The Genesis Code 1: Lambda (16 page)

In the time for the human eye to blink, she produced a long saber weapon on her arm that sparkled as it materialized from code to take its sharp form. Her feet connected with solid ground and she propelled herself to the stage of the Concert Hall. Below her were thousands of Avatars, completely frozen in stone statues of themselves. She cared little, as she didn’t take her eyes off of her target. She knew that one mistake spelled doom for her.

Damn! So even the Medusa Field wasn’t enough. We underestimated this thing!

Overseer cursed herself for boasting about Lambda being a challenge. Now, she was plagued with uncertainty. She no longer knew for certain that they could take Lambda down.

Lambda quickly realized Overseer’s assault. She stood on the stage as Overseer rocketed at her. In all but a simple move, Lambda dodged the strike and flipped over Overseer with graceful ease, taking to floating two inches off the ground. Overseer screeched to a halt as her body crashed into the stage, ripping up the floor. This didn’t come as a surprise to her.

“Quite impressive. I can only name three other people that have ever dodged my blade before.” Her voice was calm and piercing.

Lambda looked over Overseer for only a second. “Analysis complete. Hostile target registered as “Void Moderator”. Establishing battle parameters.” Lambda stared despondently at Overseer. She then griped rather disappointingly. “Lambda expected more.”

Overseer was immediately taken back by Lambda’s words.
Was I just mocked by an AI program?

Lambda rose her hand into the air. “Appear, Chaos Weapon 97: Rapture Scythe.”

Overseer took a step back as an enormous scythe appeared above Lambda from the black hole she summoned. The weapon was as large as herself and its hooked blade nearly the same length. The silver sheath of the weapon glimmered in the light as its black frame reflected Lambda’s image. Its blade pulsed with red energy, as if hungering for fresh souls.

“Foresight, we may have to resort to plan B. The field isn’t working on the Lambda unit,” muttered Overseer into her com.

“Noted, but maintaining the field is still necessary. My hands are tied,” came the reluctant voice of Foresight.

Overseer stood firm.
Do I have no other choice but to use it?

Lambda cut Overseer’s thoughts short.

“Engaging hostile threat.”

Overseer whipped her head around just in time to see Lambda rush at her with the large scythe cocked behind her. With lightning precision, she pulled up her saber to block the attack. The sheer force behind the blow caused her to be thrown across the stage. The earth-shattering sound of metal and electronics being obliterated followed as her body smashed through one of the stage’s support beams.

“Target neutralized. Regressing to standby mode,” Lambda uttered.

Beneath the rubble of the destroyed stage, Overseer’s mind raced.

Such power. This goes above and beyond all our estimates.

Whatever the reason, the AI unit Lambda was a force beyond Overseer’s capabilities. Even with her near limitless abilities and access on the Network, she still couldn’t match Lambda’s raw power. It was something she didn’t want to admit so easily. Truthfully, this deeply infuriated her.

“Overseer . . . we got another problem.”

The voice belonged to Clairvoyance. Overseer slowly took to standing as she awaited the bad news.

“It’s Stigma. They are here.”

Overseer’s blood boiled.
So they did come!

“Course of action?” Clairvoyance asked quickly.

She shook her head. “Prioritize Lambda. If Stigma gets in your way . . .
kill them
.”

“Understood,” he said over Overseer’s com.

Clairvoyance then appeared, hovering just outside the stage. He looked below and noted Lambda’s gaze fall upon Overseer once more. Her black visor gleamed with bloodlust.

“Moving out of standby mode. Reengaging target.”

“Overseer! Dodge!” bellowed Clairvoyance.

Overseer had barely a second to comprehend Lambda’s action as she held out her free hand and produced a blinding red light. Not caring what the attack was, Overseer leapt to the right. Soon to follow was radiating heat, quickly coupled with a sudden force of wind that shot by her. She couldn’t withstand the gale force wind as she was rocketed back into the stadium. She hadn’t even hit a solid object before a catastrophic explosion shook the entire area, leveling what was left of the stage and the Concert Hall. She watched in shock as everything came tumbling on top of her.

