[Multiversal Empire] 5 – Massive Progress

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Colony Name: Sanctuary

Colony Level: New Colony

Population: 125 Faunus and 1 Mr Handy.

Structures: 8 Bunkhouses, 1 Storage Warehouse, 1 Security Fence, 1 Basic Workshop, 1 Personal Log Cabin, 3 Farms, 1x Chicken Coop, 1 Water Well, Basic Research Center, 1x Longhouse.

Quests: [Scout and Map: 68%], [Build a Watchtower: 78%], [Research: Focuses 14%], [Construct an Infirmary: 99%], [Hunt down Machines: 7/10]

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Our small little town has grown massively in the past few weeks. It's already been a month since we arrived in this world, and at this time, I have awoken the aura in everyone in the colony, now named Sanctuary, for convenience. Most have yet to awaken their semblances; of the 127 souls called Sanctuary, only two have awoken their semblances: myself and a female Faunus named Rachel. Rachel was one of the Faunus who were attacked by the Watchers a while ago.

Rachel's semblance was...simple, all things considered. Her semblance? 'Saturate.' Essentially, she was able to saturate everything around her with her Aura, making them healthier, heartier, and more...robust. Right now, the effect was weak, and it only applied to a single thing living nearby, in this case, a small flower she accidentally stepped on. That flower then glowed a bright violet before rapidly rising back up from the ground, its stalk becoming thicker and its petals more vibrant. 

It was an interesting power, and I asked her to spend at least an hour training and using her semblance every day. I hoped that her semblance would evolve someday and become even more powerful. Perhaps in a few years, she could affect dozens of people around her, either becoming a great supporter of any army or a great medic for those who were badly hurt.

Strangely enough, she unlocked a new talent after she got her Semblance. That talent? 'Medicine.' I had no idea whether that meant creating medicine or working as a doctor or Medic. So, I reassigned her to become one of the Colony's doctors.

As for my semblance, it awoke when I went out on a hunting trip to help finish the Hunt Down Machines quest...

...

"You guys ready?" I asked, looking over the group of Faunus who would be joining me.

There were six of us, including me. Each of us was equipped with a survival pistol, which could stun the machines, and a makeshift spear with a sharp end made from some of the metal we had gotten from previous machines.

As we ventured out, heading west, we traveled through hills and thick forests, passing by quite a few ruins. Wherever we were, it was clear that Faro was hit hard by the Faro plague, as even after all of this time, many of Faro's machines still stand to this day despite nearly a thousand years of passing.

The machines of Faro's Swarm came in three different models. Scarab units, Khopesh units, and finally, the Horus units. The Scarab units were the fastest and most plentiful of the Chariot robots, easily traversing over land and sea, could self-repair themselves and other machines, and featured electronic warfare capabilities, a grenade launcher, a spike launcher, and had both talons and an incredibly dangerous tail. Just one of these Scarabs could take on dozens of men alone and take control of other nearby autonomous machines. 

On the other hand, the Khopesh units acted as the heavy hitters of the swarm, much larger than the normal Scarabs. They had many weapons they could use to devastate any enemy they fought, including flamethrowers, rocket launchers, turrets, and cannons. They were heavily armored and easily able to tank ordinary explosions from hand-held rocket launchers and even, in some cases, tank shells. 

The last unit of the Chariot line, the Horus, was by far the most dangerous and easily the most important unit of the swarm. It had many appendages used for drilling through the earth and tearing apart the terrain. It had the ability to manufacture more Scarab and Khopesh units, a myriad of rocket launchers, turrets, EMP charges, Anti-aircraft weaponry, laser cannons, aerial drones, and so much more. Its bio-conversion systems could turn entire swaths of land into nothing but ash and suck the life out of all the plant matter around it. 

The biggest reason why the Chariot Line was so dangerous, however, was its cybersecurity, which not even Faros and his personnel could breach, and it took an AI decades to brute force its way through and shut down the Faros Swarm; by then, Humanity had gone extinct. The machines eventually went rogue, and Faros could do nothing about them, leaving Humanity to try and fight this deadly swarm of machines that could replicate itself and control any autonomous forces that the nations around the world used and favored over using human soldiers. Said Faros machines, despite being inactive now, could easily be brought back alive and bring about the world's destruction once more, dooming the human race and us.

