A torn mech form was dragging itself through a large ravine. Its legs were mangled and crushed. Above, the fourth and smallest moon was shining brightly, radiant with energy. The mech turned itself around, facing up at the sky. Bits of flesh began to cover the crack of the ravine. A sinister laugh sounded from above.
"This will be your coffin, lesser lifeform." That damn flesh colossus, the audacity, the nerve of it.
Milo's hand reached upward, attempting to stop it, to do anything, but the hydraulics and supports creaked and groaned with effort. Soon, the ravine was entirely closed off, pitch black except for the dim lights of the giant steel body that Milo inhabited. Milo's hand grabbed the side of the ravine. Supporting himself up, he groaned inwardly.
'This... was not a part of the plan.'
The last thing Milo expected was to be subjected to guerrilla warfare between the legion of robots of Carmen and the army of flesh led by the colossus. Was it all worth it? Was this really the right way to go about things?
Milo's HUD cut to the view of his cockpit. His form was still a mess of wires and broken bits of construct, strung to the mech's chassis. However, at his side, lying on a makeshift bed, was a beautiful statue that lay dormant and still. At the very least, he had managed to snag this mech and Eva from Carmen before leaving.
Carmen... Milo didn't know what to think about him; on one hand, he had without a doubt saved both his and Eva's lives. However, he had also kept the secret of Eva's death from Milo, sent him on countless suicidal missions for reasons he didn't know. Worst of all, he had turned his respite into a walking fortress. Eight large legs dragged the fortress across the mountaintops of the region, destroying countless buildings below without a care in the world.
His brutality hadn't stopped there. He burned the corpses of those he didn't need. His respite was more of an operating base. He had sacrificed countless people to buy time in order to make as many constructs as possible. The constructs fed on blood from now on... both undead flesh and man.
Milo himself had been abandoned for lack of a better term. Sent off on the hopes of killing the colossus with new upgrades. He had been given an arm that had the vague outline and build of a dragon; of course, it spewed fire and flammable liquid. It had seemed reasonable at the time. At least until the colossus had become more than just flesh, it managed to assimilate the body of something resistant to fire. Milo didn't know exactly what, but it worked in protecting the majority of it from the fire. It also exposed a glaring weakness in the colossus. A round core that housed the host, if the host was killed, the rest of the flesh would likely become inanimate.
The issue lay in actually getting close enough to the core. The flesh colossus buried it deep within its body, and it did not let anything near. Well, unless it wanted to assimilate some flesh. That day, it had broken into the cockpit of Milo. It attempted to assimilate his body, and failed. Milo didn't know why it had left him alive, but it did. He was left broken, chassis mangled, and utterly alone. Carmen had not sent help, so he crawled, crawled his way to the fortress. That is where he found it moving, slowly but surely. Milo had barely managed to hack into a construct, and take Eva before it got destroyed by Carmen.
This all led to now. Carmen was not actively hunting Milo down, but would likely destroy him as a bonus on killing the colossus. The same went for the colossus, and well, it had succeeded, trapping Milo in this huge ravine.
Milo grimaced as he used his dormant ability, before, it had taken little essence to maintain. Milo used it for small boosts and other mundane changes, but now that was becoming less and less of a possibility. It had been in constant use for days on end now, keeping the mech moving. The wires and tubes holding his stringed up body detached with a hiss. Milo's body fell to the ground. The light of his construct dim. He dragged himself across the floor, and climbed onto the bed with Eva.
Perhaps this was the best outcome he could receive. Dying in his love's hands was not exactly a bad outcome, if only he could've killed the flesh colossus then and there. His mind steadied, gone was the anxiety that constantly plagued him, gone was the worry of getting out alive. There was only peace, acceptance.
'This is... I'm okay with this.'
Milo's light flickered weakly, his construct had been on its last legs, his essence on its last reserves. He could die now, yes that is what he would do.
'And yet... and yet.'
You can't do that, can you?
'I guess I can't.'
You know what to do, don't you?
'I do.'
Then do it.
Milo focused, and entered his Soul Sea. The devices around his two soul cores were experiencing a shut down. The oil sea was on aflame with a blinding light. He stepped into the fire, ignoring the scorching pain, ignoring the bits of metal melting and weighing him down. He began to climb the device that led to his second soul core. He was in a trance, focused on his goal.
He reached the dome that enveloped his soul core, and his fist clenched.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Milo's fist slammed repeatedly into the exterior, the metal dented inward. Then with a final effort, he broke through. He hoisted himself into the dome. Inside was his soul core, being sapped of its energy. A dormant rod lay in its center. He drifted towards the center, his interface was glitching and being filled with a hundred warnings. He was getting closer.
{SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IN 5...4}
He reached out for the rod, he inspected it. It was simple in its design, divided into two separate sections. The sections could be connected together if pushed inward. A lapis blue liquid was contained within the separate sections.
Milo began to push them together, the process was slow and required greats amount of effort. A pulse of energy nearly knocked him over.
{SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IN 2...1}
The sections connected, and his soul filled with a bright light. He then felt his flaw erupt in full effect.