The base speakers came alive again as Jaune and the others moved.
Pietro Pollendina's voice carried through the corridors, edged with urgency, cutting through the layered noise of alarms, distant impacts, and the constant thrum of emergency systems. He informed the operatives scattered throughout the facility that the Centurions were compromised. All combat capable personnel were instructed to either link up with the forward team for rescue and clean up or make their way back toward the command room for updated instructions.
The message repeated, steadily for a few times before cutting off.
Jaune ran as he listened. The words settled into place even as his body kept moving and his focus locked onto the next problem.
Auxiliary power sector.
If the Centurions reached the energy converter and destroyed it, the base would spiral. Unlike a regular military base which on electricity, LUCID bases were specifically built to be ran on runic energy. It had special inbuilt systems that could store Aura as well as transform electricity into runic energy. This was needed so that the reflected bases in the dream realm could function. In the dream realm, electricity based technology didn't really work, for some reason.
In any case, if the power core was destroyed, internal shielding, containment fields, and entire branches of automated defense would become unreliable or fail outright. What had already been chaos would become something far worse.
Penny kept herself floating near his shoulder. Since she was tied to his phone, and was technically a hologram of some sort, she didn't have air resistance and wouldn't really be left behind.
"I have temporarily secured partial control of the blast partition doors," she said. "I am slowing Centurion movement where possible. However, interference persists due to Doctor Watts actively sabotaging my control."
"That's more than enough," Jaune replied quietly.
The corridors blurred past in streaks of steel and light. Emergency strips glowed along the floor, guiding evacuation routes for unawakened personnel who had already been moved or were still scrambling toward safer zones. Water still dripped from overhead sprinklers in places, though here the air was clearer and the damage, less severe.
Weiss kept pace on Jaune's right, expression grim and focused. Blake moved on his left, silent and coiled, her posture already shifting into a combat ready flow even as they ran. The other four operatives that Pietro had assigned to them followed close behind. All were at the peak of Rank 1 and from some of their skills that Jaune had witnessed earlier, he could tell that two of them had reached comprehension level for one of their runes.
Being awakened made the distance trivial.
What would have taken minutes for regular personnel passed in seconds for them. Jaune felt his Aura slowly rising, but it still wasn't enough for him to play the fool with.
The hum ahead grew louder, not from the sound of alarms, but weapons.
Penny's tone sharpened slightly. "Visual contact imminent. Corridor forty seven. Auxiliary power approach."
They slowed just enough to adjust formation as the corridor opened up before them.
The auxiliary power sector was a long reinforced passage, its walls thick with embedded conduits that pulsed faintly with contained energy. The ceiling arched higher here, designed to accommodate the converter's massive internal components. Along the length of the corridor, wall mounted turrets had been deployed.
They were everywhere.
Ceiling panels had split open, automated barrels descending on articulated mounts. Wall plates had irised apart, revealing reinforced gun housings. Even sections of the floor had shifted, mechanical platforms rising up to bring weapons to bear.
And still, it was not enough.
Six Centurion units advanced through the corridor.
Two Archer units remained behind the others, mounted weapons cycling as they fired with brutal efficiency. Each shot detonated a turret or carved a molten crater into the reinforced walls. The blasts echoed down the corridor, shaking the structure with every impact.
The only reason the area hadn't collapsed yet from Rank 1 power was because of how strong the material alloy was in the surroundings. Still, that didn't mean it was impenetrable.
Four Gladius units formed the vanguard.
Their spider like limbs hammered into the floor as they advanced, blades glowing with lethal heat. They cut through barriers, blast doors, and turret housings alike, never slowing for more than a heartbeat. Each obstacle Penny threw in their path bought a few seconds at best, yet those seconds were still precious.
Jaune could see the evidence of her intervention everywhere.
