

A monk tried to strike Crystal’s body with a bladed arm, but Eve sidestepped and sliced his cybernetic limb clean off. Before the monk could react, a quick thrust impaled his core, deactivating his systems and shattering the strange energy field around him. The thing inside his eyes showed fear for the first time tonight.

“You think to contend with one that can steal a weapon of imagination and make it real? Little worm, be squished for your arrogance.”

Another monk lunged, firing electrified projectiles from his wrist. With a graceful twirl, Eve deflected them using the blade, redirecting them back to their sender. The monk crumpled; circuits fried. She lunged forward, stabbing into the core close to their stomach.

Another monk died without a sound, only terror on his face.

A pair of monks advanced in unison, trying to overpower her Patron with sheer numbers and speed. But Eve's combat prowess was unmatched. She learned their patterns without effort. To her Patron, combat was a code. A formula with only one end: victory. Eve parried one's strike with an open palm harder than metal while simultaneously ducking to avoid swiping from the other. In one fluid movement, she disarmed one monk, leaving only glowing metal cuts visible. Then, she used his weapon against the other, causing them to crash into each other, their systems sparking and failing.

The final two monks seemed to communicate silently, perhaps through some hidden neural network and charged simultaneously from opposite directions. Eve, sensing their tactic, drew upon her energy. With a mighty stomp, she shattered the ground beneath her, creating a barrier of rising stone and debris between herself and the monks. As they tried to navigate the unexpected terrain, she leaped into the air, her form blurring, and descended upon each monk. Effortlessly rendering them inactive within moments as their cores were pierced and shattered.

The chamber grew silent once more, save for the soft dripping of water and the faint hum of the underground. Crystal's body, now free from the possession of Eve, collapsed to the ground, the Blood Alchemy circle on her skin slowly fading away, leaving only faint scars.

The scars twisted and wiggled, forming themselves into silver runes with liquid pulsing in strange circuits.

“Now I can come out to play briefly each day!”

Crystal shuddered as her voice fell once more under her control. “Nota?”

“Well, that’s accelerated it. I’m currently horse trading to prevent your obliteration. I’ll be forced to hibernate after this. Don’t worry, though. Just because you made a path doesn’t mean you will be a puppet. She’s limited to three minutes or less unless you have a few more artifacts on hand.”

Crystal slumped against the stone wall in relief. “Can she just accumulate it, like charging a battery?”

“Yes, but only for a maximum of twenty minutes,” Nota replied distractedly.

Crystal glanced at Fluffyfeathers, who had been at ease the whole time.

“I’m adorable. Your big boss would never let harm come to me.” Fluffyfeathers said with a distinctively evil smirk.

“Cute adorable baby chicklings are…” Crystal paused.

“…bullshit.” Fluffyfeathers said with a devilish grin.