CHAPTER 183: THE PSY-SLAYER

The sky above Portentia turned a sickly, metallic green as the first wave of the Ravager fleet entered the atmosphere. They were biomechanical horrors, shaped like monstrous insects.

On the walls of the city, Nox’s army stood ready. Human players stood shoulder-to-shoulder with void constructs.

"Let them come!" Elisa roared.

Nox stood on the highest tower of his spire, Serian at his side. He watched the descending horde.

"Vexia, status."

"The city’s main shield is active," Vexia’s voice replied. "It will hold against their orbital bombardment, but their smaller fighters are already breaching the perimeter."

A swarm of smaller, dragonfly-like craft peeled away from the main fleet.

"Archers!" Mela’s command cut through the air. "Fire at will!"

A storm of explosive arrows shot into the sky. Several of the dragonfly-fighters exploded.

The first wave of the battle had begun.

Nox just watched. ’This is a probe. They’re testing our defenses.’

The fighters spat streams of corrosive acid at the city’s energy shield. The golden dome sizzled and sparked, but it held.

"The shield is holding," Vexia reported. "But its energy is draining at an alarming rate."

"They’re not trying to break it," Nox said. "They’re trying to force us to expend our power."

He turned to Serian. "It’s time."

She nodded and closed her eyes. A brilliant, golden light emanated from her body, a wave of pure, life-affirming energy that washed over the entire city.

The wounded were healed. The tired were revitalized. The fearful were filled with a new, unshakeable courage. It was the Blessing of Lifewoods.

On the walls, the soldiers roared, their fear gone, and fought with a renewed strength.

***

In the Ravager mothership, the Hive Mind watched. ’The primitives are more resilient than anticipated. Their morale is... unexpectedly high. The female with the solar-aspected energy is a significant morale-booster. She must be neutralized.’

A new type of Ravager detached itself from the horde. It was a massive, centipede-like being of black, chitinous armor. A Psy-Slayer, a creature designed to break minds.

The Psy-Slayer ignored the main battle. It burrowed into the ground, its target clear. It was going for Serian.

***

Nox felt it the moment the Psy-Slayer entered his territory. A cold, alien presence in his mind.

’So, they’re finally getting serious.’

He looked at Serian, who was still in her deep, meditative trance, completely vulnerable.

"Elisa! Vexia! Mela!" he commanded. "I have a new target for you! A big one, underground, heading for the spire! Intercept it now!"

He turned and walked back into the spire. This was personal.

He walked to the center of his throne room and sat on his throne. He closed his eyes. He was not going to fight the Psy-Slayer with his fists. He was going to fight it on his own terms.

He sent his own consciousness out, a declaration of war. He met the Psy-Slayer’s alien mind in the psychic space above the city.

’Get out of my house,’ Nox’s thought was not a word, but a wave of pure, unadulterated void.

The two minds clashed.

***

The psychic clash was a silent, invisible explosion.

The Psy-Slayer’s mind was a perfect, cold, logical lattice. It attacked with weaponized logic, showing Nox visions of his own mathematically-proven defeat.

Any other mind would have shattered. But Nox’s mind was not a logical place. It was a quiet, empty room, a storm of chaotic void, the mind of a king and the heart of a brawler. It was a beautiful, terrifying mess.

The Psy-Slayer’s logical assault broke against the shores of Nox’s consciousness.

’You think you’re the first monster to try and get in my head?’ Nox’s thought was a low, dangerous chuckle. ’I’ve got way worse things than you in here.’

He attacked. He unleashed the raw, undiluted memory of his own past. The pain, the anger, the shame.

The perfect, logical lattice of the Hive Mind was infected with a virus it could not comprehend: irrational, human suffering.

The billion voices of the Psy-Slayer screamed in a chorus of confused agony.

Underground, the physical body of the Psy-Slayer convulsed.

Elisa, Vexia, and Mela arrived.

"There it is!" Elisa roared, and charged.

The Psy-Slayer, its mind locked in a desperate battle with Nox, could not defend itself. Elisa’s hammer slammed into its armored head. The chitinous plating cracked.

Vexia slammed her staff into the ground, and a cage of glowing, silver runes erupted, trapping the thrashing beast. "It is distracted! Strike now!"