Blast partitions slammed shut ahead of the Centurions, only to be carved open moments later. Floor barriers rose to disrupt their momentum, forcing them to adjust before resuming their advance. Power was rerouted, gun turrets and laser turrets firing longer than their heat tolerances should have allowed.
The Centurions were being delayed.
Barely.
Jaune and his team arrived just as the last turret fell.
The final automated weapon exploded under a Gladius blade, sparks and molten fragments scattering across the corridor floor. The sudden absence of defensive fire left an eerie gap in the noise, a brief hollow moment before the Centurions reacted.
They turned.
All six units pivoted in perfect unison, mechanical movements precise and synchronized. Targeting systems reoriented, weapons angling toward the new heat signatures that had just entered their field.
Jaune felt the shift before the shots came.
His weakness sense flared, mapping lines of imminent threat across his perception.
There were two Archers and four Gladius units.
The corridor was wide, but there was nowhere to truly take cover, which meant that they'd have to rely on Weiss for shielding and another operative who Jaune knew had some sort of rune that could create pink energy constructs and attacks. The energy converter loomed behind the Centurions, a massive silhouette that framed the encounter and underscored what was at stake.
The Archer units fired.
The first shots screamed down the corridor, detonating against the reinforced floor and walls as the both Weiss and the other guy raised shields of ice and pink energy. Explosions bloomed in controlled bursts, but only the shockwaves made it through.
Jaune's thoughts sharpened.
He couldn't afford to fight the way he had in the command room.
Melting Centurions outright was effective, but it was wasteful. The Aura cost was too high, and the number of units active in the base made that approach unsustainable. If he tried to brute force every encounter, he would burn out long before Watts ran out of machines. It had been enough to save lives at the time, but now, he had to think strategically.
During the run here, he had a thought.
About structure, function and efficiency.
Centurions weren't Grimm or awakened operatives, even though their internal components were supposedly made from awakened remains. In any case, they were machines bound together by special runic systems and physical architecture. They didn't exactly need to be destroyed, outright.
They only needed to be rendered incapable or neutralized.
Jaune's weakness felt the density of their frames, the flow of energy through their systems and the stress points where function depended on precision rather than brute durability.
Weapons and limbs.
Joint assemblies.
If he weakened those selectively, the Centurions would lose their primary advantages.
Would disarm them and cripple their mobility.
Force them into positions where others could contain or finish them without him draining himself dry.
The plan crystallized in his mind with sudden clarity.
He didn't need to melt them, only taking away what made them lethal.
Jaune exhaled slowly, centering himself as the next volley of shots screamed past.
Penny's voice cut through the chaos, precise and focused. "Centurions in other sectors are advancing again. I can delay them further for approximately twelve seconds before they engage other operative scattered in the base."
"That's enough time." Jaune murmured.
The moment the Archer units fired again, he reached out with his meta rune and his focus narrowed until it felt like threading a needle in the middle of a storm.
Weapons first.
He locked onto the mounted cannons of the two Archer Centurions. There was no aura here to resist him, which meant that there was no metaphysical buffer that pushed him back. Only dense matter and runic systems humming with borrowed power.
Jaune applied pressure.
The metal screamed without sound as its molecular cohesion unraveled. The barrels of the cannons sagged and collapsed inward, warping as if exposed to impossible heat. Then they sloughed downward, liquefying into viscous streams that dripped onto the corridor floor in slurry-like puddles.
The Archer units faltered.
Their targeting systems stuttered as the weapons they were calibrated around ceased to exist. One attempted to compensate, pivoting its upper frame as internal diagnostics recalculated. Jaune was already moving on.
Joints next.
He shifted his attention to the Gladius Centurions, not their central frames, but the spider like limbs that granted them their terrifying mobility. His weakness sense brushed past armor plating and structural bulk, homing in on the narrow junctions where limb met torso and blade met arm.
He weakened only those points.
The effect was immediate.