The machines would undoubtedly be a great source of metal, polymer, and other resources for our colony in the future. I would definitely make sure that we cripple as many of them as possible to make sure they couldn't be used against us. Still, there was a component on the average Scarab unit that we could use to control the machine animals that now roamed the planet if we could figure out how to scavenge and use them properly.

However, something else caught my eye as we spent an hour traveling west.

We stopped atop a cliff overlooking what looked to be the ruins of a truly large city next to a lake.

The city? I had no idea, but what caught my eye was a Horus Unit lodged into multiple skyscrapers that were still standing.

However, I was suddenly distracted when the very ground beneath my feet began to tremble and shake.

"Woah, back up, back up!" I shouted as the cliff we stood upon shook and threatened to crumble.

That's when I heard the distinct sound of metal on stone before an enormous machine leaped out from under the ground, its maw a series of spinning blades and drills. I jumped back just in time to avoid its maw, but it wasted no time in hitting me with its body, throwing me to the side and causing my aura to flare in response as it absorbed the damage.

Quickly recovering, I raised the pistol in hand and began to shoot; the others didn't waste time either, all unloading their pistols into the shell of the machine, a machine I knew well. A Rockbreaker.

Rockbreakers, one of Hephestus's machines, was designed to acquire minerals. Its form was similar to that of a badger or mole, and luckily for us, it didn't have any sort of long-range weapons. However, our weapons did little to stop or impede the Rockbreaker, and before I could react, the Rockbreaker slammed its body into some of the others, causing their auras to shatter on impact, as their bodies were sent flying away.

I charged forward while it tried to turn around and jabbed my spear into it, only for the spear to get lodged within the metal plating. Before I could release the spear, the Rockbreaker slammed its side into me, throwing me across the ground and dealing substantial damage to my Aura. 

I grit my teeth and wince as some of the pain manages to go through my Aura, and I know that if I don't do something soon, the Rockbreaker will kill us all.

I looked at the others, seeing them down on the ground, most having trouble standing or kneeling.

Seeing the machine start to focus on them, I yelled, and my Aura flared in response, creating a visible black and golden glow around me.

As I prepared myself to fight or, at the very least, distract the Rockbreaker in time for everyone to escape, I felt something...strange. My Aura began to darken and darken until it became pitch black before spreading out around me, turning the ground around me into a dark void of nothingness.

A void that was filled with red eyes.

A clawed paw ripped its way out of the inky void that surrounded me and pulled itself out, revealing a strangely bear-like creature with a white mask and a row of spikes along its spine and on its shoulders and elbows. Its mask was pearly white, and its body was inky black. Its mask was covered in ornate red markings, and its red eyes were completely soulless.

It was a Grimm.

The unusually large Ursa roared and charged at the machine, slamming into its metal and forcing it back with extraordinary strength.

As the Grimm fought the Rockbreaker, I didn't hold back. I rushed forward, my hand coated in my aura. I raised my fist and struck the Rockbreaker with all my strength, causing metal fragments to shatter and crack while the metal sunk beneath my fist.

That's when I was surprised to see the Faunus still standing, charging forward with their spears, stabbing into the massive machine, lodging their spears deep into its chassis, and dealing damage wherever they could.

One of them appeared to hit something vital. The Rockbreaker collapsed under its weight, and energy sparked over its chassis.

Not wanting to take any chances, I grabbed a spear and managed to pull it out of its chassis before I sunk the speed as deep as I could not the Machine's eye, hoping to cripple its vision, at least if it managed to get back up.

As I felt exhaustion come over me, I looked over and saw that the Grimm I summoned poofed into smoke, disappearing and leaving only the damage it dealt to the Rockbreaker as signs of its existence, as claw marks and dents littered the area where it attacked the Rockbreaker.