"[STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP!]" Meli-Meli screamed as Ale cleaned her [Arm-ament] (That is to say, she absorbed the blood using the nanites, categorized it down by gender, genetic markers and relevant information).

The biodata she got from it wasn't showing anything useful so far, they all were utterly mundane, nothing relevant to find. Merely base human entities, somewhat reinforced, and their biomass had turned mana-rich, but that was something Ale could simulate by merely flushing her own flesh with high amounts of Mana; it would make it easier for her to shift around and speed up her body reactions.

But that was it, nothing that couldn't be compensated by merely acting with time and some mechanical enhancements; in turn, the downturns would be that she would be a fricking beacon to all mana sensors, including her own.

It just wasn't worth it at this stage.

"Make me," Ale said, licking one of the bladed fingers on her hand. She had opened her mask mouthpiece to allow that; it was a taunt. One that in most circumstances wouldn't work.

"[YOU MONSTER!]" But when her target was this affected, this irregular, this... compromised, then it was very effective. And so, Ale smirked as the other zombies started moving en masse towards her.

[Start construction of mechanism, the device should the newest explosive material we just harvested. The make should focus the explosion forward towards the objective, the trigger will need to be activated two seconds after deployment.]

[Found within database device that fulfills all the requirements, starting construction...]

[Loading up Blueprint... Constructing Claymore.blu]

[Load up complete, construction complete, ready to deploy at any moment, please deploy from Banked Storage, the fuse will start counting within two seconds after deployment.]

[Blueprint was modified to include a gyroscope so it will not tilt when deployed to ensure the blast goes in the correct direction.]

Good, that was very good.

"I modified some of the queries you asked and added the gyroscope, as the blast radius and explosion will be quite dangerous." Alexandra chimed in as Ale raised her right hand forward and prepared to deploy.

"Thank you Sis," Ale said smiling, they weren't real sisters, but it felt right to call her like that.

More like comrades in arms? Would they even be a real family? Technically their creator and originator was Alexa. Or whatever entity was behind [Core]'s main directives.

[Core] moved in a different way than what Main Core did, and she was sure as hell [Core] didn't move in the same way that Alexa would. Then there was the thing with the NDO system... So many issues.

"[SLAY THE MONSTER! KILL IT!]" Meli-Meli screeched as the mass of zombies surged forward.

Only a token unit remained near her, the ones that had been corroded the most, perhaps they couldn't move?

No, Ale's sensors indicated that these were the ones that had the most dense concentration of Mana wavelengths within them, they radiated Mana all around and seemed to work to enhance even the Mana wavelengths from Meli-Meli.

It mattered not.

"Boom," Because Ale merely smiled as she jumped backwards with as much strength as she could, making sure she wasn't jumping into a wall from the testing grounds.

The zombies of course knew not what the device that she had thrown was. After all, it looked like an odd small rectangular object, it was made of a weird yellow material on the front.

A quick review of the Blueprint told her that it was missing a pair of small legs on the sides, designed to secure into the ground, but since Ale was using it like this, they weren't necessary.

What she found hilarious was that there had been a modification on the Blueprint of the design, while the original had the words 'Front towards enemy', this one had instead the words 'BOOM!'

Ale had merely asked for an explosive device, but now that she was perusing the Blueprint, she found herself both amazed and humbled. The device had more to it; hundreds upon hundreds of small ball bearings had been seeded within the explosive material.

All set to follow the most normal rule of physics, to follow the direction of the explosion. And thanks to the design of the explosive, the balls would shot in a fan arrangement towards everything that was forward the device.

And as Ale had set it up to explode mere seconds after she released it...

The horde of zombies continued moving forward, when one of them was barely about to get into contact with it.

*BOOM*

The sound of the explosion resounded within the testing chamber, the explosion so powerful that made the floor quake upon its might, and made Ale crouch down as the kinetic force from the explosion was enough to disturb her balance, but even like this. She was better served than others within these chambers.

The explosion was powerful and had propelled the ball bearings to supersonic speeds, each one turning from a mere sphere made out of metal into a bullet.

Ale could see the data, and the speed should be similar to, or close enough to the speed of the [Gun] type turret that she had encountered in her own testing chambers.

Any biological organism, when showered with hundreds upon hundreds of these types of weaponized objects, would receive the same fate. The flesh was shredded into its most simple components, the bodies would crumble as the ball bearings showered them. The ground, the walls and even part of the ceiling collapsed as the force both from the explosion and the ball bearings came upon them.

Most of the zombie horde was annihilated in this singular encounter.

And Ale had half expected for Meli-Meli to suffer the same fate.

