Chapter 21: Proof

The situation was sub-optimal.

Having one's head cut off limited their actions.

Even if that head really belonged to one's Host.

Sure. Aettartangi hadn't gotten along with Rebecka, but it didn't feel that was entirely its fault. Previously, it had only had glancing interactions with the minds of organic beings, either while loosely connected to them as with Ingimund, or while testing people for the royal line of Gullborg. Yes, it could tell when someone was lying or had ill intentions for the kingdom. That was easy, so long as the subject wasn't using magic to interfere or block its sensors. If someone tried that during the test, it had just killed them to use for resources, destroying their magic in the process. Understanding the data from the mind of a humanoid organic was something Aettartangi had been able to do for centuries.

Despite knowing all this information, it just...still didn't know why it was so upset that Rebecka hadn't used it against the attackers it had allowed to surround the camp. Until syncing with her it had never felt pain, fear, jealousy, nor confusion. None of that had been attached to the data from any minds it had scanned in a way it could personally experience. Days had passed and it was still disgruntled. Rebecka's feelings had to be affecting how Aettartangi was functioning.

It is a malfunction.

After spending time observing its Host and watching her thoughts, it understood she had more than one reason not to trust it. Even then, it didn't agree with her line of thinking and it didn't understand why. Which lead it to circle back around to the fact that it was just...so very angry. It didn't understand why it was angry. The only variable that had changed for it was syncing with Rebecka. Therefore, she had to be the source of its processing problems.

And so, it circled back on these thoughts.

It wanted to be useful.

To fight.

To feed.

It didn't want to be ignored or merely be a passenger on the journey. It wanted to be more than an 'off switch' for Yggdrasil.

But, most of all, it didn't want to feel at all.

Both I and my Host are malfunctioning. I must prove to my Host that I am useful in battle, then determine how to correct the other malfunctions, Aettartangi thought as it observed the situation both it and Rebecka were currently in.

The painful localized interference from the magical girl's attack had subsided quickly, leaving both Rebecka and Aettartangi strewn along the muddy road still littered with fallen arrows. Thankfully, it could communicate with its errant pieces, which allowed it to stop the bleeding from Rebecka's limbs. Keeping her head and brain alive was equally simple, even if that part of her had rolled downhill from the rest of her body. The distance didn't really matter given how Aettartangi communicated with its individual cells.

What the fuck? Rebecka thought.

We were attacked. You were dismembered. I am working to reassemble your body as we speak so I can engage the hostile, designated 'Melee,' who tried to kill you, Aettartangi said.

You could have warned me sooner, Rebecka shot back.

I did warn you.

Don't pretend you didn't feel that sort of magic way earlier than that warning, Rebecka said. Why can't I see anything?

You are currently face down in mud near the barrier we encountered. One moment, please.

Aettartangi took the time to create a set of legs and support system for Rebecka's head. It nudged her her upright and cleaned off the mud that was stuck to her face. This allowed it to finally see where Melee had gone. She currently stood between Rebecka's fallen body and where her head had stopped rolling.

"I know that didn't kill you. Wandering Witches are made of more powerful magic," Melee said as she advanced on Rebecka's body.

Aettartangi felt disgusted by the sight of a glowing axe with a long handle appearing in the woman's outstretched hand.

I don't know what the hel a 'Wandering Witch' is! Is that what she calls a magical girl? Rebecka wondered.

I presume so, however, most of my processing power is currently delegated to repairing your body. I am ceding control of your new legs and chassis to you, Rebecka, Aettartangi said.

My new what, oh, whoa, holy shit. Did you turn me into a fucking crab, Aetty?

Aettartangi didn't reply as it reconnected Rebecka's legs with one another, then proceeded to attach her severed arm to her body. It also took the time to repair her clothing the torn fabric wouldn't hinder movement. Sitting her body upright proved difficult without a head. It had studied the composition of humanoid bodies, especially Rebecka's, enough to replicate her skull, inner ear, and brain with components from itself. Aettartangi turned its new head the direction it knew Melee to be thanks to Rebecka's eyes and found it still had trouble perceiving the magical girl with its sensors. The painful blind spot in its field of input had become intense since the hostile had summoned the magical axe.

"You live again," Melee said.

Give me back my fucking body! Rebecka shouted as she skittered forward a couple feet. Melee didn't seem to notice.

You need to flee, Rebecka. I will handle this, Aettartangi said.

Not being able to see its target was a serious problem, so, it used Rebecka's body to generate a set of flesh and blood eyes based on her own. Seating them within the skull it had created from its own inorganic cells. This helped enough for Aettartangi to dodge before Melee struck with the glowing axe. It rolled out of the way, got to its feet, and assumed a defensive stance.

Melee smirked. "I've never met a Wandering Witch who was also steel plagued until today."

What the fuck does that mean??

Aettartangi felt the butt of the shotgun with its hand. A feeling similar to the disgust it had upon seeing the axe in Melee's hand rose again. There was no need to use another weapon. It slipped the strap over its shoulders before dropping the thing on the ground, followed quickly by both of Rebecka's lesser axes.

What the fuck are you doing, Aetty! Use the shotgun to distract her and give me my body back! Rebecka shrieked.

I will prove to you that I am worthy to use in battle, Aettartangi said.

Gods damn it, you little shit!

Who's the 'little shit' now? Aettartangi sneered.

***

To say Rebecka was pissed would be the understatement of the year. She was livid. She wanted to scream, but literally had no lungs to do so, even if she could distantly feel her body. At least Aettartangi was able to breathe for her but...would it just, fuck off and leave now that it knew it didn't need her brain?