*
      
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*

Zack could hear the chaos outside in the stadium. He had barely taken out the guard impeding his advance when everything turned gray. He had paused wondering why he was unaffected, but couldn’t dwell on it long as he knew something was very wrong.

With all the speed he could muster, he rushed through the winding stairs within the stadium outskirts, before finally finding an entrance to the vast arena. When Zack burst atop the massive stadium filled with frozen Avatars, he witnessed Lambda unleash a devastating attack of red light, vaporizing all in its wake. Zack found himself losing his footing from the colossal display of power. However, that didn’t stop him from coming closer.

“Lambda?” Zack was awestruck. Lambda radiated with a red aura and her vibrant figure seemed to shine despite the destruction that surrounded her. Her image frightened him, but also drew him in. It was the same feeling he felt the first time he saw her. She was astonishing, so terrifyingly beautiful.

Lambda turned to bore in Zack’s direction as he neared the stage. Her eyes were covered by her visor, the look on her face blank. She almost looked like she didn’t recognize him.

Zack stopped half way down the stairs leading to the stage Lambda stood on.

Wait, something doesn’t feel right.

Zack’s fears were realized as Lambda held out her hand towards him. Without warning, she produced a charged lightning bolt of crimson in his direction. Terrified for his life, Zack sprung to his left to dodge the attack. The followed explosion from the attack sent a tremor through the stadium. Too consumed with rage and confusion, he didn’t notice the black rift that was slowly receding where Lambda’s attacked connected.

“Lambda! What the hell is wrong with you?!” Zack bellowed now completely enraged.

Lambda’s visor vanished to reveal her eyes once more. Zack was getting to his feet when he noticed that Lambda’s body was shivering. To his great surprise, he could clearly see the expression of fear on her face.

Lambda felt a sudden vibration run through her body as she stood frozen. An enemy presence was approaching Zack. Lambda reacted flawlessly. However, the vibrations in her body wouldn’t stop.

“T-the enemy was there. They would have attacked. Probability of hitting Zack was 0.001 percent. Yet why? Why can’t Lambda stop shaking?”

Zack wasn’t given any time to answer as a dark figure appeared off to his far right from a black rift. His metal mask and soulless eyes nearly gave him a heart attack.

“I was careless! Didn’t think it would endanger the boy!” cursed Clairvoyance.

Zack didn’t have any time to react to the appearance of the Void Reaper as another rift of blackness sprang to life between them. The force of the rift threw them back as the torrent of chaos within sparked widely.

“Great, now what!?” shouted Clairvoyance as he was pushed away from Zack due to the rift before him.

Seconds later, the rift exploded with light, blinding everyone in the area. When the light began to fade, Zack felt like his mind would implode. There was far too much going on at once for him to keep up anymore.

“Seems I’m a bit late. You don’t mind if I step in now, do you?”

The man before them was none other than Corson. Zack was left with mixed feelings as he gazed upon the dark man. He was frightened, but at the same time he wanted to run a sword through the black knight standing before him. The complexity of his emotions resulted in his face contorting into a half snarl and a nervous twitch of his hand. Despite this torrent of emotion, he did notice one distinct change in Corson’s appearance. His gloves were replaced with a silver, metallic design that was sharp and jagged on all his knuckles. His hands looked dagger-like at the tips, and appeared like claws that glimmered from the stadium lights.

Amidst all of this, Clairvoyance’s response to Corson’s arrival was on a different level. He opened his palm and materialized a large rifle the color of midnight and the length of his arm. He pointed the weapon at Corson without so much as a word and lit the ground beneath Corson afire.

Corson chuckled demonically as he waved his hand and created a holographic shield that negated all the bullets fired in his direction. The shards of metal that hit Corson’s shield created a sparkling display of white light that danced with every crash of the speeding bullets. It was almost dazzling, but far more terrifying.

“Is that all?” Corson’s eyes were lit with the flames of excitement.

Answering his question, a black slit appeared behind Corson and Foresight dashed from the hollow chaos brandishing a long sword. The sword glowed vermilion as he thrust it at Corson’s back.

Corson merely chuckled.

