CHAPTER EIGHTY ONE

The BAG Guild's final trip was surprisingly faster than their first journey.

The majority of the organization still used heavily-armored artillery units. However, the guild's increased confidence meant they were no longer as reliant on their tightly-packed ring formation. While they still ordered their team by concentric circles of skill, they no longer repeatedly doubled back. If someone fell behind, they could accelerate back into formation independently.

In addition, Steven had summoned his bulky transport Mech instead of his usual O-Flier, which allowed them to increase the speed of their slowest members. The transport Mech was about thirty percent larger than a conventional machine, and it was powered by thrusters on both its arms and legs. The complex system of ropes and belays on its shoulders allowed it to carry up to four different teammates.

In this case, Owen's Belcher and Lynn's hermit Mech were both tied onto the transport machine. Their slow but powerful machines were more or less operating as turrets.

Once they arrived within an hour of Castle Notoria, a notification appeared on their screens.

WARNING: You are within an hour of territory controlled by The Illusionists. The laws of peaceful open space no longer apply.

Lynn laughed.

"Man - you have no idea how mad that made the other guilds in the area. They spent so much time complaining to the Illusionists that the territory was disputed and that they couldn't make all the rules unilaterally. We - "

She caught herself.

"We - that is to say, they - said that if the territory was truly disputed, they were free to try and attack the castle, but it was just too well defended."

The black fortress embedded on a cliff was technically the perfect target for an assassination mission. The excessive defenses and severe terrain advantage meant that a conventional force couldn't attack the castle without taking enormous losses. Although it irked their pride, it wasn't worth it for the area's weaker guilds to group up and attack the Illusionists.

"New group coming in from the right."

Steven's voice ran crisply and cooly through the communications line as he pinged the map. Jason turned in the direction of Steven's warning.

Three Mechs were flying towards them - high-speed raider-type Kingbreakers with spindly limbs and large thruster packs.

The powerful boosters spat an endless stream of blue fire, rapidly illuminating the darkness of space. Their heads had been modified to include built-in targeting scopes. The three machines looked like they had Go-Pros buried in their heads, but Jason knew not to underestimate them despite their bizarre appearance. The advanced cameras automatically gathered data on enemy weak points and provided live feedback on optimal areas to target.

All three machines were using the same frame, but Jason's scanner couldn't identify his opponent's information - there was no pre-existing data on the base frame.

The first two carried gleaming assault rifles and large glowing beam swords. The last machine, which was flying about thirty feet behind the remaining Mechs, was very lightly equipped. Instead of carrying its own weapons, it held a strange cube with an attached satellite dish.

Jason frowned.

He didn't recognize the box's specific design, but it was obviously a high-powered transmitter.

Two attackers and a scout, all with the same base frame...

On top of that, the party had attacked them as soon as they entered Illusionist territory. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was happening. Everything about this attack suggested that they were a small part of a well-oiled organization.

Danny frowned.

"No build info identified...I bet it's the Illusionists, but it could be some upstart guild. Don't forget guys, you can go on the attack because of the rules change."

The other members of the BAG Guild scrambled into action. Jason had already raised both his beam rifles, but before he could attack, Lynn called for the rest of their team to hold their fire.

"Steven. Turn me around, will you? Let me deal with the scout. I don't want any reinforcements coming."

The multi-colored cloak flapped, and a thin and spindly hand emerged from the gap.

The twisted and claw-like fingers danced with black sparks. Moments later, the jet-black energy blast twisted and spiraled towards the enemy party. The tentacle twined past the two attackers before wrapping itself around the scouting device.

After sabotaging the camera, the energy split into three tendrils, which spread apart like hungry tree roots. Each of the individual prongs gently caressed the enemy cockpits before fading away.

Lynn grinned.

"Alright. I've disabled all their scouters. They can't call back for help."

In response to Lynn's diversion, the other team started directly attacking them.

The BAG Guild had waited for Lynn's technique to take effect, but the enemy party had no interest in waiting around. A pair of red beams lanced across the battlefield, forcing the BAG Guild to scatter. The team managed to avoid both attacks, but the high damage rating shocked them. Had the rifles been used on a stage with an atmosphere, they would have left an enormous sizzle from evaporating the air.

Jason raised an eyebrow as he slid past the blazing attack.

"Damn - that's way stronger than it looks."

Danny frowned.

"Yeah. They looked like normal rifles, but there's got to be some kind of trick involved."

Jason and his teammates braced themselves for a fight, but to Jason's mild surprise, the other team promptly started retreating instead. The attack from their beam rifles had only been a feint designed to scatter the BAG Guild.

The three raiders wheeled back as the scout tossed its useless communications device behind it. Now that it was unencumbered by any items, its speed was even faster.