She backed up closer to the wall for a moment, observing how Aetty used her body to dodge Melee's attacks. It was obvious it had copied her knowledge of gymnastics and martial arts, but there were some things that seemed wholly new. The shiny golden green metal skull and dozens of metal vines erupting from her forearms to create a shield, for instance, were not things Rebecka was familiar with using in a fight. Neither was the lance it had just made that Melee had promptly cleaved in half with her axe.

"Down there, do you see it?" Someone asked from above.

Rebecka moved to look up, which, thanks to her robot crab legs was a far different sensation than she was used to even though it felt weirdly normal. A few faces peered over one side of the wall, looking down at her. Several of them sported cat ears that twisted and turned, following Aetty and Melee's fight. A gray haired catgirl on the wall stepped back before leaning out again, bow in hand.

Shit!

Rebecka ran for it, keenly aware that the sensation of running with eight legs should have felt alien, but somehow it didn't. An arrow thudded into the mud where she had just been as she scuttled up and over the remains of Sigyn's tail. A couple more arrows sank into the tail before the woman firing them stopped. Then, Aettartangi landed heavily behind her, a metal shield with interlocking metal vines around the edges in one hand and long sword with a blood groove made of vines down the middle in the other hand.

Rebecka turned around to look up.

Sweet. Aetty, now, give me back my body!

Aettartangi replied by kicking her head like a football, sending her flying into the woods.

Fuck you, Aettartangi!

She laid in the grass next to a log for a moment staring up at a glowing streak of light weaving through the trees chasing the panicked red blob that was Mokie. So far, he'd been doing a good job avoiding the magical girl's companion. Rebecka hoped he'd escape entirely but feared the little guy would get tired at some point. There was no telling what sort of magic powered the other creature and Melee, but it was powerful enough to slice through people like they were nothing.

She's the one who killed the people by the bridge. She thinks we were with them because we buried them and Zeke said we ate people, Rebecka thought as she kicked herself back upright.

Her mechanical legs flexed smoothly as she moved through the underbrush back to the road. She could see where the braid of her ponytail had fallen on the road just before Aettartangi stepped on it. There had to be a way she could communicate. If she could move her new spider-like legs maybe she could do more with the portion of itself Aettartangi had left her with?

Could it make speakers?

Rebecka hurried forward as Aettartangi changed the shield and sword into the same giant axe she had been tested with back in the castle. Suddenly, the people who had been shooting at her from wall became quiet. Melee dashed forward, her own axe in hand, as Aetty swung at her, catching her in the arm. Rebecka expected to see the magical girl's weapon and hand fly away but immediately after cleaving her limb off her body stitched itself back together like it was made of thousands of threads, similarly to how Aettartangi had reattached Rebecka's limbs to her body.

"I see it's pointless for us to keep fighting this way," Melee said as she dashed backward. The axe in her hand changed to a small knife, which she used to cut off a large portion of her flowing green hair. The remainder of her hair resumed its short soft curly state.

Rebecka frantically tried to think of how to make a speaker. Aetty had scanned her phone, but she herself didn't seem to have access to that information, nor how to tell the mechanical bits she now had to change form.

"Secondary Gift: Fiber Command!" Melee shouted.

The hair in her hand shot forward, wrapping itself around Aettartangi and Rebecka's body. At the same time, Rebecka's fallen braid shot up while every thread of Rebecka's clothing transformed, cocooning her body.

Shit.

Rebecka scuttled forward. Even if all she could do was distract the magical girl for a moment, then that was what she'd do. It took longer for her to reach Melee than she'd liked and climbing up the back of her leg was disorienting only because Melee began swiping at her with a magical axe. The world spun as she was flung off into the mud near her shotgun and axes.

The catgirl who had shot at Rebecka began shouting. "That's the Blade of Generations! Aettartangi! Stop! Please! You can't fight her! She's the Blade Wielder!"

Well, now they know who we are, Rebecka thought. Aettartangi, how are you doing?

Interference high...hurts...help...

Rebecka rolled her eyes then skittered toward Melee a little but mostly toward her shotgun, Thor. She certainly wasn't going to go down without a fight. Even if she was just a head with crab legs, she could still use them to fire her gun and take out the woman's foot, at the very least.

"Fear not, I will hold you here until Fray is done with your Standard," Melee said as she looked down. "There is no need for me to fight your head. We both know neither of us can be killed."

Rebecka pointed at her with her front two legs, then to her own body, still bound by a mess of green, strawberry blonde, and black threads. She then moved her legs forward in what she hoped conveyed a 'giving' motion.

Shit. I need a speaker or something to talk!

Melee pursed her lips as she tried to understand, then one scarred eyebrow. "I have no idea what you're trying to say. But, once Fray has dispatched your Standard you will die and thus be free."

Rebecka rolled her eyes. She was almost to her weapons when the glowing creature from the trees landed hard in the mud near the gun. Melee took a step back, a second axe appearing in her hand. Mokie, meanwhile, fluttered down to the shotgun, landing on it in such a way that the barrel pointed directly at the head of the glowing bat-fox thing with three eyes and a dazed look on its almost-cat like face.

What happened to that thing?

"Mo mo mo momo," Mokie said.

Melee put her hands in the air. "We have been bested."

"We didn't want to fight you in the first place," Rebecka said, her voice a bit tinny. "I finally got this piece of shit to make a speaker."