One Gladius Centurion lurched as two of its legs softened and collapsed, the reinforced joints dissolving, enough that could it could no longer bear its weight. The machine slammed into the floor with a metallic crash, its remaining limbs scraping uselessly as it tried to stabilize.
Another stumbled mid charge when one of its glowing blades lost cohesion. The weapon sagged, then flowed like molten wax before splattering across the floor. The sudden imbalance sent the unit crashing sideways into a wall, its remaining limbs gouging trenches into the reinforced alloy.
Jaune felt the drain as he worked.
Fortunately, it wasn't the same catastrophic pull he had experienced earlier, but a steady, biting resistance as his rune chewed through the Centurions' runic energy.
He could sustain this.
Behind him, Weiss raised another shield, ice blooming outward to deflect the few remaining shots that managed to fire. Blake vanished into motion, her form blurring into copies of herself as she repositioned, preparing to strike once the Centurions were vulnerable.
The other operatives surged forward the moment the machines faltered.
Rank One awakened abilities flared as they closed the distance. Blades crashed down onto exposed joints. Energy constructs slammed into destabilized frames. One operative drove a spear of condensed force straight through the shattered torso of a fallen Gladius unit, pinning it to the floor as its systems spasmed and died.
Another Archer Centurion tried to retreat, damaged legs dragging as it attempted to re establish distance. It didn't get the chance. A coordinated strike brought it down and its core ruptured under sustained assault.
Within moments, the corridor belonged to the operatives again.
Jaune stayed back. His strategy had worked.
The Centurions lay scattered across the corridor, half crippled wrecks surrounded by operatives delivering finishing blows or restraining them until systems shut down completely. None of them had required him to liquefy an entire frame.
Jaune watched, mind already turning.
There had to be a more efficient way. Perhaps even more precise targeting. He could feel it at the edges of his understanding, a refinement waiting to be grasped. For now, however, this was enough.
"Penny," he said, his voice steady.
She drifted closer, her glow bright against the scorched corridor. "Yes, Jaune."
"Which sector has the most people right now."
Her eyes flickered briefly, data streaming through her awareness. "The eastern research wing. Multiple groups of operatives, researchers, and several commanding personnel are entrenched there. They are actively engaging Centurions and holding their ground."
Jaune nodded. "How many units?"
"Fourteen," Penny replied. "They are spread across multiple sub corridors and labs."
His brows pulled together. "And the other group?"
"The storage and logistics sector," Penny said. "Personnel are present. LUCID technology, weapons, and equipment are stored there. Though, that's the case, defensive options are limited and the operatives there are being overwhelmed. There are five Centurions in that sector."
Five.
Jaune weighed it instantly.
Fourteen was a lot, but they were holding for now. Five did not sound like much, but against overwhelmed personnel, even a single Centurion could carve through dozens in moments. Storage and logistics also meant volatile equipment. A stray shot there could turn a bad situation into a catastrophe.
He did not hesitate.
"We'll have to split up," Jaune said.
Weiss turned to him immediately, understanding flashing across her face. Blake was already nodding, her posture shifting as if she had anticipated the decision.
"I'll take Weiss and Blake to storage and logistics," Jaune continued. "We can clean that up fast and then move to reinforce the eastern wing."
The other operatives exchanged looks, then one of them stepped forward. "Alright. We'll head to the research wing," he said. "We can hold until you arrive."
Jaune met his gaze and nodded once. "Don't overextend and try your best to contain and protect. We'll be there soon."
They moved without further discussion.
The team split cleanly at the next junction, footsteps pounding away in opposite directions as urgency reclaimed the air. Penny hovered close to Jaune again, already rerouting paths and unlocking doors ahead of them.
Jaune took off at a sprint, Weiss and Blake flanking him.
As they ran, he felt the familiar weight of responsibility settle over his shoulders. Lives hung on timing now. On decisions made in seconds.
He pushed the doubt aside.
There was no room for it.
.
.
AN: Anyone here play Genshin?
Advanced chapters available on patreon