Steven cursed.

"Crap. They can't use their communications systems, so they are flying back to make an in-person report."

Danny made his decision immediately.

"Shoot them as they run, but don't chase into Melee range. There are just too many enemies here. It'll be nice to take these guys out, but I'm more worried about falling into a trap."

The BAG Guild promptly started bombarding their fleeing opponents. The heavy artillery Mechs fired over and over again. Although only half the shots were on-target, the guild's numbers and discipline shone through. Stephanie downed one of the rifle-using Mechs, and Jason sniped another. The two machines promptly exploded in a violent conflagration.

As the Mechs combusted, Jason belatedly understood the trick behind their rifles. The weapons were plugged directly into the beam generator, a risky modification that increased damage at the expense of increased flammability.

The last machine, the scout, was unencumbered by any weapons, and it fled successfully. Danny held up a hand to keep the less experienced members like Anthony from chasing down their opponents.

"Not worth it, not worth it."

Jason nodded thoughtfully. Danny was right. In a situation like this, their best bet was to play the odds. It sucked that the scout got away, but it'd be even worse to chase them into a trap.

Stephanie shook her head and called excitedly into the communications wire.

"Man. I was sleepy before, but that attack woke me right up...I thought there wouldn't be anyone here..."

Her voice was confused rather than accusatory. Jason glanced at the clock at the base of his screen - they'd expected to reach the space around Castle Notoria at five, but it was just four-thirty. The guild had moved much faster than expected, yet there were already enemies in the area.

Wendy shook her head and told Stephanie not to worry so much.

"Honestly, I think that was for the best. We needed a quick wake-up call, but I wouldn't worry about an enormous enemy force. Those guys were probably just some low-ranking Illusionist players with insomnia. Normally, a guild would leave way more players behind for defense...there's no way a party of three would be able to keep attackers away."

Lynn frowned.

"Ah...I think that's probably right..."

The former Illusionist member continued musing to herself. She spoke in a soft and thoughtful voice - it almost seemed like she was talking to herself.

"Yeah, I bet it's some rookies who wanted to get attention. The guild always rewards players richly for taking out competitors. Plus, those models looked like they were built by the guild."

She pointed at the scraps.

"Let's bring them over for analysis."

Wendy and Lynn briefly split apart from the rest of the guild to grab the shattered parts. The Mechs had been blasted to pieces by the explosion, but there were still a few recognizable parts, including a floating head with a scouting device, a shattered arm, and a deactivated beam sword.

Wendy grabbed the parts then started scouting them with her Dehua Mech's systems. The warrior-like machine knelt over the enemy's broken headpiece, almost like it'd become an archaeologist. Lynn did the same thing with her own build, but the Mech's focus on illusion magic meant it had mediocre eyesight. As a result, her analysis was slightly slower - she was relying more on her experience with the Illusionist guild's design team.

Moments later, the two women provided a full report.

"Yep - this build system is a match for the Bandit."

A pair of images flickered onto Jason's screen.

The picture on the left displayed the remaining parts of the raider frame. The image on the right showed the Bandit Mech and its internal designs. A set of crisscrossing lines marked down the many similarities. Only a handful of players had access to the Bandit's internal designs, but both Wendy and Lynn had fought for the Illusionists before.

Per the two experts' analysis, the Mechs were almost a perfect match.

Although the machines looked different on the outside, this new raider was built from the same internal parts as the Bandit. Mass-production Grunts used interchangeable parts, and many of those parts were carried on into future generations of the machine. The raider Mech was likely a next-generation upgrade for the Bandit - likely something that the group was putting together to debut in the next Guild War.

The two players had the same conclusion, and Wendy gestured for the BAG Guild to keep going.

"Let's keep an eye out for more defenders, but I wouldn't expect an attack from an enemy guild. I bet we're mostly going to be fighting a few Illusionist encampments."

Their insider information proved to be correct.

Though Jason stayed on guard for the remainder of the trip, nobody attacked them.

It seemed like only a few players had bothered waking up in the middle of the night to reach the Castle. Overdrive had plenty of players who pulled all-nighters to play, but the Tournament of Assassins was an exclusive event. Only forty or so players had qualified for the second round. It seemed like those pilots had planned on arriving at a different time.

But before long, they reached Castle Notoria, and Jason realized that he and Danny had been extremely naive.

They thought that they were arriving at the space station early, but if anything, they were late.

The space station above Castle Notoria was surrounded by countless shattered and broken parts. Crushed metal and torn flesh from Hemoborn orbited the spherical save point. The utterly eviscerated parts were clearly the remnant of some great and terrible battle. Jason had never seen so many damaged Mechs in a single place before.

"What the hell happened here?"