Utopian System

Rage grew in Zantem's chest like a storm.

The metallic restrictions kept multiplying, each liberation attempt answered with new layers of magical prison.

The attacks, though individually insignificant, didn't stop coming.

'Insolent parasites,' he thought while another group of soldiers emerged from their hiding to join the assault. 'They dare play with an Artromus as if it were a common enemy.'

What had started as dozens of attackers had become nearly a hundred.

The trap's initial success had given courage to the cowards; soldiers who previously hid now came to light, eager to participate in what they perceived as a victory over one of the feared artromus.

Some were still deciding their combinations right there, hastily fusing summons to join the collective effort. Those lacking combinations or sufficient power opted for retreat, but they were the minority.

The majority had tasted blood and wanted more.

Twenty points of damage became two hundred when ten attacked simultaneously. Two hundred became four hundred when the next group coordinated their assault. The mathematics were simple and devastating.

Zantem felt the exact moment his divine armor's resistance finally yielded.

The attacks, previously dampened, now impacted directly against his body. Before he realized it, 1000 points of his base resistance had vanished under the ceaseless assault.

'Impossible,' incredulity mixed with his fury. 'These... these parasites...'

The option he had been avoiding began whispering in his mind.

True Metamorphosis, his species' maximum power, but also their curse. An irreversible change, a transformation that would turn him into something horrible, very different from the refined being he was.

Zantem had always despised the idea of resorting to true Metamorphosis.

He was an elite warrior, a direct soldier of the Queen.

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He should be better than this.

Another coordinated impact tore away more of his resistance.

The humans shouted with renewed enthusiasm, savoring each small victory over the monster that before seemed invincible.

'The mission,' he reminded himself while feeling his mana accumulate. 'Our species' survival is above my pride.'

The final decision came with a bitter taste.

All his mana, every point he had conserved, began to flow. His body started glowing with a light that made several humans instinctively retreat.

Zantem's last thought, before the transformation began, was a promise of vengeance.

These parasites would learn why it was a terrible idea to corner Artromus into transforming.

♢♢♢♢

A chilling buzz cut through the air, so intense and strange it made the hair on Diana's neck stand on end.

It was time to execute the contingency plan.

With movements that seemed practiced, the group began dispersing: some ran toward the tunnel's sides molding the carbon to exit, others remained inside, and a pair, including Diana, molded the carbon and climbed to the structure's roof.

While running on the carbon surface, Diana risked looking back. What she saw froze her blood.

The tunnel was crumbling in the distance, but not from external attacks.

It seemed to be exploding from inside.

The artromus advanced inside the structure, its speed so monstrous that the tunnel itself shattered in its wake.

The city wall rose before them, just a few kilometers away. So close, yet so unreachably far.

At the Artromus's current speed, they wouldn't arrive before being caught.

Diana exchanged a look with her companion.

They needed no words; both understood what had to be done.

A simple nod sealed one of their fates.

The other two soldiers inside the tunnel would also turn if the monster reached them in there.

Diana continued running, but the weight of their sacrifice felt like iron in her stomach.

The enormous group that stayed behind couldn't stop the monster.

Three warriors against that thing... they would buy perhaps seconds, not minutes.

'I won't waste their sacrifice.'

Diana forced her muscles beyond their limits. Thirty points of base speed, then short impulses that catapulted her to sixty.

At this distance from the city, her mana reserve should be sufficient to maintain this infernal pace.

The other two girls running on the sides joined her in the high-speed race.

Her companions' screams resonated behind her, heart-rending in their brevity.

Diana shouted the signal to the two remaining runners, who responded immediately by raising their speed even higher.

Both had chosen Elio's combination, which allowed them to maintain the vertiginous pace.

The three women began forcing their impulses even more. Diana, slightly faster, reached peaks of 70, 80 points.

A buzz behind brought out their best.

A powerful jump at the limit of their muscles. Their bodies rose instantly into the air.

The city barrier gleamed before them, just 400 meters so close now. Their mana reserves, though waning, should be sufficient to reach it.

They had to be.

They couldn't let their companions' sacrifices be in vain.

The combination of muscular impulse and elemental power had propelled them to a vertiginous speed, but as they gained height to reach the wall's parapet, their speed began decreasing. The 80 points they had achieved at takeoff dropped sharply to forty.

The buzz pursuing them intensified, approaching at a terrifying speed. Diana felt panic growing in her chest.

"All three!" she shouted desperately. "Use all three!"

It was risky, failing would make them lose the impulse, but...

Fear acted as catalyst.

The three warriors synchronized their 3 elements instead of 2: helium, neon, and wind. The combination propelled them again, reaching 50 points of speed.

They had done it.

And it wasn't enough.

The artromus overtook them when they were still halfway to the wall.

It moved like a blur in the air, its speed seemed to have reached 100 points. The air displacement created by its passage shook them violently.

When it finally stopped before them, Diana had to contain a scream of horror.

The creature floating before them barely resembled the Artromus they had been facing. Where before there were purely insectoid features, now there was a disturbing mix of human and chitinous characteristics.

Its form was more anthropomorphic, but in a way that made the brain scream something was fundamentally wrong.

It was as if someone had tried to create a human using insect parts, or vice versa. The multifaceted eyes were now inserted in a face that had vaguely human proportions. Its divine armor seemed to have merged with its new form, creating patterns that recalled both chitin plates and human muscles.

Before Diana could fully process this grotesque transformation, the Artromus became a blur of motion.

An instant later, its claws closed around her neck with unstoppable force.