"[YOU KILLED THEM! YOU DESTROYED MY FAMILY AGAIN!]" But even then, after this, Meli-Meli still had survived.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Ale turned her attention towards the zombies near Meli-Meli, they now stood in front of her all pilled up on each other, the one at the front was completely destroyed.

While the one behind it kicked it down and Ale could see one of its arm falling down, the damage was serious, but not serious enough to become something that prevented it from moving.

It was missing an arm and the second seemed to be on its last.

The one behind that was merely wounded and so on, the farther they went back the better their condition.

"[YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT MONSTER!]" And at the very back, Meli-Meli screeching at her.

So much screech and so little action.

"You sent them after me, you started all this. They had families you know?" Ale said standing up and dusting herself of, while she hadn't been hurt or damaged from the Claymore.

She had been thrown to the floor, the explosive power from the explosives were a little too much, the fricking blonde asshole had used an explosive way too powerful.

"They had lives, and now... Because of you... All they are now is flesh, blood and perhaps bones in a sewer floor, inside a room that no one will ever visit... Forgotten by all and never seeing their family again..." Ale said, shaking her head, "But then again, I am not the best to wonder about that, as we never had something like that, family and whatnot."

"[BUT YOU ARE THE ONE WHO KILLED THEM!]" Meli-Meli screamed back, "[I WAS NOT ON THE WRONG! IF I WAS THEY WOULDN'T HELP ME!]"

Like talking to a wall, Ale wasn't sure what she was expecting, but then again, she wouldn't have minded if the girl had reacted to her provocation. Not that it would change anything.

"[I WILL DEFEAT YOU AND GET BACK MAMA AND PAPA!]" Meli-Meli screeched, "[GO! KILL THE MONSTER AND BECOME THE KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR!]"

And with a kick, Meli-Meli sent the remaining zombies forward, Ale didn't think it would change as much, but that only lasted a second.

"Dodge!" As the scream that Alexandra did from within was all she could process, as her muscles tensed and Ale felt herself jumping to the side, and a second after, before she could question why her body moved.

Ale felt something hit her arm, and as she turned her awareness towards that, she noticed her arm now was missing.

"What?" Ale said dumbfounded, and then she heard something hit the wall hard.

"GAAAAAAAHHHH!" One of the zombies grumbled as he lowered their right arm, the same one arm that was now burning away.

The one next to it raised its arm and with a down motion the arm was cut free.

"....Well, that's unfair." Ale said as she commanded the nanites within her body to close the wound, she of course could regrow the arm, but at the moment she didn't have the freedom to do so.

"I finished analyzing the data that you have been getting, those zombies have their own Cores..." Alexandra spoke at the back of Ale's mind, "They seem to be able to still use their powers."

"You don't fricking say," Ale grumbled as she glared at the other zombies moving toward her.

There were originally seven zombies.

One had died from the Claymore.

The second one had one of its arms destroyed, this was the same one that had cut down the arm of the fire zombie.

The third was the fire zombie, the one that had burned one of its arms to attack her with some kind of fire projectile, one that had been so fast that Ale hadn't enough time to react.

The fourth stood beyond the other two zombies, their hands raised and pointed at the zombies at the front. A faint pink glow coming from its hands.

"Is that..." Ale said as she noticed the wounds on the other two zombies seemed to be closing.

"A healing Core Power it seems." Alexandra confirmed.

"Shit." Ale cursed under her breath, that explained why these had survived this far, and how Meli-Meli managed to stay alive this far away from society.

The fifth, sixth and seventh remained near Meli-Meli.

But the threat was still the same, these had different Core Powers, and Ale could only theorize what the last three would be. Defense Core Powers? More offensive ones? Situational? Support? Healing?

There was the problem that Meli-Meli seemed to be able to get past all the search parties that had been sent. So how could she achieve that? The original idea was that she had controlled everyone on her way, but this? This implied that she could control [Core Powers] and allow them to keep their powers.

But then again, looking in hindsight, there was no reason why the controlled victims wouldn't get to keep their powers. Ale felt dumb for not thinking about this possibility, there was absolutely no reason why this wasn't an option.

"Fine, you want a hand?" Ale said picking up her arm with the other and pointing it at the zombie who had just attacked her, "I'll give it to you."

And while she held that arm, Ale send the prompt inward.

[Prepare a new bomb, seed it within the arm, prepare it for explosion towards them, take into consideration the position the arm will be after being thrown... Decrease the amount of ball bearings, modify the projectile to sharp-bladed wires.]

[Starting shift... Loading up modified Blueprint...Done.]

"Catch," Ale said throwing the arm just behind the three zombies that stood in front, "Whoops, sorry about that, not my dominant arm."

