The ash tasted like copper.
Kaelen lay flat on the ridge of a dune, covered in a grey tarp. Next to him, Lyra gripped her rusted spear so hard her knuckles were white. Below them, ninety desperate refugees—now "recruits"—were buried in the sand, breathing through reeds.
"Stop shaking," Kaelen whispered, not looking at her. "Vibration travels in the ground. You'll alert the sensors."
"I'm not shaking because I'm scared," Lyra hissed through chattering teeth. "I'm shaking because I haven't eaten in two days."
"Good," Kaelen replied. "Hunger makes you sharp. Full bellies make for slow soldiers."
He adjusted his [Abyssal Sight]. In the distance, a cloud of dust was rising against the purple bruise of the horizon.
The Iron City Convoy.
It wasn't a wagon train. It was a line of three massive, six-wheeled armored crawlers. They looked like moving bunkers, their exhausts belching black smoke that stood out against the grey wasteland.
[Enemy Analysis.]
[Target: Supply Crawler (Heavy Armor).]
[Escort: 20 Iron-City Mercenaries (Rank F to E).]
[Leader: Unknown.]
"Twenty guards," Lyra counted, panic creeping into her voice. "We have pipes and rocks. They have rifles."
"They have rifles," Kaelen agreed. "But they expect bandits. They expect a chaotic charge."
He looked at the narrow pass where Vex had planted the [Hydraulic Claw] rigged as a trap.
"They don't expect a demolition team."
The lead crawler rumbled into the pass. The ground shook.
"Wait for it," Kaelen commanded into his comms stone.
The crawler hit the trigger plate.
SNAP.
The buried Hydraulic Claw sprang up like a bear trap. It didn't grab a leg; it slammed into the front axle of the lead vehicle.
CRUNCH.
Metal shrieked. The massive crawler lurched violently to the left, crashing into the canyon wall. The convoy ground to a halt.
"Seraphina! Now!"
From the opposite ridge, a beam of concentrated sunlight pierced the gloom.
"SOLAR BEAM!"
It hit the fuel tank of the second crawler.
BOOM.
Fire—bright, orange, chemical fire—erupted, illuminating the canyon. The mercenaries poured out of the vehicles, coughing and shouting, their formation broken before the fight even started.
"Kill them," Kaelen stood up, his black coat flapping in the wind. "If you want to eat tonight, you kill them."
Lyra let out a scream—half terror, half rage—and charged down the dune.
"CHARGE!"
The sand exploded as ninety refugees rose from the earth. They didn't look like soldiers. They looked like ghouls. Covered in grey ash, starving, and desperate, they flooded down the slope like a landslide.
The battle was ugly.
It wasn't the clean, technical combat of the Academy. It was a brawl.
A mercenary raised his rifle, aiming at a charging old man. Before he could fire, three refugees tackled him. They didn't use technique. They bashed his helmet with rocks until he stopped moving.
"Secure the cargo!" Kaelen ordered, sliding down the dune.
He moved through the chaos like a wraith. A mercenary captain—a Rank D warrior with a vibro-blade—stepped in his path.
"You filth!" the Captain roared, swinging his glowing sword.
Kaelen didn't even draw his blade. He used [Null-Breaker] footwork to step inside the swing. He grabbed the Captain's wrist with his left hand.
[Sin Eater: Drain Stamina.]
The Captain gasped as his strength evaporated. His knees buckled.
Kaelen took the vibro-blade from the Captain's limp hand and drove it through the man's chest armor.
"Efficient," Kaelen noted, dropping the body.
He looked around. The refugees were winning by sheer numbers, but they were taking losses. Five recruits were down, bleeding out in the ash.
Lyra was fighting two mercenaries near the lead crawler. She was fast, fueled by the [Berserker Blood] trait Kaelen had sensed. She dodged a knife slash and drove her spear into a mercenary's throat.
But the third crawler—the one at the rear—hadn't emptied.
Its turret turned. A heavy repeating mana-cannon swiveled toward the mass of refugees.
"Get down!" Vex screamed from the sniper nest.
