“What do you think is better? Send the recon drones now, or attract the antithesis’ attention, then send the drones?” Skyler asked as I strapped Rending Wave to my belt.

  “Probably better to send them first,” I replied after a moment. “Once we attract the antithesis’ attention, we’ll need to focus on the fighting.”

  Skyler nodded, and a second later the swarm of small scout drones hovering around her dispersed. They spread out into a rough line before zipping east towards the horizon.

  “They should be over the horde within a minute,” Skyler announced.

  “Arty, Athy, can you please monitor the drones and alert us if they detect anything abnormal? I don’t think that Skyler and I are going to have time once the antithesis start heading our way,” I said.

  {Arty: We’ll record and catalog the drone's findings for you to review later.}

  “Good enough,” I mumbled as I drew my blade from its sheath. I took a deep breath, then turned to Skyler. “Ready when you are.”

  “Then hold on to your butt,” she whispered, closing her eyes for a moment.

  Skyler’s drones opened up simultaneously, rapidly unloading their full complement of mortar rounds within seconds. It only took Skyler a moment to order Athyna to refill the drones before the barrage continued. I kept my eyes locked on the horizon. Most terrestrial creatures would have let out cries of fear, or anger from being attacked, but not the antithesis. The only sound the alien plants made as they charged was the crashing of trees, and the rumbling of the ground as the endless horde charged our location.

  Skyler relentlessly bombarded the closest antithesis, cutting down the frontlines, but the charge continued. An unending wave of rabid plants that stretched across as far as the eye could see.

  “I hope those artillery crews are ready, because things are about to get rough,” I muttered.

  As the antithesis cleared the nearest ridge, close enough that I could start making out individual models and not just a rolling carpet of mottled green and brown, the first artillery shells struck. While Skyler’s shells packed an impressive punch for their size, they were nothing compared to the city’s heavy artillery cannons. Shells the size of footballs smashed into the antithesis lines, throwing the smaller models several meters into the air, and creating craters that slowed the antithesis’ charge.

  Within seconds, the antithesis outside the range of the city’s artillery stopped, and began pulling back, silently retreating back towards their original positions. Apparently whatever command model was out there didn’t want to lose its entire army to a suicidal charge. That was quite a deviation from their usual tactics.

  Even though the vast majority of the antithesis pulled back, all the models that managed to get within artillery range continued to charge forward. They sprinted through no-man’s land, unaffected by the devastating losses caused by both Skyler’s drones and the city’s artillery batteries. Despite the artillery’s best efforts, it was quite obvious that quite a few antithesis were going to make it through the bombardment.

  “Fuck,” I muttered, as I sheathed Rending Wave, grabbing my bow instead. I showered the hillside in monowire arrows as fast as I could. I didn’t even bother to aim, just firing scattershot over the area to create a rough barrier. I mentally kicked myself for not doing it before; it should have been a no-brainer move, but considering how cagey the antithesis were being, I had expected the artillery to take down far more models than it did. As soon as my quiver was empty, I shouldered my bow and switched back to my sword. It wouldn’t be long now until the antithesis reached us.

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  As the wave closed to about a hundred meters, battered but far from destroyed, the twins floated up next to me. The two drones silently unfolded the six spindly-looking limbs positioned around the front of their frames, revealing short scything blades, which they rapidly flicked back and forth like some sort of predatory insect. I silently hoped they were as effective

  Seconds later, the first wave of antithesis hit the monowire at a full sprint. The wire cut whatever it touched, so as soon as an antithesis entered the tangle, it was already over. They might have entered whole, but the crisscrossing wires, along with their own momentum, meant that what exited the other side was little more than a pile of mulch.

  Surprisingly, after the first few creatures were cut apart, the rest of the charge showed signs of survival instincts. Instead of crashing headfirst into the barricade, many antithesis instead headed for the gaps in the wire. There were far too many to fit through these narrow openings, and a lot of the weeds were lost as the press of bodies forced them into the wire, but just the fact that they tried to avoid it was disturbing enough.

  The first antithesis to charge up the hill was not a Model Three, like usual, but a Model Four, which had muscled its way through one of the numerous gaps in the wire. I planted my feet, and prepared to receive its charge, but before it could, one of the twins floated forward.

  As the Four lashed out with a tentacle, the drone flicked its blades in response. One blade caught the bone harpoon, while another severed the offending limb. The monster reared back, and attempted to strike with another limb, only for the same thing to happen. Once the drone closed in, it began to flick all six blades simultaneously, shoving them deep into the side of the Four.

  The blades weren’t long, and they couldn’t reach anything vital, but they moved so fast it was like a blender pressed against the beast’s side. Blood and viscera rained down as the drone dug deep into the Four’s side, only pulling back once it was sure the monster was dead.

  I was so horrified by the spectacle I nearly missed the Model Three which had charged up the hill after it. Even though I noticed it mid-pounce, I had no problem stepping to the side and bringing Rending Wave down clean through the middle of the Model Three.

  I’d done similar feats before, but this time I managed it effortlessly. I honestly felt like I had plenty of time to deliver the blow, even though the monster was mid leap. My reflexes must have really improved over the last few days.

  Shaking off the shock, I strode down the hill to meet the other antithesis that made it through the wire. Instead of making a fighting retreat, like I’d done in previous engagements, I found myself advancing, darting between antithesis. Rending Wave cut effortlessly through the antithesis, removing limbs or slicing deep fatal wounds before many of the creatures could even react.

  I don’t know how long the fight went on—everything kind of blurred together into a constant ballet of carnage. I was so hyper-focused on the battle that nothing else seemed to matter until the last antithesis dropped dead, and the fight was over.

  I stood there for a minute, breathing heavily, surveying the battlefield. I was standing up to my ankles in antithesis guts, with dozens, maybe even hundreds of bodies. It hadn’t felt like a long fight, but the number of dead within the perimeter suggested otherwise.

  As I quickly wiped down and sheathed my sword, Skyler came sprinting down the hill. “Fuck! Reina, are you alright? I did my best to thin out the antithesis, but so many made it through. I was afraid that you’d get overwhelmed.”

  She stumbled slightly, slipping on a patch of still wet viscera, so I darted up the hill and caught her in a tight hug. “Don’t worry, love, I’m absolutely fine. I thought the heavy artillery would have killed more antithesis before they reached us, but between my new reflexes and the twins, I didn’t have any problem dealing with the charge.”

  “You’re absolutely sure?” Skyler mumbled as she sunk her face into my shoulder.

  “They didn’t even touch me,” I assured her.

  I held her for another couple of seconds, until she was ready to pull away.

  “I guess we actually got lucky there,” she said quietly. “We overestimated how powerful the artillery would be. If the majority of the antithesis hadn’t pulled back, we might have been overwhelmed.”

  “Which begs the question, why are they being so cautious? The city defenses might be able to take chunks out of them, but the vast majority of the swarm would probably reach the walls. Why are they being so passive?” I wondered.

  “I bet once we discover the command model, Artymis and Athyna can tell us why they’re acting this way,” Skyler said, as she stood up straight. “Let’s go back and review the drone data, see if we have any hits.”

  She paused, for just a moment. “But let’s try and avoid aggravating the swarm again, at least until we have more backup. That was a lot closer than I would have liked.”

  “You’ll get no arguments from me,” I muttered in response.