It was all over just seconds later. Zack could barely follow the movements. All he was able to make out was that Corson summoned chains from beneath his feet that bound Foresight and tossed him at Clairvoyance so effortlessly. The two Void Reapers tumbled and crashed into the vast crowd, causing the statues of the people to tumble like dominoes.

“That was a little too easy-”

A massive explosion ripped across the area. Corson turned quickly to see, just beyond Lambda, Overseer rise from the rubble of her defeat. Corson’s eyes immediately grew with surprise.

“How unexpected to see you here, Vera.” His calm tone almost seemed threatening.

Overseer didn’t reply. Instead, she barreled at Lambda, catching her off guard. With a swift kick to Lambda’s abdomen, she was able to stun her just long enough to smash her scythe weapon from her grasp, and follow through with a devastating slash from her saber to Lambda’s torso. The weapon shattered open Lambda’s chest cavity and bits of red code scattered in all directions. The force of the attack sent Lambda flying into the crowd where she landed only feet away from Zack, creating a tower of rubble and dust from the impact.

Zack leapt from his position looking alarmed. It appeared to Overseer that he was worried about the Lambda unit’s condition. Overseer didn’t understand. The Lambda unit sustained damage from the attack, but nothing it couldn’t repair over time. It was just enough though to take Lambda out of the equation long enough to retrieve it.

Her attention shifted. She ceased in her advance as she focused on Corson.

“You have a lot of gall showing your face before me, Black God. Have you come to settle that debt I owe you?” Overseer said with all the calmness of an active volcano.

Corson didn’t reply. Instead he looked to Zack, who had now reached Lambda’s side. He eyed Zack intensely.

How is he able to move? He couldn’t possibly . . .

Corson continued to stare intently. From a simple glance, he noted Zack pulling up a small terminal around him as he knelt before Lambda. Several screens where appearing all around him as his hands frantically ran across the six holographic keyboards that hovered before him. Corson’s eyes widened.

It can’t be. Does the boy possess one too-

“You dare ignore me?!”

Overseer’s words broke Corson’s focus. He turned to face her, stifling a laugh. She was always easy to rile, even back then.

“You are outnumbered, Vera. How much longer do you think you can keep this up? This Medusa Field can’t possibly last long with the server nearly maxed, and your Ace Tech no longer maintaining it.”

Overseer’s fist clenched tightly. She wanted to kill him. His imposing stature and masked face made her crazy. She hated him for all the humiliation he had caused her. On that day those years ago, she was ruined, a laughingstock among Void Moderators under Dead Eye’s command. Had it not been for his interference, she would have succeeded. She wanted Corson to suffer; she wanted him to die.

Overseer noted Corson glance to the boy once more. Her blood simmered. She hated being belittled.

“Corson!” she roared.

Corson ignored her, not even giving her a fleeting look.

Overseer now leered in Zack’s direction.

What is so important in what the boy is doing?!

He seemed to be aiding the Lambda unit with just a quick gander. She looked closer and noticed something far more.

Is he . . . re-coding her?!
Overseer was stunned.

“Just what is this kid?” she murmured.

She now was reminded of Dead Eye’s vague words concerning the boy. Her curiosity in the boy was starting to grow now.

Corson couldn’t hear what Overseer mumbled, but he caught on quick that her attention was more fixed than she realized. Without wasting time, he decided to take advantage of her lowered guard. But he hadn’t counted on Clairvoyance and Foresight recovering so quickly.

“Moderator Override. Now accessing Colossus Tech!” Foresight’s palm began to glow white, almost like it was on fire.

Very lightly, Corson could hear him laughing.

Corson shot into action. He leaped back just as Foresight thrust his hand outward, creating a giant circle of energy just where Corson had been standing. A massive burst of white flames erupted from the circle. The engulfing flames burned wildly and sheered the area around it.

Foresight cursed under his breath. “Slippery little snake.”

Corson landed several feet away just as the flames began to subside.

He laughed wickedly. “No, you just don’t know how to wield your power.” He elevated his hand. A strange, black aura began to form around it as his palm began to pulse. Corson’s efforts were short-lived as he suddenly noticed Overseer leaving her stationary position on the stage and running towards Zack and Lambda.