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP.
Explosive rounds tore into the sand. Three refugees disintegrated in red mist. The rest scattered, pinned down by the suppression fire.
"They have a Heavy Gunner!" Lyra shouted, pressing herself behind a wheel. "We can't get close!"
Kaelen looked at the turret. It was shielded. Vex's bolts were bouncing off the plating.
"Seraphina!" Kaelen barked. "Shield!"
"I can't block that!" Seraphina yelled back.
"That's anti-siege caliber!"
"I didn't say block it," Kaelen sprinted toward the crawler. "I said shield me!"
He jumped.
Seraphina cast [Holy Aegis]—a small, focused barrier right in front of Kaelen in mid-air.
Kaelen used the barrier not as a shield, but as a stepping stone. He kicked off the hard-light wall, double-jumping to reach the top of the crawler.
The turret gunner tried to spin around.
Too slow.
Kaelen landed on the barrel. He placed his hand on the mana feed.
[Skill: Abyssal Touch.]
"Mine."
The violet energy of the Abyss flooded the cannon's circuits. The mana crystal powering it cracked and turned black. The gun died.
Kaelen ripped the hatch open. He grabbed the gunner by the neck and threw him out. The man hit the ground hard, only to be swarmed by vengeful refugees.
Silence fell over the canyon. The fire from the second crawler crackled.
The mercenaries were dead or surrendering.
Kaelen stood on top of the captured vehicle. He looked down at his "army." They were panting, covered in blood—some their own, mostly the enemy's.
They looked at the food crates spilling from the wrecked truck. They didn't loot. They looked up at Kaelen, waiting for permission.
"Eat," Kaelen commanded.
A cheer erupted. They tore into the crates like wolves.
[Ding!]
[Battle Won: The Convoy Raid.]
[Loot Acquired: 5 Tons of Rations, 20 Rifles, 50 Mana Crystals.]
[Casualties: 7 Recruits.]
[Morale: High.]
Lyra climbed up the crawler, wiping blood from her face. She looked older than she had this morning.
"We did it," she breathed. "We actually did it."
"We survived," Kaelen corrected. "There's a difference."
He jumped down and walked to the lead crawler's cab. He needed to check the manifest. Why was a supply convoy heavily armed with siege weapons?
He ripped the glove box open. He found a leather-bound ledger.
He flipped it open.
Cargo: High-Grade Mana Crystals.
Destination: The Iron City.
Sender: The Holy Church of Light - Diocese of the West.
Kaelen froze.
"Vex," Kaelen called out. "Come look at this."
Vex hopped over a corpse. "What is it? Gold?"
"Worse," Kaelen showed her the seal. "The Iron City isn't neutral. They're trading with the Church. These crystals... they aren't for power."
He cracked one of the crystals from a crate open. Inside the blue shell, a faint golden liquid swirled.
[Item Analysis.]
[Object: Holy Resonance Crystal.]
[Usage: Power source for 'Inquisition Towers'.]
"They're building a net," Kaelen realized. "The Church is setting up surveillance towers in the Wasteland. They're preparing to hunt me."
He looked at the map. The Iron City was the only way to Sector 5. If the City was in bed with the Church, walking in there would be walking into a trap.
"We can't go to the Iron City," Seraphina said, reading the ledger over his shoulder. "They'll scan us at the gate."
"We aren't going to the Iron City," Kaelen closed the ledger.
He looked at the captured crawlers. He looked at his recruits, now armed with mercenary rifles.
"We have vehicles. We have uniforms. We have the cargo."
A ruthless smile spread across his face.
"We aren't going as refugees. We're going as the delivery service."
[Ding!]
[New Quest: The Trojan Horse.]
[Objective: Infiltrate the Iron City using the stolen convoy.]
[Secondary Objective: Destroy the Church's trade agreement.]
Kaelen turned to Lyra.
"Get everyone inside the crawlers. Strip the bodies. If the Iron City wants their crystals..."
He crushed the holy gem in his hand, the [Sin Eater] turning the golden liquid into black sludge.
"...I'll deliver them personally."