Ike moved along the perimeter, checking in with Sniper Teams One and Three, boots crunching against loose gravel as he made his way toward Team Two's last known position.
Halfway there, he paused atop a jagged cave mound, steam curling around his boots as he scanned the basin below. Four Yatzuls skulked through the shallows, whip-thin bodies coiling, claws scraping against metal debris as they loped toward the perimeter lights.
Ike drew both pistols in a single, practiced motion. He fired, the crack of the shot splitting the fog, and the lead Yatzul's head snapped back, dark blood spraying in an arc before its body crumpled mid-sprint, sliding into the water with a splash.
The other three shrieked, scattering. Ike tracked them, squeezing off a second shot, but the target zigzagged too quickly, the round sparking off concrete.
'Shit,' he muttered, adjusting his stance as the creatures bolted.
Before he could give chase, a roar of flame erupted in the gloom ahead. The Yatzuls shrieked, bodies convulsing as fire engulfed them, twisting and clawing at the ground as they stumbled, turning to flee.
From the shadows behind the burning beasts, Maeda and his Chimera squad emerged.
They moved with inhuman precision, slipping through the fire like phantoms, blades slicing through charred limbs with clean, efficient arcs. Severed tails and claws hit the ground, steam hissing as blackened blood pooled beneath the corpses.
Ike slid down the mound, boots skidding on loose gravel. He lifted a hand in a terse wave, scanning for stragglers.
The fires guttered out quickly, leaving only scorched earth and the smell of burnt flesh. Maeda turned, his glasses catching the dying glow, and inclined his head.
'Good job on those Yatzuls,' Ike called, holstering one pistol. 'Can't let them scatter.'
Maeda's reply was flat, his eyes unfocused, voice calm as dead air. 'It is our mission.'
He paused, blinking slowly before continuing. 'Two Yatzuls fled west. They entered a cave system nearby. I dispatched a team to investigate, but they have not reported back.'
Ike raised an eyebrow, fingers drumming lightly on his triggers as he glanced at the Chimeras around Maeda. They stood unnaturally still, weapons clenched tightly in their hands.
'I'll check it out,' Ike said, eyes narrowing slightly. 'If they're stuck, I'll get them out.'
The Chimera clones relaxed instantly, as if responding to an unspoken signal. Maeda nodded, the faintest incline of the head, eyes cold behind his glasses.
As Ike turned to leave, he stopped, eyeing the weapon one of the clones held. 'How'd you get the fire going?'
Maeda regarded him silently for a moment before lifting his weapon. It was a longsword, dark steel with a slight inward curve at the hilt, arching back into a razor tip. Attached to the hilt were two cylindrical canisters, thin hoses feeding into the blade's spine, with small triggers near the hand grip to regulate ignition.
Flame residue still licked across the steel, faint wisps of smoke rising.
'Flamethrower sword,' Ike said, nodding once. 'Not bad. You Chimeras get the weirdest toys.'
No reply came. Maeda simply lowered the blade.
With a last glance, Ike turned and sprinted toward the cave, pistols ready, the fog swallowing him as he moved.
Behind him, Maeda and the clones remained motionless for a heartbeat, eyes fixed on the direction Ike had taken. Then, without a word, Maeda lifted a hand, pointing a single finger forward. The clones nodded in perfect unison, weapons still wet with blood as they began to follow silently, boots whispering against the scorched gravel.
***
Ike stepped into the cave, water swirling around his ankles as it flowed inward in thin, restless streams. The air grew colder, damp mist clinging to his skin, each breath tasting of metal and rot. He kept his pistols raised, boots crunching on scattered gravel as the tunnel sloped downward.
Faint echoes of dripping water marked the silence, punctuated by the distant groan of shifting rock. The deeper he went, the thicker the stench became - copper, bile, and decay - catching in the back of his throat.
Faint marks clawed into the walls, long and jagged, sometimes so deep they exposed veins of blackened stone beneath. Tattered scraps of fabric clung to outcroppings, flapping gently in the draft, stained dark with blood.
Every few feet, he saw dark smears across the walls and floor, drying into hard, rust-colored crusts. Spent casings glinted in his flashlight's beam, scattered in clusters where someone had fired desperately.
A low breeze moved through the tunnel, carrying with it the faint scent of burnt flesh.
Ike's eyes narrowed as he stepped over a snapped rifle, its barrel bent, and moved deeper, the darkness swallowing him as he followed the trail of blood further inside.
Deeper in, the tunnel widened into a shallow cavern where the stench of blood became suffocating. Pools of dark, sticky fluid rippled with the water's flow, reflecting broken shapes: limbs twisted the wrong way, helmets cracked open, gear scattered like torn paper.
Ike stepped carefully around a shattered visor, eyes sweeping for movement. A faint, wet cough caught his attention. Beneath a crumpled barricade of crates, a soldier's hand twitched, fingers clawing weakly at the stone.
Dropping to a knee, Ike pulled the body atop it aside, revealing a young private, pale and slick with blood, a wound torn across his stomach. The soldier's eyes fluttered open, unfocused, lips trembling.
'What the hell happened in here?' Ike demanded, gripping the boy's shoulder. 'Where did the Yatzuls go?'
The soldier's cracked lips moved, confusion clouding his gaze. His voice came out as a rasp:
'Yatzuls…?'
Ike's eyes narrowed, a cold weight dropping into his gut.
A faint scrape echoed behind him.
Without thinking, Ike twisted, pistol coming up in a single smooth motion. He fired.
The crack of the shot boomed through the cavern. A figure staggered into the light, a hole punched clean through its forehead, the body collapsing with a heavy thud. As it hit the water, the fedora-like hat fell back, revealing glassy, lifeless eyes.
One of Maeda's cloned Chimeras.
Ike's jaw tightened, smoke drifting from the barrel of his pistol as he stared down at the corpse, realization burning behind his eyes.
His eyes flicked around the cavern, pistol raised, finger tight on the trigger.
Water rippled behind the corpse of the fallen clone.
From the shadows near the cave mouth, four more Chimeras stepped in, moving in eerie unison. Their eyes, glassy and unblinking, locked onto Ike with mechanical focus.
The first clon drew a curved sword, the blade folding out along his forearm as he grabbed it by the hilt.
The second clone reached to his back, pulling free a long, slender spear that hissed with steam as the tip ignited with a faint orange glow, the heat pulsing against the damp air.
The third clone, smaller and wiry, yanked twin axes free from his thighs,spinning them once before gripping them tightly, water dripping from the blood-coated edges.
The fourth stood slightly apart, reaching into his abdomen area as a hilt appeared from it, before pulling out a thick-bladed machete, the weapon glinting under the dim light as blood from within him dripped onto the cave floor.
Ike's gaze moved rapidly between them, calculating, breath steady even as his pulse began to pound. Water lapped quietly at his boots, the cave falling into a tense silence broken only by the low hiss of steam from the spear tip.
'Really?' Ike muttered, rolling his shoulders back, pistols leveling at the advancing clones. 'This is how it's gonna be?'
They stepped forward in unison, blades gleaming, the glow of their embedded Yatzul cores pulsing under their skin.
Then they charged.
Chapter 48 - end