Ale said, smirking, the zombies didn't react, Meli-Meli just glared at her while saliva dripped from her mouth, as if she was hungry... or had rabies. It was a possibility now that Ale thought about it.

"GAAAAAH," But before she could celebrate, one of the Zombies from behind the three that she was fighting raised his hand and a weird purple sphere enveloped Ale's arm.

Just in time for the arm to explode and the bladed wires shot, the sphere turned into a red one thanks to the gore, blood and wires that Ale had prepared.

"...So, can I get that arm back?" Ale joked, while worrying about that type of Core could block that much damage. And the fact that they hadn't blocked it before.

This meant that at least one of the zombies could produce some kind of defensive barrier, then why hadn't they used it before?

"[NO! YOU ARE BREAKING HIM!]" Meli-Meli screeched from the back, did she not get tired from screeching? No? Ah, Ale noticed the weird healer zombie pointing its hands towards Meli-Meli...

So she was being healed after each screech, that was cheating as Alexa would say.

Nonetheless, the barrier zombie degradation seemed to advance in real time as the barrier was snuffed out and slag of metal fell into the ground; there was no evidence of any biomass, only metal. Ale doubted the nanites that somehow survived that would be useful. As without Alexa's mana wavelength embedded there, they would turn inert and self-destruct.

Instead, Ale now was one arm missing and outnumbered.

"[Core], refresh my blueprint." So Ale prepared herself, "Only the body, leave the armor and clothing alone, only refresh my flesh and body. If possible, do it fast."

Ale took a few steps backward as she waited for the answer, the three zombies in front of her took a step forward with each one she took back, the fire zombie raising its other arm as fire started pooling in its hand, the one that had cut the arm had its hands shining.

Was he ready to sever the last arm of their bethreen?

And lastly, the healing zombie... moving near the other two as if to make sure they wouldn't be instakilled, just like how Ale had done to the others before.

Notice:

Order acknowledged.

Starting.... loading up blueprint of Ale Saintsworths.subper....

Loading up complete.

Starting update of blueprint...

Delimiting effect from clothing...

Delimiting effect from armor...

Regenerating missing arm...

Fixing wounds, restocking up missing biomass, restocking energy banks...

Done.

The Saintsworths Conglomerate thanks you for your service.

May the light of civilization shine upon you.

And at that point, the zombies staggered for a second, as if the light of recognition entered their rotting brains. But Ale didn't care, she jumped forward as her arm finished regenerating. She was still shining in white light as her mana lowered even more in their [Core].

The bar that stood at the back of her mind had dropped from 26/26 to almost 15/26.

Eleven points...and at this moment it kept going down. Why?

"GAH!" Because the fire zombie started blasting towards Ale with the flamethrower.

Ale felt her skin burn, her eyes bubble and melt as the fire rained down her, and yet, she continued moving forward.

Why?

Because she was being 'refreshed', her blueprint was being updated in real time, and she had read it. The last line from [Core], it said 'Regenerating wounds'.

Ale smirked as she moved through the fire that rained down on her, her armor was... holding on quite well, perhaps it was because it was being fed mana from her [Core]?

Ale didn't know.

*SLASH*

And she didn't care, as she managed to get close enough to the two zombies at the barefront that she was able to slash with her fiery almost melting hot metal of her [Arm-mament] not only cut them down but also made sure to cauterize the wounds, and before anything else happened. Ale absorbed as much biomass as she could without raising suspicion from anyone who was watching the video feed.

She didn't fear the blonde asshole or the purple woman from knowing she could do that. No...

The issue was if those two assholes left the recordings on site, then anyone that came next would see this, and Ale was already making it dangerously close to how much a regenerator could achieve.

"So... Now that your buddies are gone..." Ale said as she walked a couple of steps towards the last remaining zombie, he raised its hands towards the corpses of the other two.

Ale had made sure to destroy both their center of gravity (By cleaving through their chest), and destroying their brain matter. She wasn't sure what they used to move or receive orders, but destroying the [Cores] seemed like an appropriate way to neutralize them, at the very least, she would buy enough time while they regenerated those [Cores]...

Assuming that was possible.

"Care to heal a few of my wounds?" Ale asked while placing one of her clawed hands against the chest of the last remaining zombie of the first three...

"GAAAH!" The zombie merely answered raising their hands and attempting to strike.

"Though so," Ale said and put more strength on her arm, impaling the remaining zombie on its chest and then with one swift upward movement, she cleaved in two the core and destroyed its body.

"Now... Wonder what the other two friends you have left will do..." Ale asked as her body finally caught up with the refresh of her blueprint.

She had used almost half of her Mana tank already, she would not be able to do this again anytime soon...

She shouldn't need to do this again...

"I hope." Alexandra said at the back of her mind.

And Ale also hoped so...

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