Mela’s needles found the gaps in the creature’s armor, her most potent neurotoxins flooding its system.

In the mental space, Nox pressed his advantage. "You wanted to see my mind? Fine. Let me show you."

He didn’t just show it his past. He showed it his power. He unleashed the full, unadulterated concept of the void. He showed it the face of a nascent god.

The logical, ordered mind of the Psy-Slayer experienced a concept it had never encountered before. True fear.

’No,’ the billion voices whispered. ’This is not possible. This is... an error.’

"I am not an error," Nox’s thought was a final, absolute judgment. "I am the one who deletes them."

He unleashed his will. ’Be silent.’

And the billion voices of the Hive Mind stopped. The mind of the Psy-Slayer was erased, its consciousness consumed and assimilated.

Underground, the physical body of the Psy-Slayer went limp.

[High-Tier Ravager Entity Eliminated.]

[Psychic-class energy signature assimilated.]

[Your Willpower has been permanently and significantly increased.]

[New Ability Unlocked: Psychic Fortress (Passive). Your mind is now a bastion, immune to all forms of hostile mental intrusion.]

In his throne room, Nox opened his eyes. He felt clearer, stronger.

He looked out the window. The first wave of the Ravager attack was faltering. His army was pushing them back.

The first battle of the war for the world was almost over. But Nox knew this was just a prelude. The Hive Mind had tested them and failed. Next time, it would not send a scout.

He stood up and walked out onto the balcony, his eyes fixed on the massive, alien mothership that still hung in the sky.

’I’m coming for you next,’ he thought.

***

The first Ravager wave broke. A ragged cheer went up from the walls of Portentia.

Nox stood on his balcony. He felt no triumph. ’This was just a probe. The real attack is still coming.’

The next few hours were a flurry of activity. Serian healed the wounded. Elisa organized work crews to repair the defenses. Vexia and Mela analyzed the wreckage of the Ravager fighters.

Nox went to his workshop. He did not build. He sat in the quiet emptiness, processing the information he had consumed from the Psy-Slayer.

He now had a piece of the Hive Mind itself. He could feel the faint, distant hum of the trillions of other minds that made up the swarm. He was a virus in their network.

He listened.

He learned their biology, their technology, their strategy. They were not a mindless swarm; they were a perfect, logical, and utterly ruthless civilization.

’Just like me,’ he thought. ’We’re the same.’

He learned that the mothership was a world-eater, its drill-like appendages already burrowing deep into the planet’s crust.

And he learned that they were preparing for the second wave. A full-scale ground invasion, led by their elite warriors: the Ravager Praetorians.

He emerged from his workshop as the sun was setting. He called his council to the throne room.

"They’re coming back," he announced. "A ground assault. Their elites. They’ll be here by morning."

"We cannot withstand another attack so soon," Vexia stated. "Our forces are depleted."

"Then we won’t fight them here," Nox said. "We can’t win a defensive war. They’ll just keep throwing waves at us until we break. We have to take the fight to them."

He pointed at the holographic map, at the massive mothership. "We have to cut off the head."

"You want us to assault the mothership?" Elisa asked.

"I can get us there," Nox said. "My wings can carry us. But I can only take a small team." He looked at his companions. "I’m going to the heart of their ship. And I’m going to kill their Hive Mind."

It was a suicide mission.

"It is an insane plan," Vexia said.

"It is our only plan," Nox replied.

"Then I am going with you," Serian said.

"Me too," Elisa grunted.

Mela just nodded.

"No," Nox said. "Vexia, you command the city’s defenses. Elisa, you lead the army. Mela, you coordinate the scouts. You have to stay. You have to hold this city, no matter what."

He turned to Serian. "Just you and me."

"Nox, that’s suicide," Elisa argued.

"No," he said, his eyes meeting Serian’s. "It’s trust."

She looked at him, and her answer was not in words, but in the quiet, unshakeable strength in her eyes. "When do we leave?"

"Now," he said.

He turned and walked to the balcony. He was leaving his army, his kingdom, in the hands of his companions. He was staking everything on a single, impossible gamble.

And as he and Serian shot into the night sky, two small, defiant sparks against the vast darkness of the mothership, he felt a flicker of something he had not felt in a long time.

He felt like a hero.