It looked like a flower suddenly in bloom being drawn up and away from above them to slowly display more and more of the sky above. The moon—yes, that was the name on everyone’s lips. They’d all read the instructional texts of the world above.
Thousands of stars were spread across the sky in tiny yet iridescent pinpoints of pure light. They glimmered against the velvet backdrop and made the darkness a little less dark and even then, it only seemed to emphasize the majesty of what was revealed above them.
“No…not ending,” the mother murmured in awe and gathered her child in her arms. “Not ending, I hope.”
“What’s happening, Mommy?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, dearest.”
Chapter Eighty-Three
Most of the surviving Knights were now mounted in the captured prison mechs. There had been a small warehouse full of them, so their numbers were bolstered by a group of prisoners who wanted to be involved in the fighting too.
Hammerhand still felt a little naked without his Excalibur. The inability to deploy a shield to cover his people and sweep around it with his hammer was annoying, but for the moment, he was happy to be inside a mech and have the chance to carve out his own destiny. He would search for his mech again once the battle was over.
They wouldn't have destroyed it, right?
Suddenly, as the Knights and their new recruits gathered in the prison yards, the floor of the entire structure began to shudder. Loud, metallic groaning and rumbling echoed through the cavern and deafened the whole team to the point where conversation was impossible.
Something was changing around them, although he couldn't quite make out what it was.
"Is it an earthquake?" Windchime asked from where he had used the quiet moment to adjust to his new mech.
"I don't think so," Hammerhand said with a small smile as the cavern began to open slowly. "I think Jessie came through for us. Not that I ever doubted her."
It was an interesting view, and as much as he wanted to continue to watch and study the handiwork that had gone into making the city work, the loud rumble was quickly replaced by the unmistakable sound of a firefight. Loud booms from cannons, repetitive cracks of smaller gunfire, explosions, and other signs of fighting seemed located not far from them.
If that wasn’t the Prophet, he would give up piloting his Excalibur for the rest of time. He turned to address the group assembled. They weren't all Knights and they weren't all in mechs, as some of the prisoners had taken possession of the weapons the guards had carried.
"Knights Mechanica!" he roared through the external speakers of his mech. "To me! The time has come to prove your valor, your mettle, and your worth. This battle will define our legacies and show the world that there is still goodness and brotherhood left in it. For our brothers, we will not fail in this fight. For Tinker, we will show that his death was not in vain. Unto the breach once more, my brothers!"
The Knights, whether they had been among the ranks before or not, roared and rushed through the streets of the city toward the battle. He was at the front and ached to get into combat. Playing at chipping away at the inside of their enemies was all well and good but getting out into the open and into a real battle felt right.
They soon reached the area where a fight was in progress. A gate had been opened and a group of Quadrupeds, painted black, had locked together and formed what appeared to be a shield wall to repel an outside attack that was still ongoing. He raised his assault rifle as he had identified that four smaller mechs—two assault mechs and two Guardians—held the back line.
They opened fire in an attempt to slow the advance of the Knights who attacked their rear ranks. Hammerhand wove his mech forward and tried to keep it in motion while making its movements difficult to predict. A couple of rounds impacted and three of his Knights faltered in their charge, but the rest remained undaunted.
The four were no match for the dozens that suddenly swarmed their position, and a hail of bullets brought the two Assault mechs down. The Guardians tried to back away to find cover among their heavily armored comrades, but one lost control of its left leg. The hydraulics had been compromised, and he reached it first. The vibrosword had never been one of his favorite weapons, but it was more than effective to hack through the armor and into the Guardian that attempted to pull back.
The Quadrupeds tried to turn to engage the new threat, but it was painfully apparent that while they had been adequately set up to stop any attacks from the front, they were unprepared to deal with those coming in from behind them. They were all locked into position and therefore unable to move unless the entire shield wall turned.
They began to disengage the interconnected barriers and a couple managed to maneuver somewhat awkwardly to face the new enemy, but there was little point to it. The gaps in their shields were suddenly swamped by those who had attacked from the outside, while the Knights, wielding the weapons they had allocated from the reserve held by the prison guard, began to operate as a unit to pull them down.
It was a slow process, as the massive cannons the Quadrupeds carried were still dangerous. A couple of the prisoners were caught in the fire while the Knights continued to press them.
"Be careful, you sons of bitches!" Hammerhand roared through the comms. "There is no point in rushing in when we can wear them down. I'll personally murder the next
